Is the training any good?

- One question I'm often asked is, "How do I know if the training I develop is any good? "How do I know it's working?" In order to tell if the training you developed is working, you have to apply a method of determining its effectiveness. This can be achieved in a couple of different ways. At the most basic level, ask the employee if they learned anything from the training. It's an okay estimate of the effectiveness of the training, but it's not the best. People are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to judging the effectiveness of training. They often misjudge what they learned or how much they'll actually be able to recall when they need it. The second method is to test or quiz the employees to see if they remember anything from the training. This is a little better, but the problem with this method is that they might have learned something but don't know how to apply that learning to their situation. A good example is that everyone knows they should eat healthy, but they don't always do it. The third way to measure the effectiveness of training is to see if the employee's behavior has changed because of what want to taught in the e-learning course or classroom. Behavior change is a big indicator of training success, but it's hard to measure. For example, you want employees to follow quality standards to avoid injury, and you've had no injuries for six months. Is the fact that you've had no injuries a result of the training or of luck? Sometimes it's hard to tell, but sometimes it's easy. If you have consistently found errors in employees completing an expense report and then you conduct training on how to fill out an expense report and errors drop dramatically, then you know that the training was successful. This also points to another concept in determining the effectiveness of training, which is looking at what's happening before the training. In academia, we call this taking a baseline measure, which basically means taking a measurement of what's happening before the training so you can compare what happens after the training. The difference between the before and after state can usually be attributed to the training. But you do have to watch out for other factors. For example, if reducing errors on the expense report was really important, and the company both offered training and refused to pay an expense until the report was perfectly completed, is the result due to training or due to the withholding of money until the form is properly completed? So you need to be careful. It is possible to measure the effectiveness of training if you do a little premeasure ahead of time and know what to look for, that way you can tell whether or not the training you created is making a difference.