quote:

Originally posted by Laura L:
I think it's important to note that because job performance and training transfer are affected by a large number of factors, there is no way to conclusively prove that a change in performance after training was indeed the result (or solely the result) of that training program.

I haven't read all that has been written (or thought) about evaluation. Neither have I seen proof that there is no way to conclusively prove that a change in performance after training was indeed the result (solely or otherwise) of that training programme.

If somebody knows of such proof I'd be very glad to look at it.

My intuition tells me that there are some non-trivial situations where there is no way to conclusively prove that performance has changed as a result of training, at least in part. My own experience tells me that there are some non-trivial situations where it seems that it is possible to conclusively prove training has contributed some, if not 100%, of the performance improvement. Access to any proof to the contrary may help me identify where I might have gone wrong with some evaluations in the past where it seems we did conclusively prove training improved performance.

This is not an attack on Laura or what she's asserting - just the realisation that somewhere in my work I may have missed something major - I've been known to be wrong in the past!

Looking forward to any guidance!

Kind regards

Martin

quote:

Originally posted by tito805:
Can anyone assist me or lead me in the right direction? I am exploring whether there is an evaluation form out there that I could use as a benchmark, to send to employees that have completed training and see whether it had made them better at their job or had any value?

Can I suggest that you look at the Success Case Method by Robert Brinkerhoff - there's plenty on the web about it and he has recently published another book on the subject - its very good and entitled "The Success Case Method" published by Berrett-Koehler - I got mine for $24.95 from Amazon (and about $13 shipping to the UK - ouch!)

You may also like to ask the managers of the attendees what has changed, if anything, that has helped improve performance.

Kind regards

Martin

As you surely must know, Martin, performance is affected by a number of factors, of which skill/knowledge is only one. Since you wont believe the experience that is presented to you on this board, perhaps you would consider going back to basics -- look at just about any good foundational book on performance consulting and/or instructional design.

If performance is not affected, why do we do what we do?

I'm going to have to go with Martin on this one AL - training can have a direct impact on performance in some instances. And it is clearly measurable.

For instance, in teaching medical coding - the person is not able to do their job without the information and training provided. They would not know what keys to press, what screens to read, what codes are which. Here is a case where training has a 100% impact on performance. But this is more of a concrete skill and area.

If you are stretching out to the softer side of training (motivational trainings, time management, organizational skills, etc.) then it does become more difficult to assess impact of training versus the other factors.

But is training not the impetus of those other factors?

For instance, if a person is sitting in a training and the "light bulb blinks on" despite the fact that that epifany has nothing to do with the class, is the training NOT a direct contributor to that realization? While the topic may have been 'Handling a difficult client' and the participant had a sudden inspiration on how to do performance reviews, I don't see how this is not connected.

A good number of "learning moments" occur in a training session that are utterly off topic. But had that training session NOT occured, those learning moments would not have either.

This is one of the reason I use wide-open questions in my evealuations, such as "List everything you got out of the training, on topic or not." A good number of items have nothing to do with what was occuring in the training.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jmfryar,

ah ah -- be careful. I NEVER said performance is not affected by training, nor did anyone else. The point is that performance is affected by MANY factors and skill/knowledge (or that which we can impact through training) is only ONE of a miriad of factors that impact performance.