Business leaders both want and need metrics for training. They need proof that their training programs make a difference. However, business leaders mistakenly believe those metrics are out of a reach. This mindset weighs down the training function.
Is Measuring Training Impact A Mystery?
Training metrics are a blind spot for businesses. Training is treated as some mystery function that can’t be quantified. Or, if it can be quantified, the process is so difficult that it’s not worth the effort.
Does your business think like this: “We created a new training to help our business. We know what the training costs. Everyone must take the training. But we have no idea if the training will influence our bottom line. There’s just no way to measure the training impact on our business.”
Companies put training out there and hope for the best. The odd thing is that few people see a problem with this thinking. It’s business as usual.
Just imagine any other business function operating this way.
Would your business think like this about raw materials? “We created a new material to help our business. We know what the material costs. Everyone must use the material. But we have no idea if it will impact our bottom line. There’s just no way to measure it.”
When you apply this thinking to any other business process, you see how crazy this mindset is.
Why have we accepted that training can’t be measured? Why do we think measuring training impact on your business bottom line can’t be determined?
Businesses wrestle with this topic constantly. Even training pros seem baffled by measuring training impact.
As I’ve said before, training impact is measurable. You can learn how to measure, in hard data, training impact on your business.
Training Design Solves the Mystery
Training design is the key. By choosing the right type of metric and right design, you can measure the impact of training on the learner, on the job, and on the organization.
With the right training design and evaluation process, you will learn what type of data to collect, when/how the data is collected, what you can learn from the data, and how to communicate the results to stakeholders.
Next week, on May 20, I’ll be leading a session at the International ATD Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida. My session is ROI by Design: Unlocking Training’s Impact. In my last post, Unlocking Training’s Impact, I gave details about what I’ll cover. You’ll learn about ROI By Design. You’ll see how training measurement integrates the training profession into the business. Your training data will lead the business to make better training decisions. With the correct training design, you will easily see what works and have the data to back up your conclusions.
If you’re at the conference in Orlando, I hope you’ll attend this session. I’d love meet you there. If you won’t be at the conference, but would like to learn more, please contact me. Either way, please send me a message or comment below.