Training effectiveness, evaluation Everything you need to know

What is training effectiveness?

Training effectiveness refers to the impact that a training intervention has as measured by the achievement of the goals set before the training intervention. To enable the assessment of whether the training was effective or not the goals for the training intervention must be agreed upon upfront. In practice, I have noted that many organisations spend millions of dollars on training without necessarily checking whether the training is bringing the desired results or not.

Training effectiveness largely depends on how the training is designed, delivered and implemented. The other key facet of training and its effectiveness depends on the transfer of what has been learnt to the job. This specifically speaks to whether the individual who has attended the training is doing the job better after the training and whether the trainee has more knowledge after the training than before. Without encompassing the above key facets, the training investment is wasted.

What seems to be emerging is that training effectiveness is impacted by several factors before, during and after the training.

Organisations are investing a lot of money in training and development activities. Some of the training interventions are triggered by the need to adapt to the changing environment, especially those changes brought by technological change. Organisations are aware of the importance of training, as it brings a competitive advantage to the business when done properly. Even before focusing on training effectiveness, it is important to note that research shows that training works. The United States is estimated to spend US$135 billion a year on individual training ( Patel, 2010). To benefit from training, it is recommended that organisations pay attention to what happens before, during and after training when designing training interventions. Put differently, the effectiveness of training interventions depends on what happens before, during and after the training.

Training needs analysis matters

We cannot talk of training effectiveness if the groundwork is not done during the early stage of training needs analysis. The identification of training needs lays the foundation for training evaluation and establishing the effectiveness of such training.

The assessment of training needs enables some key processes such as laying out the expected training outcomes, hints of how the training should be designed and delivered, ideas on how the training will be evaluated. In the same assessment, it is important to look at environmental factors that are likely to impact the delivery of the training. Here are some of the key points to take note of, based on research, as these affect the effectiveness of training interventions:

Do not rely on asking people what training they need to do their jobs effectively. Research by Baddely & Longman (1978) shows that employees are not able to identify with accuracy what training they need;

A thorough training needs based on task analysis should be the basis for identifying training needs. The advantage of this approach is that you would then be able to use the information on what to include in the training and also for establishing training standards;

With more advanced approaches to training needs analysis such as cognitive task analysis, it is now possible to identify the cognitive strategies required to perform a certain task. The findings from such an analysis can influence the design of training in a good way;

Training needs analysis has also started covering the need to work in a team environment and this should be incorporated in the training needs analysis as most tasks are done in a team environment;

There is a need to do an organisational analysis as part of the training needs analysis. The organisational analysis will mainly uncover issues related to the organisation’s strategic priorities, the culture and any resource limitations that are likely to impact the way the training intervention will be implemented. In this same process, you should identify those roles that have been proven to have the biggest positive impact on the performance of the business. In the organisational analysis, it is important as well to look at the general work environment and identify likely obstacles to the training intervention and work towards removing them; and

Person analysis: At this stage, you are now identifying who cannot do the job, based on the output from the task analysis. Other researchers recommend that at this stage you should also look at individual factors that may impact the training, such as individual personality and motivation. The ultimate goal of carrying out a person analysis is to be able to ascertain the individuals most likely to benefit from the training and whether there is a need to customise the training to accommodate individual characteristics.

llllllTraining effectiveness evidence

So far, meta-analytic studies on the effectiveness of training have consistently proved that when the training intervention is designed systematically and grounded in the learning and training science, it has always shown effectiveness or has a positive impact.

Nguwi is an occupational psychologist, data scientist, speaker and managing consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. — mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or websites https://www.thehumancapitalhub.com/ and www.ipcconsultants.com.