Your Chief Virtual Learning Architect

Learning to Performance

Read More
Custom Design & Delivery

Read More
Predictive Evaluation

Read More
Enterprise Learning Strategy

Read More

› ‹

1
2
3
4

Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

Predictive Evaluation

Designing Custom Assessments That Measure True Competency

Training is often declared successful when employees complete a course, pass a quiz, or report positive reactions. Those signals can be useful, but they do not prove that people can apply new knowledge under real operating conditions. A reliable assessment must reveal what employees can do, how consistently they can do it, and whether their performance supports business priorities.

Custom assessments provide that evidence by connecting learning objectives with observable workplace behavior. They can be adapted to a role, process, customer environment, risk profile, or technology stack instead of relying on generic questions that measure short-term recall.

The strongest approach treats assessment as part of the learning architecture from the beginning. When evidence requirements are defined before content development, instructional designers can create practice activities, feedback, and evaluation methods that reinforce the same capabilities.

Start With Business Outcomes

Begin by identifying the performance problem the learning initiative is expected to influence. The goal might be faster onboarding, fewer compliance errors, improved sales conversations, safer equipment handling, or more consistent leadership decisions. This outcome gives the assessment a meaningful destination.

Next, determine which employee behaviors drive that result. A customer service representative may need to diagnose a concern, select an appropriate solution, document the interaction, and maintain trust. A new manager may need to prepare for a difficult conversation, ask productive questions, and agree on measurable next steps.

This business connection helps distinguish meaningful competency from content exposure. A participant can define a policy without applying it correctly, or describe a leadership model without using it in a high-pressure conversation.

Define Observable Competency

A competency should describe an integrated capability, not a vague trait such as “understands” or “is familiar with.” Strong competency statements use action verbs and specify conditions and standards. For example: “Analyzes a customer complaint, identifies the root issue, and recommends a resolution that complies with service policy.”

Break each competency into evidence indicators. These might include accuracy, judgment, sequence, communication quality, speed, documentation, or risk awareness. The indicators create a transparent basis for scoring and help learners understand what effective performance looks like.

Use different levels of difficulty when appropriate. A novice may perform a task with prompts and reference materials, while an experienced employee should handle ambiguity, competing priorities, or an unfamiliar case. This makes the assessment sensitive to progression rather than limited to a pass-or-fail snapshot.

Build Authentic Evidence

The best evidence often comes from realistic tasks. Case analyses, simulations, role plays, work samples, decision points, demonstrations, and structured observations can reveal performance that selected-response questions cannot. The task should resemble the environment in which the competency matters.

Authenticity does not require expensive technology. A branching scenario can be delivered through a learning platform, while a facilitator can score a role play with a clear rubric. A practical exercise may use anonymized documents, customer records, project plans, or operational data already familiar to employees.

Design prompts that expose reasoning as well as the final answer. Asking learners to explain why they selected a solution can reveal misconceptions, risk tolerance, and decision quality. Keep the task focused, though: excessive complexity can measure reading endurance or test-taking skill instead of the intended capability.

Select Methods And Scoring

Different competencies require different forms of evidence. A knowledge check may be appropriate for foundational rules, while a simulation is better for interpersonal judgment. A work sample can demonstrate technical execution, and supervisor observation can confirm transfer after training.

Assessment method	Best evidence	Main limitation	Useful scoring approach
Knowledge check	Recall and basic comprehension	May overstate workplace readiness	Answer key with item analysis
Case analysis	Reasoning and judgment	Can be influenced by writing ability	Analytic rubric
Simulation or role play	Applied behavior under conditions	Requires trained assessors	Behaviorally anchored rubric
Work sample	Practical task execution	May take time to administer	Criteria checklist and quality bands
Structured observation	Transfer to the job	Observer bias can affect results	Calibrated rating scale

Use rubrics that describe performance levels with concrete evidence. “Excellent communication” is difficult to score consistently; “summarizes the customer’s concern, confirms understanding, and proposes a next step” is much easier to observe. Define critical errors separately when a safety, legal, or financial risk cannot be offset by strengths elsewhere.

Assessment design should also account for reliability and accessibility. Use multiple items or observations for important decisions, provide reasonable accommodations, and train evaluators with sample responses. When assessment results will support promotion, certification, or high-stakes decisions, document the rationale behind every criterion.

Validate And Interpret Results

Pilot the assessment with a small group before making it a formal measure. Look for ambiguous instructions, unrealistic time limits, technology barriers, and scoring disagreements. Ask whether high performers are recognized accurately and whether the task separates developing capability from established competence.

Review results alongside operational evidence. Adoption rates, quality metrics, productivity, customer outcomes, and manager observations can show whether assessment performance transfers to work. A broader view of learning analytics case can help leaders connect assessment data with investment decisions.

Predictive evaluation adds another useful perspective by estimating likely adoption and business impact before and after implementation. The Predictive Evaluation Model provides a framework for linking learning measures with organizational results instead of treating test scores as the final outcome.

Put The Design Into Practice

A custom assessment becomes valuable when its results lead to specific action. Use performance patterns to refine instruction, assign targeted practice, support managers, or adjust the process itself. Avoid treating every low score as a learner problem; unclear procedures, limited tools, and conflicting incentives may be contributing factors.

A practical implementation sequence includes:

Define the business outcome and the job behaviors that influence it.
Select evidence tasks that mirror real decisions or work products.
Create observable scoring criteria and calibrate assessors.
Pilot the assessment, analyze results, and remove construct-irrelevant barriers.
Track post-training behavior and business indicators over time.

Effective assessment is a design discipline, not an afterthought. Dave Basarab Consulting can help organizations align competency models, custom instructional design, leadership development, training delivery, and Predictive Evaluation so learning evidence points toward measurable business performance. Build assessments around the work your people must perform, then use the results to strengthen capability where it matters most.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.