How Do We Assess the Impact of New Training Methods?

Dear Hurry Up and Wait:

Unlike academic learning, business training should have an immediate impact. The best trainers will give your team strategies and tactics to implement upon walking out of the class. Employees thus will retain the new information much longer and better than those who wait.

To effectively evaluate training, the ideal is to determine your goals up front. What results would you like to see at the conclusion of the training? Once you have those set, it may be necessary to evaluate a benchmark before the training so you have something to compare. At that point, you can communicate them to the trainers and begin the evaluation.

Every training class given should end with an evaluation form. Participants should rate the training based on what they learned, how the content was delivered, and how well the trainer performed. Coupled with the comparative data, this feedback should give you a solid picture of how well your training is going.

Source: Kathy Breitenbucher, The Pedestal Group, Medina, Ohio

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.