Establishing realistic measures of success

- A direct line from a successful training initiative to a positive business outcome is the holy grail of all organizational training. But while that's not always possible, it is possible to get close. It is possible to provide positive feedback to the organization related to the accomplishments of the training department. But to make sure you do that properly, there are a few things to keep in mind so you can strengthen your case. First, use measurement criteria that means something to the business. For example, a supervisor doesn't care how many hours an employee spends in training. In fact, they probably think the less hours spent in training, the better. Instead, a supervisor cares about the number of pieces produced or in a call center, they might care about the number of first-call resolutions. The point is not to pick training measures. Instead, pick business measures. Ask the business sponsor you are working for what measurements they value and they use. Then use those same measures to guide in the development and measurement of training. If you can help an operations manager meet her goals and you find a way to measure that, you are setting realistic measures of success. Second, remember that correlation doesn't always equal causation. In other words, just because two things are correlated doesn't mean that one caused the other. For example, you might conduct sales training and then sales go up. You could contribute that solely to the training. But what if, simultaneously, the sales department ran a contest for sales reps and whoever sells the most goes to Hawaii. So was the increase in sales due to the training or the contest? Realistically, both. So don't take the full credit, but do make the case that training provided the tools to help the motivated sales professionals perform better. Keep in mind that you're on the same side as the sales department. So together, the two organizations increased sales. The value you want to communicate is that both efforts helped to accomplish the organizational goals. Third, keep in mind that it's far easier to improve 100 things 1% than to improve one thing 100%. Set realistic improvement measures with your business sponsor. Training does eventually result in positive changes for the company, increases in sales, and decreases in errors and mistakes, but like anything worth doing, it takes some time and effort. Realistic measurements show you are approaching the training efforts professionally and with the business' best interests in mind. You are conducting training to meet organizational measures, not training measures. In the end, having open and honest conversations about what to measure, expected outcomes, and required timeframes will make your organization stronger and highlight the value of L and D.