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. Read more

In part 1 of this posting we covered the first 2 principles: Align Purpose with Situation and Context is Key.  Here I will go through the next 3 principles.

3. Not All Assessments Are Created Equal – Focus on Participation and Validation.
As discussed in the first blog posting in the series, assessment instruments should exhibit strong reliability and validity (i.e., consistently measure what they are supposed to measure); however, even a well-designed, sound assessment can fail without adequate participation. Read more

Learning and development professionals are responsible for implementing training programmes that teach the relevant skills employees need to be successful in their jobs. However, even when training appears to be relevant, gaps in skills application may occur, which can lead to persistent performance problems. The problems may not be related to the training itself; something may have gotten “lost in translation.” Training assessments can help evaluate these skills application gaps and performance problems to support effective decision making about how to enhance training and development programmes to improve performance. Read more

In part 1 of this blog posting I explained that applying  the five principles which were outlined in my first 2 blog postings to your executive stakeholders will help you to foster the level of executive support and participation necessary to ensure your training assessment provides the actionable results your executive needs. 

I covered the first 2 principles: Align Purpose with Situation and Context is Key.  Here I will continue with the next 3 principles. Read more

When performance problems arise, many executives instinctively think training is the solution. This may often be the case, but once implemented, how do they know if the training is improving performance and contributing to desired business results?

This article is the second in a series of four to help you get the most out of your training assessments. Training should be part of a comprehensive performance improvement solution. However, it is up to executives to create an environment in which employees are empowered to act, can easily apply the skills learned in training and are rewarded by the organisation for doing so.  Read more

In part 1 I explained that there are 5 principles to ensure you get maximum vale from your training assessments.  The first 2 that were covered are as follows

1)      Align purpose with situation

2)      Context is king

Here is will outline the next 3 principles: Read more

Unfortunately, workplace assessments have gotten a bad rap. You’ve most likely been assessed to death and have participated in a number of assessments that didn’t result in much action or create the changes promised. Training application assessments (e.g., Kirkpatrick’s Level 3 Assessments) are no exception. Often, organisations decide to conduct this type of assessment as an afterthought, long after the training programme has been implemented; or they decide to conduct an ad hoc assessment in reaction to persistent, unsatisfactory project performance. However, using training application assessments in these ways may limit the value provided by the results if the assessments are not conducted properly. If reactive training application assessments seem to be the norm, how can you ensure your assessments provide valuable information for performance improvement? Read more

Let the participants decide what they want to talk about.

So, we discussed the misconception that you should avoid meeting, we got the role of the chairperson out of the way and decided that we should invite all interested participants, the more the merrier!

Let’s finish this series with discussing the use or misuse of the agenda. Read more

Invite as many interested participants as you can.

In the previous two posts we talked about the ‘badvices’ (aka bad advice) of meeting only when it is needed and making sure a chairperson is firmly conducting the meeting.

It’s time now correct the following misunderstanding: Read more