Training programmes are a key part of the employee and professional development.
The majority of companies understand the importance of providing regular and focused training to enhance employee performance, increase knowledge in vital areas and to run a more efficient operation. Training is also vital for employee engagement and to help teams prepare for future careers with the company through role progression.
Investing in training can be expensive so every learning professional wants to show the value their programs create. Doing so in practice is often incredibly difficult. This is a practical approach to begin tackling ROI of training, starting in those areas where the learning professional is in the driver’s seat.
TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS measuring
Define the companies needs before training even begins
The purpose of the review may be as broad as an organization-wide implementation of a strategy or as narrow as the application of new technology in a division before any training is put in place to address companies need. Ask yourself:
- What is the business issue or challenge that you want to address?
Establish if training is the right solution
Training of employees is the typical response to address an occurring issue in a company or department, but training may not always be the right solutions. In order to achieve the right ROI on your training investment, you should first establish if training is the right solution. Ask yourself :
- Do employees already know how to perform the job? Do they really know the product?
If the answers are that employees don’t know how to do either of these well or if they don’t have enough knowledge of the product then it would be a good time to implement training
IMPORTANT METRICS TO MEASURE
Don’t track an exhaustive list of metrics. Select those that most directly track the success of your training in achieving its intended outcomes.
The mistake many companies make when measuring training success is only focusing on success factors that don’t take business impact into account, such as:
- Training attendance
- Training completion
- Satisfaction of trainees
These are some of the most important metrics to measure and can really give you an overall sense of your ROI through training programs.
