Improving training effectiveness & how to measure it  
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The 3 F’s key to improving training effectiveness and how to measure it
Why is it that training courses often fail to produce the lasting changes they should? There are so many reasons that learning is not converted into action. People return to work from courses to a desk piled high; bosses who do not know what was learned or how to encourage experimentation and change; crises arise and cause the delegate to revert to comfortable behaviours, even though they are not effective. These are the reasons that good trainers with good materials fail to produce the anticipated impact, especially in behavioural skills. Attention to the 3 F factors combined with is5 surveys can make the difference.

Forethought
One of the barriers to an effective training event is lack of forethought by trainers, delegates and their bosses. Much greater impact can be achieved with delegates who are clear about their purpose in attending and who want to learn and improve. This state is not often achieved by the conventional approach. This is where delegates hastily compose personal introductions, including their objectives in attending, at 9am on day one of the course.

“You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.”
Navajo proverb

We enable a different approach. is5 pre-course surveys may be conducted with the delegates, their direct reports and/or their internal/external customers. Feedback can be used to guide the course design as well as stimulate the delegates’ preparation.

Focus
Planning and preparing a training event contributes to the relevance that lays the foundation of its success. Delegates are more quickly engaged in the materials and learning when there is a direct relevance to their work situation. Survey results can form the basis of group discussions, plenary sessions and action planning.

Follow-through

“What gets measured gets done” – Tom Peters

Nobody real thinks that “happy sheets” collected by the trainer at the end of a course provide measurement of its effectiveness. Post course is5 surveys allow delegates to set measurable targets in their action plans and provide the company with real measurement of their progress. Repeating pre-course surveys periodically after the training event provides tangible evidence as to what difference the event made. Responses to statements like “My manager provides clear direction as to our goals” – pre-course average score 27/50; post course score 3 months later, 39/50…BINGO.
 

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