Over the past few years I have been pondering the question “Is training an outcome driven business or an activity driven function?”  Think about it. Too many times we design training that links content to intended business results, deliver the course resulting in participant skill/knowledge change, but then just report the activity.

What I continually see in my experience are activity measures being reported by training functions versus the key impact to business results.  For example, those being:

• Number of employees trained
• Hours trained
• Cost to train versus budget
• Level 1 end-of-course reaction results (one could argue that these data begin to report outcomes – those being participants’ reaction or satisfaction with the training experience)

I believe that these metrics are necessary and essential but they are activity metrics not outcome measures which are even more essential.  Outcome measures should state the value that training has brought to the business .  In other words: impact.  So what are some outcome driven business metrics?  There are many and they need to be chosen so that it is within the context of your company and its typical reporting measures.  Here is the approach I use:

If you think of a training program as having a product life cycle (the stages through which a course bypasses) consider using 5 stages: 1) Forecast, 2) Design & Development, 3) Delivery, 4) Transfer, and 5) Impact.

Forecast. This helps management in its attempts to cope with the uncertainty of the future, relying mainly on data from the past and present and analysis of trends. Forecasting starts with certain assumptions based on the management’s experience, knowledge, and judgment. Elements I use in a training forecast are:

• Budget for all stages
• Design & development cycle time
• Number of employees trained
• Predictive Evaluation Impact Matrix ( Intention , Adoption , Impact )
• Predictive Evaluation ROI

Forecasting usually is coupled with a needs analysis in which the learning objectives are provided.

Delivery. The activity metrics used in delivery are typically:

• Expense versus budget
• Number of employees trained
• Training hours delivered

During delivery, outcome measures can be used. The measures I use are:

• End of course reaction
• Predictive Evaluation Intention Score
• Predictive Evaluation Belief Score

Transfer. The transfer outcome measure is the rate and degree that participants have applied training skills on the job.  The transfer outcome measure I use is the Predictive Evaluation Adoption Rate.

Impact. Successful transfer should lead to increased employee and organizational performance which results in Impact – tangible business results from training.  The impact outcome measure I use is the Predictive Evaluation ROI.

Thank you for reading and as always, I invite your comments and thoughts.