This posting is the penultimate posting in a series designed to help you get the most out of your training assessments.
Employees have most likely been over assessed, and may have participated in a number of workplace assessments that did not result in much action or create the changes promised. However, employee participation in a well-designed, well-executed training assessment can provide management with valuable information to help foster workplace application of relevant employee skills learned in training, as well as highlight training gaps and challenges that diminish efficient skills application, thereby reducing performance outcomes. Without this information, management — and even employees — may formulate incorrect conclusions about the value of a training programme or the ability of the programme to meet the organisation’s needs.
Employees must commit the time to participate fully in assessments that evaluate the effectiveness of training programmes and training delivery format to ensure they continue to have the appropriate opportunities to build their skills, feel more empowered to act and can easily translate training into improved performance in the workplace.
Applying the five principles outlined in the first posting in this series will help employees understand why and how to participate actively in training assessments. These principles will also help employees contribute to the development of the actionable results needed to enhance training and development programmes and create a supportive organisational environment in which employees feel more empowered to achieve success.
1. Align Purpose with Situation — It’s About What You Do, Not About What You Think You Can Do
Assessing the effectiveness of training programmes is about more than whether employees liked the course content and the instructor and whether the training appears relevant to one’s job. Also, it is more than what an employee thinks he or she will apply when returning to the workplace. Assessing training effectiveness involves learning what employees are actually applying on the job three to six months after attending training, which may not necessarily be consistent with an employee’s perceived competency or skill level.
Research supports that even highly competent/skilled employees may have difficulty applying skills learned in training in unsupportive organisational environments or in organisations with undefined processes, inconsistent management expectations and ineffective tools. Therefore, training evaluations should not be confused with competency assessments. When responding to items included in a training assessment, employees should not think about their own skill level, but how consistently they are applying a particular skill in the workplace. For example, an employee may feel competent in performing risk management, but should choose a lower skills application rating if the organisation’s PM processes do not encourage risk management and the employee does not typically perform risk management activities on projects.
2. Context Is Key — Bring the Quantitative Ratings to Life
Training assessments should provide the opportunity for employees to include narrative comments to substantiate and support numeric responses. It is important for employees to take the time to provide thoughtful, quality narrative comments, which will add insight to the numbers and bring the quantitative ratings to life. They should always take the time to make their voices heard and provide suggestions to improve skills application and enhance performance outcomes. Furthermore, employees should not forget to provide comments on the conditions that support effective application so the organisation can continue to build on these strengths.
Without this narrative information, lower skills application ratings may be interpreted by management solely as training gaps (or incorrectly as a lack of employee competence) when in reality the lower skills application levels may be related to other conditions in the organisation that make application more challenging.
Stay tuned to the second part of this blog posting!