Thursday 15 January 2015

What Training Measurement Can Learn from Malaria


Empirical measurement matters and the scientific community is well ahead of those of us in the corporate training world in recognizing this. True scientists hold to the rigor that it is on the basis of objective measurement that conclusions should be drawn…not anecdotal evidence or general beliefs.

Over 100 years ago when the Panama Canal was being built, it was understood that malaria (literally translated as bad air) was caused by the humid, fetid air that rose from the tropical swamps. Thousands died.  Finally the discovery by Major Ronald Ross that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes led to corrective actions. They put screens on windows, drained the swamps, got rid of standing water, etc. No one until Ross had successfully studied the situation to assess who was infected and under what circumstances. It took a careful evaluation of the entire environment before identifying the disease carrier and taking the appropriate steps to improve the health environment. The control of malaria was critical to the eventual completion of the canal.

What can we in the training measurement field learn from this? We should learn that measurement is as critical to business success as it is to real scientific progress. And when you are measuring the effect of training, it is the data that should drive decisions…not the smiley-faced evaluations and general approval of the program. We need to get rigorous about what we measure, what conclusions we draw as a result of the metrics, and how we should move forward with our programs.

Think carefully about what behavior and skill changes would make a difference in the company’s performance. There are seven key questions that should drive your thinking:

1. Are our customers satisfied?
2. Is our customer base changing?
3. Is our organization’s strategy effective?
4. Are individual strategies working?
5. Are operations efficient?
6. Are we preparing for growth?
7. Are key employees engaged?

Each question has applicable measures that will tell you how well the company is doing. Assess customer satisfaction and retention for #1, for example, or market growth and potential for determining what is happening to your customer base.

When a problem or disparity is uncovered, figure out how to fix it. When training is part of the answer, be certain that the program you design will develop the specific competencies skills for the scenarios that are most important for your business. Match the business needs to performance measures and pay attention to the numbers.

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