Content area
Full Text
Training Measures
No training manager with a pulse is unaware of the emphasis on measuring the effectiveness of training programs. In some organizations, it's ROI or die. In others, you get no funding for training and development unless you show a positive outcome or return on investment. The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD; Alexandria, Va.) even has a separate organization, the ROI Network, devoted to this urgent topic (www.astd.org/ASTD/education/roi_network/ roi_home.htm).
In truth, many training managers are hard pressed to undertake the lengthy and challenging process of an in-depth ROI analysis. Some barely have the funding for training programs, let alone an ROI study (about 5% of the program budget, according to Jack Phillips, the reigning authority on training ROI (see Jack Phillips Center for Research, a division of FranklinCovey; roiresearch@ mindspring.com). What to do?
Several relatively quick and easy methods can measure the outcome of training without a full ROI study. Here are three:
1. Take control. This is the quickest and easiest way to measure what effect training has had on a given group: Train a group of 20 or so employees on a given task, say on-the-job safety. Then compare their performance results to those of a control group that hasn't received the training.
The split-sample approach is a favorite of HR metrics maestro, John Sullivan, Ph.D. (www. drjohnsullivan.com), professor at San Francisco State University and...