Without a doubt, an organisation’s greatest asset is its skilled human capital. Companies are willing to do just about anything to improve the skills and capabilities of their workforce as they are the key to reaching the desired goals.
Most of the time, companies choose to invest in their human capital through effective learning and development approaches, particularly those that guarantee tangible future success. This is where corporate training comes into play.
Every organisation wants to manage training as a real investment, not just an expense. But in spite of the dramatic increase in corporate training, there are certain gaps in implementation which have led some organisations to doubt the effectiveness of their learning and development strategies.
We often hear leaders and managers lamenting that training courses did not yield the expected results compared with all the effort and money that went into them. Consequently, leaders and HR executives alike are searching for ways to obtain better results from their training investments.
However, even though there are countless studies on how to assess the value of learning and training, we are still debating how to evaluate training programmes and their return on investment. Why? What has gone wrong?
There could be various answers. One is that we tend to overlook the fact that we are dealing with “people” development, so issues such as mindset, environment, culture, motivation, leadership and so on come into play. Setting up a mediocre system to evaluate human factors just doesn’t work; it’s not like evaluating the efficiency of a machine.
Moreover, different types of training require different types of evaluation. In other words, we cannot simply use the same evaluation method for every training session or programme that we carry out.
At the higher level, to measure the level of effectiveness of a training programme, we can either look at the degree to which it achieved defined and stated objectives, or the cost of the training relative to the return.
When it comes to training related to products, sales or technical skills, usually the participants are learning new and very specific skills, and it will be clear after the class whether they have acquired the required skills or not. On the other hand, workshops or classes on leadership, team effectiveness, attitudes, diversity and other soft skills are mainly focused on intangible qualities. It can be difficult to gauge how well people have absorbed the messages or attitudes the training intended to embed.
Given the above considerations, what can companies do to make sure that their training sessions are worth the investment? For a start, ask yourself these following questions to see where you stand and what gaps your organisation has when it comes to offering training that delivers a return on investment:
- In conducting training, do you know what the actual needs are and who should be the target group of each session?
- What methodology do you use to find the answers to the above question? Does this methodology determine the actual organisational needs?
- Are the executives, leaders, supervisors and staff given the opportunity to know the reasons for the training?
- How well does management support these training efforts?
- Do the participants in the training see its importance and understand the reasons?
- Do they get the opportunity to use what they have learned in their everyday jobs?
- Do the line managers know what the training topics their staff have taken and how the knowledge can be applied back at work?
- What kind of system, mechanism or culture does your organisation have in place to assist the staff in increasing their capabilities in line with expectations?
- Do the staff know what’s in it for them once they can improve their capabilities?
Basically, if you don’t have the answer to most of these questions, I highly doubt that the training programme you’re organising or investing in will be worth your budget, let alone your time.
What’s more, in today’s world where change is constant, there is also a gradual shift in training requirements. There is a need to increase the value and return on training investment by designing courses and training frameworks that is clearly aligned with changing corporate strategy in order to achieve key business goals.
Also, we need to realise that one-time training might not be adequate and there are various types of programmes that are suitable for different purposes. Thus, HR practitioners or executives need to keep tabs on the changing business landscape, the changing aspirations of their people and their ability to adapt their training methods and modules to these emerging needs.
All in all, only when companies take steps to ensure their corporate training is effective and up-to-date can they be sure that they are making it worth all the money spent on it.
Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand's leading Organisation and People Development Consultancy. She can be reached by e-mail at arinya_t@apm.co.th or https://www.linkedin.com/pub/arinya-talerngsri/a/81a/53b
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