For decades the training profession has struggled with the development and implementation of meaningful needs analysis, evaluation, and validation processes. The primary problem is the perception that these are separate processes, serving different purposes. Taken separately and independently, these processes do not come close to providing the valuable information necessary to determine the organizational value of training projects.
This seminar takes the mystery out of these processes, simplifies them, and provides a structured context in which they can be integrated into a comprehensive training plan.
THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR:
Are you concerned about "proving the worth" of your training projects?
Do you want to know how to check the quality of a training project while it’s being planned and developed?
Do you wonder why traditional needs analysis does not really identify training needs?
This workshop provides real-world concepts that will help you utilize needs analysis, and validation as operational tools rather than theoretical concepts. It presents these vital topics as interdependent processes directed toward the fulfillment of organizational goals rather than as mere postmortems to determine outcomes after the fact.
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
Systematically track a training project from beginning to end
Identify the five categories of training into which all training programs will fit
Assess the utilization of training resources according to the courses conducted in each of the five categories
Distinguish between needs analysis and training assessments and determine what tools and techniques are applicable to each.
Carry out a performance analysis to determine if training is a potential solution to an operating problem
Prepare performance-learning objectives as a means to validate the content of training programs
Distinguish between evaluation and validation
Create an evaluation process that provides quality checks throughout course design and delivery rather than a mere after-the-fact assessment
Design and administer student evaluation forms
Use validation as a proactive rather than a reactive process
Determine through performance validation whether training projects have fulfilled their organizational objectives
Evaluate the elusive concept of return on investment (ROI) as an effective and realistic method for validating training projects
Validate the results of training by relating performance to accountabilities
Identify the documentation necessary to substantiate that training has fulfilled its accountabilities
*Introduction focusing on course objectives; class discussion to define terms and to distinguish between evaluation and validation
*Course begins with a full-class role-play based on a case study; PMI instructor plays the role a training manager making a year-end report to the executive committee (class members); exercise designed to highlight typical problems training departments have in justifying their existence; discussion leads to the need to differentiate between the accountabilities of training and those of the line organization
*Class discussion to identify accountabilities; general conclusions reached are that the line organization "owns" training while the training department provides course design and delivery along with the consulting support and expertise necessary for the line to get the greatest pay-off from training.
*Introducing the needs analysis process by discussing traditional methods and concluding that few of them uncover any real needs and involve very little analysis; primary problems related to wants Vs needs and to the search for an all-purpose needs analysis tool.
*A tool for tracking a training project; each student identifies a training project and uses the tool throughout the workshop to track that project
*The five training categories into which all training programs will fit – entry level, performance improvement, personal/career development, orientation, mandated – and the definitions of each.
*Using the training categories as an audit tool; determine the spread of resources across the categories to evaluate performance Vs non-performance programs; eliminate the "pot full of training"
*Training assessments and performance analysis; assessments seek to answer the question, "What training are we going to do?"; performance analysis is conducted to determine if training is a potential solution to an operating problem; sources, instruments and techniques for carrying out both training assessments and performance analysis
*Detailed description of the performance analysis process; small group exercise to practice the performance analysis process as related to operating problems selected by group members
*The training cycle; 6 steps that must occur successfully and in sequence if a training project is to be successful; establishing accountability for the each step in the process
*Validation as a means of providing quality control throughout the training cycle rather than merely a post mortem after the training has been completed
*Process validation (evaluation) to determine the effectiveness of training programs and for serving as a quality check throughout the design and delivery process; monitoring the design process and observing instruction
*Separating the validation of training from the validation of the project of which training is a part; how to determine that the training was valid even if the project failed
*Demonstrating the validity of training by documenting performance against accountabilities; the two questions to ask to determine if training contributed to the goals of the project; using performance validation as an audit trail to determine if a project is failing and where to make in-process corrections.
By attending this program, you will receive:
Free telephone consultation after the program