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Grace Hill Training Tip of the Week
How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Compliance Training Plan Step-by-Step
This is the sixth and final post in a series about how to measure the effectiveness of your compliance training program. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 in the series for more helpful information.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve discussed components of a good training evaluation plan. Collectively, the information gathered shines light on what is and isn’t working in your compliance training. Even if an evaluation doesn’t show positive results, it is successful if it provides the information you need to make things better.
Let’s review!
Measure implementation. Did employees complete the training? You don’t want to conclude that training didn’t work when, in fact, the issue was that employees didn’t complete the training, or didn’t complete it with fidelity.
Measure learning. Did employees master the training’s learning objectives? If employees can’t demonstrate they grasp what’s been taught, it is very unlikely they will be able to apply the training content on the job.
Measure reactions. Did employees like the training and feel they benefitted from it? Buy-in will increase likelihood that training will continue to be implemented with fidelity.
Measure transfer. Do employees use what they learned in training on the job? Training is not likely to affect performance if employees don’t apply what they’ve learned in their day-to-day work.
The last piece of the puzzle is to measure performance results. Does the training improve job performance and positively impact your business? Here are some tips for measuring performance results.
Identify one or more outcome metrics. What tangible results do you expect from training? Will instances of non-compliant behavior (e.g., harassment) be reduced? Will accident or claims rates stay at or below a benchmark? Aim to impact outcomes that are important to your company, your employees, and your bottom line.
Assign a dollar value to each metric. Quantify the benefits of training in a meaningful way. Imagine you determine that, on average, it costs your company $2000 in management time to handle a single harassment complaint. If training reduces complaints by 3 a year, the impact is about $6000. Putting results in dollars and cents is compelling.
Align metrics and accountability. Ideally, key metrics you want training to impact are metrics employees are already held accountable for achieving. Having this type of alignment signals that the metrics are important, and also makes sure your training and your employees are working towards the same goals.
Leverage existing metrics. Instead of creating a new metrics and measurement tools, first see if you can leverage metrics you are already collecting. This will minimize strain on you, and your busy managers and employees.
Measuring performance results is likely to be the most costly and time-consuming part of your evaluation plan. However, showing impact on metrics that are important to your business, and assigning a dollar value to incremental improvements on those metrics, can help make a very compelling case for training.
Finally, build in time to review the results of what you find as you measure each component. Feed that information back into improvement plans to increase the impact of your compliance training over time and get the most out of our training evaluation efforts.
