Why Evaluate a Training Program?

You know you have a training program, and indications show that it should be effective, both through tangible and intangible benefits but something is not passing the “smell test”. You know you need to look at the training program but are not sure how or why to do it.  You may have a number of questions that are slowing you down or even preventing you from evaluating the learning program.  Perhaps you cannot answer the question, “Why evaluate?” simply. What seems to be a straightforward question can become a point of contention and confusion in some organizations. Why Evaluate?  Playing Devil’s Advocate, I can give you several reasons why you may choose not to evaluate a learning program.  Some of the biggest and most heard reasons include:

·         Budget – There just isn’t enough money to pay someone to do the evaluation.  Is there enough money to replace all the employees when they leave or to fix all the mistakes that could have been avoided through proper training?

·         The training program is non-value added – Really?  So is the quality program.  Both programs add significant value to an organization even though we can’t “sell” the programs to our customers.  (See “Intangible Benefits” in future chapters)

·         The company is doing fine without it – The organization has acceptable or even enviable profit margins.  This is dangerous territory to navigate an organization in.  I like to say about those companies that “the company is making money in spite of itself and leave LOTS of money and opportunity on the table.” EVERY organization has room for continuous improvement.

·         We hired the best training manager in the business.  They know what they are doing – Really?  They are a great training manager but fail to evaluate?  How do you know they are great?  There is no data showing supporting that assertion. Like a paradox, huh?

·         No one has ever asked us about that – This is a dead giveaway that the organization is reactionary and apparently likes to “fighting fires” all the time.  How painful the workdays must be in that situation.  Don’t you want to get in front of the issues so you can mitigate the effect and pain of it?

·         I wouldn’t even know where to start – Ignorance is bliss and fear of the unknown can be crippling.  Continue reading and hopefully you will have a better idea how to begin an evaluation process in your organization!

All those reasons can seem legitimate on the surface and are uttered often in many companies.  While I have never used any of them in the companies I have worked with (I have always been convinced of the power and benefit that training can provide and organization), I have heard them all in one form or another over my career.  Sometimes, I have heard them combined to drive home a very convincing argument or to justify why the budget “just can’t afford the training program right now”.  We can often talk ourselves into believing that an organization doesn’t need that layer of complexity, especially when it is making tons of cash.  As I said earlier, I call it making money in spite of themselves.  We all know those places where they make truckloads of cash but seem to be clueless to how to really make an organization run efficiently.  Often, their mantra is “That’s how it has always been done”. Even if you clearly show them how to make even more money using quality and/or training systems, they tend to ignore the advice. Perhaps there is an assumption that they are doing “just fine” because the Profit and loss sheet seems to support that conclusion. 

As a consultant, I have been shocked at the number of facilities I have been in that boast an effective and engaging training program but do not do any program evaluation.  How in the world do these people KNOW that they have a great program when they are not measuring it through evaluation?  Just saying the word, “evaluation” can conjure looks of bewilderment.  Perhaps it is the idea that there could be complex mathematics involved, and the company would have to recruit a team of people from NASA to help with the evaluation.  Maybe it is the idea of not knowing where to start or what to take that causes concern and hesitation.  Maybe it is apathy or worse yet, an overwhelming sense of confidence that their organization is completely in tune with how their programs are working and see no need to evaluate it. A Training Zen moment, in their minds. Regardless of the reason, program evaluation should never be skipped.  It is the only way to truly understand if your training program is effective and really reaches the learners in meaningful ways.  Evaluation of any program should not be a foreign concept to understand yet somehow, training evaluation is ignored far too often.  Accounting gets audited by internal and external auditors.  The quality program has registrar auditors look closely at their programs. Even the local fire department will make sure an organization’s fire equipment is up to standard on a regular basis.  Program evaluation should be old hat to most organizations.  Why would training program evaluation be any different?

Like anything else that is new, learning program evaluation is a mystery until you dive in and see how it really works.  The fear of the unknown (and possibly the concern that you may uncover ill-performing programs) can hinder even the best-intentioned learning professionals. There are a bazillion books about the theory of evaluation and pretty pictures of various models that can be used (and I have read many of them) but most stop before reaching a point where you can take that theory and apply it to the workplace.  When I teach courses, I use specific chapters from many of those books to help lay the foundation and supplement that information with a capstone project.  I also add other tools and methods as supplement to these texts so my students see why the content that they read in the book is more than just something that will have to regurgitate on a quiz or exam.  I want them all to have a powerful tool in their workplace toolbox when they enter the workforce, and that tool is cleverly disguised as program evaluation.  I want you to have that tool, too.  This is an introduction to a series of articles that will be posted to help you have confidence in doing a “deep dive” in the evaluation process of your learning program.  Hold on…. It will be a bumpy ride.  It will also be a fun one!