Measuring Program Effectiveness with Metrics Discussion

Measuring training effectiveness can be a tough task for both stakeholders and end users. If you are a company stakeholder or a training manager in search of ways to gauge your programs’ effectiveness, here are some metrics that you may want to apply.

For one, you can increase retention. Many human resources departments gauge the percentage of retention in some or all jobs. More often, jobs with high turnover are those which receive the highest attention. If, for instance, a newly trained employee feels insufficient to take on the job yet, s/he is more likely going to leave within ninety days in the company. Measuring training success with this approach to your program can generate high retention points.

Another approach increased sales. A lot of organizations can monitor efficiency from sales. If training is mostly focused towards a customer service or sales force, then an effective program can rev up sales numbers eventually. Also, you can measure product knowledge training in your sales number. Keep in mind that poorly trained salespersons are usually not able to sell effectively. Unit sales and dollar figures can make good metrics. However, you need to make sure that your metric is balanced with other factors which can affect sales numbers.

Increased operational efficiency is another metric to consider as well. Well-regulated or production-focused businesses are geared towards more efficiency. If your training programs aim to teach skills, consider management’s efficiency metrics as our baseline prior to and following the training intervention. Moreover, if you are developing a new product or program, you can use efficiency numbers to get directions on acquiring content for training course.

Also, consider customer service results. Keep in mind that any firm can associate training to customer service, which may be external and internal. Moreover, customer service is an easier medium to begin with – a well-written survey can determine a number of customer-related concerns that may be discussed in training programs. It is important to remember that training may not only be the solution in addressing these issues. If your company has a customer survey already in place, you can use these metrics to check your programs. If your programs can impact these survey items, then you can link back an increase in customer satisfaction to training.

You can also use scorecards defined by your firm as your metric too. Most training outsourcers use criteria that are defined by clients when identifying training effectiveness. If your company has a wide range of potential measurements, then you can be able to develop a scorecard based on the training programs and expectations that need to be arranged.

In addition is the cost of training, which is usually measured internally. In organizations with high turnover, lowering cost for every student may be used to measure effectiveness. It can also directly be associated back to retention, that is, if you spend less on training for newly hired personnel, then your retention may also be higher as well. Other metrics that you also need to consider include return on investment, income and revenue generation, instructor performance and satisfaction of end users.

It is important to remember that when working up these metrics, you should be able to work together with your stakeholder and your HR personnel in order to get the best results. Once you will have measured and proven effectiveness, then your firm’s credibility can go a long way.