Whether it is formal or informal, all organizations have
some form of training. How does an
organization figure out if its training is impactful or even effective? How does an organization understand if one
training method is better than another?
Or measure training transference to on the job performance? Training evaluations can help an organization
examine these factors and allow it to better utilize its training budget.
Training evaluations provide the information needed to
understand whether people enjoyed the training, gained knowledge or skills from
the training, apply the knowledge from the training to their jobs, etc. For example, a large retail company may want
to roll out a new training program. If
they do not obtain a base line for how employees are performing under the
current training program, they will not be able to see whether the new training
is effective or even making an impact.
A good training evaluation should look at these things:
baseline knowledge/performance before the training, knowledge/behavioral
transference after the training, and, occasionally, how entertaining/enjoyable
the training is. Establishing a baseline
of knowledge/performance before the training and testing knowledge/behavioral
transference after the training allows an organization to make
pre-/post-training comparisons. These
comparisons will allow the organization to understand whether the key
objectives in the training have been learned and put into practice.
Training can often be a tedious obligation. Employees tend to just speed through online
or computer based trainings without actually reading much of the material. However, if you make the training more
enjoyable or engaging, employees tend to remember more from the training. Measuring the entertainment/enjoyment value of
a training program is not always necessary; however, it allows an organization
to understand what adjustments can create a more memorable and effective training
program.
For more information about training evaluations and how
Sentenium can help you measure your training, visit www.sentenium.com.