Category: Value
Adoption Evaluation , as an output, sorts participants into either Successful Adoption or Unsuccessful Adoption. Participants labeled Successful needed to meet two criteria: (1) self-reporting successful implementation of their Intention Goal and (2) what they did matches an Adoptive Behavior on the Impact Matrix. These are the participants most likely to have results, and you want to more information from them on that impact. You do this via an Impact Survey.
The Impact Survey is like the scorecard of results. From the participants, you want it to capture the following:
- Details on the performance: what they did, what tools and techniques they used
- Results realized from that performance: what impact has occurred (cost savings, higher production, less defects, increased sales, etc.)
- Where claimed results can be validated Percentage by which training provided the impact
- Whether the impact is sustainable and repeatable Percentage by which other factors (external or internal to the company) contributed to the impact
The survey needs to collect enough data from participants so that you can analyze the results and compare them to the predicted impact (found in the training’s Impact Matrix). A good starting point is to review the Impact Matrix and use it as your guide for the survey.
SAMPLE PREDICTIVE EVALUATION IMPACT SURVEY
As always, please send me your thoughts on this method. Next blog: Collect Detailed Impact Data from Successfully Adopted Participants .
Creating value requires an investment in future returns. In our case the cost to design, develop, deliver, maintain, and evaluate the course. Since value is usually generated over time you need to calculate the lifetime cost of the training.
Training has a life cycle similar to a product life cycle used in marketing. It describes the stages a course goes through from when it was first thought of until it finally is removed from the being offered. In these stages, costs are incurred – I call these the Lifetime Training Costs.
The Steering Committee has accomplished a good deal to get to this point. To recap, you have the following predictive elements in place: Beliefs, Intention Goals, Adoptive Behaviors, Distribution of Goals, Adoption Rate, Adoption Value, and External Contribution Factors.
These are all the elements needed to calculate annual impact per participant using the Impact Matrix. The Matrix uses simple formulas to calculate training’s predicted impact.
Results that employees realize may be attributed to training, but other organizational forces could affect them also. These forces may include elements directly controlled by the company (internal forces) and those external to the company. Examples of internal forces are new product introduction, price changes, new Human Resources processes, change in strategy/annual operating plans, new leadership, mergers and acquisitions, changes in compensation plans, etc.
Examples of external forces are new competition, government regulations, local/global economic conditions, etc. For example, if the Steering Committee predicts a $10,000 value from an adopted behavior, internal and external forces have contributed to that amount to some degree. This needs to be recognized and accounted for so that a more accurate prediction of training value is created.
Adoptive the value is the annual result of an adopted behavior being performed by one participant in monetary terms. Each result was worth something to the company. If it isn’t, why include in the course? This is where expert performers, subject matter expert, human resource professionals, and individuals from the finance organization can provide input into the value. The committee answers this question: What results are realized when a participant successfully implements the adopted behavior.
When capturing the adopted values I used the following worksheet:
When organizations implement training, it’s usually driven by a bigger-picture issue, like launching new business processes. However, companies often struggle to justify training’s effort and expense because they can’t predict definitive business outcomes.
In lieu of a crystal ball, trainers need some way to prove that training’s worth the investment. By adding the element of prediction, they can demonstrate – with high confidence – the additional value that training will deliver, including increased revenue, sales, savings, and/or profit. Essentially, it creates a business forecast for training.
Predicting via the Impact Matrix: The Impact Matrix is a rectangular array of Intention goals & beliefs, Adoptive behavior examples, business results, and external contribution factors that, when combined using certain rules, predict the Impact from training.
It’s usually created by a Steering Committee of subject matter experts and key decision makers, drawing a direct link from training to business impact.
As soon as you have adequate information to describe the course, establish a Steering Committee of eight to twelve people to develop the predictions. Ideally, this group is made up of individuals from the learning function along with subject matter experts from business units and functional units; it may also include external consultants. Ideally, they are people who represent their function or business unit and have the expertise to provide valuable insight during the prediction process.
Many business leaders define the ultimate financial goal of a firm as “to maximize shareholder wealth” or “the creation of shareholder wealth.” Both terms may be used interchangeably but essentially the goal is to have the price of its stock as high as possible. In order for a company’s stock to grow in value you must have profitable growth.
Profitable growth means that a company’s profit grows at a greater rate than revenue. This however might be difficult to achieve over a long period of time. At the minimum, companies try to make sure that their profit is growing at the same rate as their revenue.
Profitable growth begins with the growth in a company’s revenue or “top line” but that is not enough. What a company really aims at is growth in profits or “bottom line growth.” It is the growth in profits that investors seek from a company in order to be willing to buy its shares, thus creating demand for the shares and increasing their price.
When evaluating something – a training program, a new product, or a new service; it is helpful to evaluate the object’s merit and its worth. Merit answers the question: does the object do what it is supposed to do? Worth answers the question: does the object add value beyond itself?
Predictive Evaluations supply data as to the merit and worth of training programs.