"All men by nature desire knowledge."Aristotle
Training at the workplace provides both the employees and the company with benefits that make the costs and time invested worthwhile. The only condition is that the employees will also apply what they have learned during the training.
At one training I have been a couple of years ago the participants agreed at the end of the first training session that they will adopt and implement a certain working model for 40 days. After this time, there will be a second training session and the employees will have to report on how did the implementation of the method go, what were the results, what was their general feedback. What do you think it happened?
Form a group of 10 people:
- 3 said they tried to apply the model for a couple of days but they returned to their old system because it was more convenient for them
- 5 applied just some parts of the model and only occasionally
- 2 people applied the model entirely and through the whole period of time
Of course this is just an example and it can’t be generalized. However, I realized one again how important is to measure the effectiveness of training.
Most training sessions, especially those that are done with an external trainer, usually end with a questionnaire regarding the perception of the participants. This kind of measurement is only showing if the participants were generally ‘happy’ with the training but they don’t give any information on how much they have learned, what is the probability for them to apply the things they have learned and most of all what are the end results.
The organization through the line managers and up to the board of directors should be the ones having the greatest interest in evaluating and validating the training and learning. In this regard they should ask for support from the trainers and most importantly to support all the that is being presented during the training.
On the other hand, every employee has the responsibility to take the most of every training and apply it, at least when it comes to the ones paid by the company. More than a moral responsibility this should be seen as an opportunity for personal and professional development. Applying the new things learnt in training will take us most of the times out of our comfort zone. Nevertheless, as Kristen Wiig said: ’When you go out of your comfort zone and it works there’s nothing more satisfying.’
