I am responsible for training 27 people in social change communication in 10 Southern African countries. I have just started this job. I need to come up with systems of tracking the effectiveness of the training that I am doing. The same systems will be used for all the other training that is being done by service providers. I am also responsible for the training that is done by the different service providers. We hold more that 35 training workshops a year on different issues. I would appreciate suggestions of how I can prove that the training has been effective. If its not been effective, how I can improve it. I would appreciate any articles or websites that I could get this information.
From South Africa, Bryanston
From South Africa, Bryanston
We find the Kirkpatrick Four Level Model for evaluating the effectiveness of training the most useful. Basically, the four levels of evaluation are:
Level 1 - Reaction
How did participants react to the program?
Level 2 - Learning
To what extent did participants improve knowledge and skills and change attitudes as a result of the training?
Level 3 - Behavior
To what extent did participants change their behavior back in the workplace as a result of the training?
Level 4 - Results
What organizational benefits resulted from the training?
You can find out more at: Training Effectiveness
http://www.businessperform.com/html/...ffectiven.html
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
Level 1 - Reaction
How did participants react to the program?
Level 2 - Learning
To what extent did participants improve knowledge and skills and change attitudes as a result of the training?
Level 3 - Behavior
To what extent did participants change their behavior back in the workplace as a result of the training?
Level 4 - Results
What organizational benefits resulted from the training?
You can find out more at: Training Effectiveness
http://www.businessperform.com/html/...ffectiven.html
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
Thank you very much Vicki. I have heard about that model and I will study it more. We do the level one for all our training. Level four is a little bit easier for me because we focus on good product. Level 2 and 3 will be a challenge for me. What I need to understand from you is whether I should set objectives for the trainees soon after the training.
From South Africa, Bryanston
From South Africa, Bryanston
Rita, I’m a little surprised when you say that Level 4 is easier. In fact, Level 4 is the hardest and most time consuming because there are a lot of other factors at play other than training that impact on organizational results.
You ask whether you should set objectives for the trainees soon after the training. There is more than one kind of objective when it comes to training. There are the organizational objectives that you want the training to help deliver, such as “increase employee retention by 20 %”. This kind of objective is decided during the training needs analysis stage and is important for doing a later Level 4 evaluation, amongst other things.
Another kind of objective is a learning objective; what it is you want the learners to learn by the end of the program. This kind of objective is also determined during the design phase of the training program.
Another kind of objective is what the learners want to apply back in the workplace. This is agreed between the trainer and each learner and is sometimes called a “learning contract”. It is introduced at the start of the program and discussed and agree towards the end of the program.
So, the different kinds of objectives serve different purposes. You can find out more about how to make training effective and how to evaluate training in our book, From Training to Enhanced Workplace Performance
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
You ask whether you should set objectives for the trainees soon after the training. There is more than one kind of objective when it comes to training. There are the organizational objectives that you want the training to help deliver, such as “increase employee retention by 20 %”. This kind of objective is decided during the training needs analysis stage and is important for doing a later Level 4 evaluation, amongst other things.
Another kind of objective is a learning objective; what it is you want the learners to learn by the end of the program. This kind of objective is also determined during the design phase of the training program.
Another kind of objective is what the learners want to apply back in the workplace. This is agreed between the trainer and each learner and is sometimes called a “learning contract”. It is introduced at the start of the program and discussed and agree towards the end of the program.
So, the different kinds of objectives serve different purposes. You can find out more about how to make training effective and how to evaluate training in our book, From Training to Enhanced Workplace Performance
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
When I said it was easier its mainly because the organization has set objectives ways of checking the end product. For example, trainees are trained on how to produce a TV show. Firstly they have to produce it on schedule and thus they are taught time management. Then they have to do audience reception, and if the audience have more negative comments then they have to redo the show. They have to negotiate prime time and so are taught negotiation skills. They have to monitor how many people watch the show and this has been set at the beginning. So at least I know what product to expect at the end of a training programme.
I take your point about the other levels and I will explore it. This discussion has been very helpful
From South Africa, Bryanston
I take your point about the other levels and I will explore it. This discussion has been very helpful
From South Africa, Bryanston
Rita, I see what you mean. Setting measurable organizational objectives is a very important first step in doing a Level 4 evaluation. It’s great to see that your org has done this.
The difficulty with Level 4 is the other factors that impact on org results, other than training. For example, following the training, meeting production schedules may have got worse, not better. This may be because of poor training, or it may because there were recent layoffs with employee morale plummeting. Or it may because an external vendor went into liquidation and could not supply a vital component, or because the manager of the unit left suddenly, or ...
The trick is in separating out all of these non-training factors from the results.
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
The difficulty with Level 4 is the other factors that impact on org results, other than training. For example, following the training, meeting production schedules may have got worse, not better. This may be because of poor training, or it may because there were recent layoffs with employee morale plummeting. Or it may because an external vendor went into liquidation and could not supply a vital component, or because the manager of the unit left suddenly, or ...
The trick is in separating out all of these non-training factors from the results.
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com
From Australia, Melbourne
strategy of Training evaluation of Kirkpatrick Hi Rita, I’m attaching the above model for you. Hope this will help you. rgds Sarabjeet
From India, Bangalore
From India, Bangalore
Hi Vicki
You are very right about the other factors. I have realised that in the other countries that I work in there is a high turnover of staff. I am not yet sure why and thus I need to investigate that. This has pushed the timelines 5 to 6 months away from the original deadlines. product is not of good quality because capacity seems to be low. I am trying to find ways of assisting the employees catch up but have been finding it difficult. Employee morale and motivation is important and I feel it impacting on production. Is there something on your website that deals with that? The challenge is dealing with different cultures and trying to produce good product without sounding as if you are imposing on the countries.
I have however found your website to be very good.
Many thanks
Rita
From South Africa, Bryanston
You are very right about the other factors. I have realised that in the other countries that I work in there is a high turnover of staff. I am not yet sure why and thus I need to investigate that. This has pushed the timelines 5 to 6 months away from the original deadlines. product is not of good quality because capacity seems to be low. I am trying to find ways of assisting the employees catch up but have been finding it difficult. Employee morale and motivation is important and I feel it impacting on production. Is there something on your website that deals with that? The challenge is dealing with different cultures and trying to produce good product without sounding as if you are imposing on the countries.
I have however found your website to be very good.
Many thanks
Rita
From South Africa, Bryanston
Hi there
Check out Vicki's website
http://www.businessperform.com/
I found it helpful though you have to buy the books to acess the templates
Thanks
Rita
From South Africa, Bryanston
Check out Vicki's website
http://www.businessperform.com/
I found it helpful though you have to buy the books to acess the templates
Thanks
Rita
From South Africa, Bryanston
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