The only measure tape by which you can scale the value of learning and development is by the learner’s success. Nothing else matters. If your learners are unable to retain the knowledge which is provided, or they are not able to apply those training in the actual job operations, then your training initiatives are broken.
The difficulty here is that it can be a challenging process to measure the success and effectiveness of the training programs. How can you take the check on each employee who has gone through L&D courses? Is it even possible to judge whether employees are applying those skills in their jobs within the organization?
The reality is that there are ample ways to measure the success of your training initiatives. With the help of a learning management system, you can scale your training programs. With 360 learning, allows you to track, and monitor your employee performance and training programs.
Why do we need to measure effectiveness?
It is vital to understand why we need to measure effectiveness in the first place. The reason is simple, in the need to justify a specific investment made by the organization into training and learning programs. Across the globe, more and more companies are experiencing a lack of effective training. Investment in training programs has soared over the past few years. Although, with the increasing rate of investment, there is a compulsion to show results in the form of return on investments.
As the training results do not correlate to monetary terms directly, tracking the return on investment is challenging. The easiest solution to this is to scale the result for learners. One more reason to measure effectiveness is training and development can be a game of guessing. It is based on logic, but, often looking for the right methods can take a bit of trial and error.
For instance, the method of getting the right content for every employee participant. Few people learn and retain better by reading, whereas others by implying it practically, and some by just listening. It is important to create course content that serves training in the accurate format for every person, but explaining what is best will take time and lots of experimentation.
The measurement methods
After understanding why we need to measure the effectiveness of training initiatives, it is time to understand how we can achieve it:
1. Skill assessment: before and after assessments of skills helps in providing insights into the success and value of your training initiatives. Whereas every situation will differ, they all have a similar flow of course. Firstly, the leader should understand what is taught, and what is the point of the course? After that, design an assessment to measure the competency of employees’ skill set before training. And lastly, conduct an assessment after the completion of the training program. Compare the before and after assessment and measure the progress in the performance of learners.
2. Traditional metrics and scores: the most simplest and widely used method to measure training effectiveness is judging the learners based on their scores and few traditional metrics. In case, learners may finish a quiz after a module that helps to see whether they have retained knowledge to move on or not. This helps in evaluation, plus conducting unit tests. Traditional methods but an effective one.
3. Social ownership: to check whether a learner is ready to move on to the next module, put them in a position to train others. This can be achieved in a traditional setting as well as a digital learner forum, or maybe in a team setting. This allows team leaders to judge well an employee whether he has retained the knowledge and mastered the new skills by seeking how well they have trained others.
Conclusion:
In the past few years, more and more companies are experiencing a lack of effective training. There are several ways to measure the success of your training initiatives. With the help of a learning management system, you can scale your training programs.
