Selling the importance of evaluation

/

#5 in our training evaluation blog post series:

In the not so distant past, evaluation of learning was an isolated activity relegated to the training team who’s responsibility didn’t extend much past gathering level 1 and level 2 evaluation. Today the emphasis is on the bottom line and how organizations can get the best value for their money and efforts. New evaluation tools, processes and strategies are available to help companies become more strategic; the evaluation of learning has become less of an isolated activity and more of a culture/philosophy. Learning teams are now becoming drivers of change, helping to support evaluation efforts within their organizations. But what if your stakeholders and senior management don’t see or understand the importance of evaluation?

Implementing levels 3, 4 and even 5 can be a challenging and daunting task even if the training team is fully involved and committed, because commitment and participation is also required from employees, managers, supervisors, business partners, stakeholders and senior management. An organization’s executives need to be on board as top-down messaging is critical to success – you’ll be swimming upstream trying to get managers to participate in evaluation if they don’t feel that their own bosses are behind it.

Many senior leaders already acknowledge that employee education is a critical success factor for future growth and prosperity. Use this as your ‘hook’ to sell them on the importance and value of a solid system of evaluation. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

  • Show how evaluation contributes to success: Be able to show a direct correlation between the organization’s strategic needs and goals, business unit operational needs, individual development needs, the training that is designed to address these and the evaluation techniques that will be used to quantify improvements.
  • Share a roadmap to implementation: Create an evaluation strategy that will systematically guide the organization from the present situation to the desired amount of evaluation. Be prepared to provide costs in terms of time and manpower.
  • Give confidence with examples: Gather relevant case studies of best practice organizations who have implemented evaluation within their organization with positive results. Use this information to support your position. There are a number of websites with best practice research. Check out our favourites in a previous blog post.
  • Start small to prove your case: Run a pilot and communicate/share results. Work with a key stakeholder/business partner to address a business need through training. Use this training as the “test case” for your evaluation plan. Apply each level of evaluation gathering testimonials and data, and tracking trends along the way. Share results and testimonials. Use stories and case studies based on the training results to capture attention and highlight the positives. Prove that measuring the value of learning can have a positive effect on your organization.
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate! Communication at all levels of the organization is critical to success. People need to understand the What, Where, Why, When and How of your evaluation strategy and what their role and commitment will be. Be patient. This will take time, but your efforts will be worthwhile!

Be sure to check out our other evaluation blog post in this series:

 

 

Refreshing the Kirkpatrick Four Levels evaluation model - Kirkpatrick Then and Now

/

#3 in our training evaluation blog post series:

As I’ve written in past evaluation blog posts, more and more organizations are now focusing on how training impacts business results, wanting to know if they are getting the most for their return on training investment. If you follow evaluation blogs and read articles and research on evaluation, you’ll notice that Training and Development professionals are now looking to improve their learning process by “beginning at the end”. They are first defining business outcomes and determining the desired Level 4 results then working down the model rather than starting with traditional level 1 evaluation and working upwards.

Don Kirkpatrick’s concept of the 4 levels of evaluation - Reaction, Learning, Behavior and Results - was first introduced in the 1950’s during and after his Ph.D. dissertation.  But it wasn’t until after numerous articles and speaking engagements at national conferences over the years that his landmark book, Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels was published in 1994. It quickly became a cornerstone for T&D professionals providing a logical structure and process for measuring learning. One interesting note I learned:  Don never called his evaluation concept the “Four Levels”.  Someone else did and it caught on!

I recently picked up the Kirkpatrick Then and Now book by Jim Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick (2009). Taking the original 4 levels concepts developed by Don, Jim (Don’s son) and Wendy (Don’s daughter-in-law) have created an updated and fresh version of Don’s original model.  The book is an Interesting read, covering the “Then” – a description of Don’s 4 levels as well as his first-hand account of how he developed his model, testimonials from his colleagues and a photo gallery. The “Now” part of the book defines the new five Kirkpatrick Foundation Principles and provides practical advice on how to implement the updated Kirkpatrick model successfully starting from the top and working on down.

So grab a copy of the book, have a read and enjoy learning how to turn the Kirkpatrick model on its head!

Be sure to check out our other evaluation blog posts in this series:

Our favourite training evaluation resources

/

 #2 in our training evaluation blog post series:

Just do a Google search for “training evaluation” and you’ll find over 11,000 websites and articles at your fingertips. But you probably don’t have the time to sort through all the information to find what you need. Here at Limestone we’ve run into the same challenges so over time, we’ve created a “favourite” list of evaluation resources that we’d like to share with you:

Evaluation websites/blogs/discussion groups

  • www.kirkpatrickpartners.com  Registration is free. Includes access to a weekly newsletter, white papers and articles, free podcasts and webinars, a quick tips podcast series, certification training and other evaluation resources.
  • www.greatleadershipbydan.com  An interesting blog post on training evaluation.
  • www.roiinstitute.net  Good information on level 5 ROI created by respected author Dr. Jack Phillips.  Includes access to learning opportunities, webcasts and audio conferences, podcasts, articles and tools.
  • www.bdld.blogspot.com  Thoughts on instructional design and performance including training evaluation.
  • www.astd.org  We highly recommend becoming a member. There are extensive high-quality resources available for both evaluation and T&D in general, and great member discounts apply on courses and publications. Some of the offerings for evaluation include white papers and articles, best practice research and discussion groups.        
  • Kirkpatrick Evaluation group on Linkedin.  Some thought-provoking discussion threads on evaluation.       
  • www.evaluatetraining.com/blog  A lot of great evaluation blog posts.       

Books/reference material

  • Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels, Donald Kirkpatrick (the original publication of Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels of evaluation – a “must” read)
  • Kirkpatrick Then and Now, Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick Institute (the 4 levels updated with new strategies and tools)
  • The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning, Calhoun Wick, Roy Pollock, and Andrew Jefferson (excellent practical guidelines, ideas and examples on measuring learning from a business results perspective)
  • ASTD Handbook of Measuring and Evaluating Training, Patricia Phillips (a great, practical book on learning evaluation)
  • ASTD InfoLine issues on a variety of level 1 – 5 topics (an excellent choice of topics)
  • ROI in Action casebook, Patricia Pulliam Phillips

Higher learning

 Be sure to check out our first evaluation blog post in this series: