How Should Training Be Tracked?
Corporate training investment has increased, but it's important that every organization also measures the return on it. The companies must verify the training ROI because they have invested so much. Although training can improve results, it can't have the expected results when it's not tracked. Hence it's better to have training implemented with the right goals. The training should be tracked to see whether there is an improvement in these goals or not. These goals can include improvement in profits or sales. If it's not leading to these results, it's better to change the training program for the future.
Methods To Verify Training ROI
1. Tests
Companies have to ensure that the training program contains tests so that learners attempt them and their progress is known. Apart from this, the tests can also indicate a wrongly designed course when many learners cannot pass them. This suggests that someone who designed the tests didn't check whether the learners would be able to pass the tests or not. It implies that the tests were unrelated to the course material in the eLearning course. It also means that the course must be redesigned to contain the relevant matter per the test.
2. Observation
The second way to check the effectiveness of the eLearning course is through observation. It is a highly relevant method when the training course has been designed to change the employees' behavior.
3. Surveys
Surveys can also be helpful ways to check whether the employees have learned something from the course. They can be part of the LMS, where employees are asked for feedback after completing the course. If the learners feel the course has nothing to offer them, they can complain about it in the survey. They might have also faced problems in using the LMS, in which case the company needs to decide whether to use an LMS in the future. If the LMS is tough to use, there will not be much ROI from the course, and the company should not have put its money into that particular LMS.
4. Interviews
Interviews of employees can also reveal the big picture about whether they have understood the course. Observations can measure whether an employee has altered their on-the-job performance after the course. Sometimes, knowing that they are being observed, employees might be unable to perform their best. It might give the wrong idea to the company that they have not learned anything from the course.
Employees can also be directly asked about their experience with the course. Interviews are an informal method, but they can give a manager more details of an employee's experience with the course. They can get their hands on information not revealed in a questionnaire. Also, some employees might not be able to express themselves in a questionnaire, because their command of the English language is not so good. So, it's better if the manager asks them in person.
How To Conduct Interviews After Training?
Brinkerhoff Model
There is also the Brinkerhoff success case model, which clearly says that the effects of every method are not the same for everyone. When cases showing poor results of the learning model are evaluated, they can be studied to develop a better version. As per this model, first, the model's success should be defined. Once you have set the expectations, you can measure results. A program should only be started once these metrics have been established.
After the program yields results, its participants should be divided into two groups, based on who is doing the best and who is the worst. You should interview both groups in detail to determine how the training program has affected their work. So, the best performers have benefitted from the good factors of the program, and similarly, the worst performers have suffered because of the bad factors. The bad factors, due to which the performance of some of the participants didn't improve after the program, need to be eliminated from it. The worst performers didn't experience the good factors of the program, and hence the program needs to have the good factors enhanced. Hence, when the training program is implemented the next time, it also needs to have good factors in abundance. You can use this method while conducting surveys and interviews after the program. So, this is how you can measure and verify the training ROI and make sure it's changed for the best.
