Definition of Training
It is best to have everyone be clear and come to an agreement on a few “key terms”. Since “Evaluation on Effectiveness of Training” (EET) is the act of evaluating the effectiveness or a training intervention, naturally “training” should be defined first. At Access Ideas Malaysia, our definition of training is:
“A systematic process that enables learning and practice to take place with a clear objective to invoke change in the competency of another strategically through appropriate and acceptable methods.”
By examining the choice of words used, we can future comprehend the extent of the depth and breadth of this definition of training.
1. Systematic process
Training does not happen by chance. It is neither an accidental process nor a spontaneous incident. There is a large amount of planning involved in selecting the right input, with conscious decisions made on the strategy to produce the desired output.
2. Enable learning and practice
Training is implemented to enable learning to take place. However, learning alone is not enough. There must be conscious effort to allow the participants of the training session to apply and/or practice what they have learned. This is especially critical for skill-based topic where the application of the lesson is crucial to the effectiveness of the learning process.
3. Clear objective
If you are not sure of where you are heading, you will end up going around in circles. A clear training objective provides the trainer with a clear end-goal to aim for. This will help the trainer to make the right decisions on how to strategize the learning process. As for the learners, a clear objective will allow them to know what output is expected from the session.
4. Invoke change
A good trainer does not force the learning to happen. Instead, they invite and appeal to the participants’ own desire to want to gain new knowledge, improve their skills and consider new behaviour that would bring themselves benefits.
5. Competency
The whole point of training is to focus on the competency elements – what enables the person to be able to carry out the task better, namely the knowledge, the skills and/or the behaviour. We try not to get involve with the emotions, beliefs, character, and other psychological aspects of the learner.
6. Strategically
Each activity in the learning process must be appropriate, useful, and purposeful to achieve the targeted lesson. The trainer must make a conscious decision on the “what”, “why” and “how-to” of the training session.
7. Appropriate and acceptable methods
A trainer is the “bearer of knowledge” and this is a noble role. A noble man would not belittle, embarrass, or force the learner to do meaningless unorthodox actions with the excuse that it is his or her unique way of imparting knowledge or skills.
Considering the above, it is obvious that evaluation of training effectiveness is not and should not be an afterthought. As much as possible, we would like to ensure that we are being proactive rather than reacting to the need to evaluate whether the training intervention was successful in producing the desired results only when being questioned by top management or being audited at the end of the financial year.
To achieve this goal, we need to begin with the end in mind by understanding the preparations required for the EET process as early as the during “Training Needs Analysis” (TNA) stage or at least at the beginning of the “Training Design” stage.
Introduction to Evaluation
Besides the word “training”, for the specific purpose of EET, it is highly recommended that all terminologies are to be understood with the same level of comprehension by all parties involves. Because of this, it is crucial to also examine the definition of “evaluation” in the content of training and development – hence, training evaluation is:
A systematic act of making judgement to determine a training intervention’s merit, worth, and significance, in correspondence to a tangible value or amount in numbers.
1. Systematic act of making judgement
As evident in the previous explanation of the word “systematic process”, evaluation of training involves a large amount of conscious planning, especially in identifying and selecting the appropriate parameters to assess and come to a sensible conclusion regarding the improvement of a person’s knowledge, skills, and behaviour.
2. Training intervention
The intervention here refers to an event, typically interrupting the usual work and/or work situation, that is put in place to impart know-how or increase opportunity of practice to influence and alter the course of action take by the person when placed back at work and/or work situation.
3. Merit, worth, and significance
These are the critical criteria to be defined clearly so that the parameters that will be measured is made known and can judged without biasness. What would be the level that is considered “good”? How will “deserving” be judged? Can “importance” be quantified to indicate quality? These are some examples of questions to be asked to determine “merit, worth, and significance”.
4. Tangible value or amount in numbers
To achieve this, we need to be able to identify the types of data that needs to be collected and analysed.
In addition, the word “effectiveness” is typically defined as:
Successful in producing a desired or intended result.
Hence, the targeted level of performance, which is what is supposed to happen after going through the training intervention, needs to be made known so that there can be a clear indicator of the expected outcome.
Do get in touch with us if you are keen to explore this topic further.
