In my Learning to Performance System blogs, so far we have covered how to (1) create an Impact Map, (2) perform instructional design & course development, (3) redesign work processes & tools that are aligned with the new training effort, (4) prepare management to support the training effort, and (5) conduct training. In the Learning to Performance System, Training Transfer is defined as participants successfully implementing and integrating skills learned in training into their work behavior.  To make this happen you need to plan for and implement activities and techniques that will increase your company’s training transfer rate to 60-70% or more.  Some of the best techniques in the area of post-course activities that drive successful transfer are: Hold Virtual Retreats.  Here you want to keep the learning fresh and renewed by holding two virtual retreats at 90 and 180 days. Bring the participants and any instructors back together through some form of virtual meeting and facilitate a conversation of successful transfer by the participants. This is also an opportunity to review content and skills learned in class. Post-Program Meetings with Managers.  In our management prep sessions we informed the managers of how to run pre-course conversations to prepare their employees for training.  Now we have a session with the managers to coach them and show them how to support their employees as they try and master their new skills.  This also refreshes management on what was taught thus keeping them engaged in the transfer process. Ask the Professor.  Establish an email address that is monitored by course instructors and used as a helpline when students have questions as they begin to apply their new skills.     Coach Participants.  Establish a coaching program for participants. Here either external or internal coaches are assigned to participants and work with them for a defined period of time to observe and coach them as they apply their new skills.  I usually try to assign coaches that are not part of the participant’s management chain of command so they feel comfortable as they master their new skills. This is usually a formalized process in which coaches and participants meet on a regular basis to achieve the fine transfer outcome.   Mentor Participants.  Establish a system where participants can be mentored by other employees. Here, seasoned highly performing employees mentor the participants as they master their new skills.  I usually encourage a formal process (driven by the participant) in which employees and mentors work together as necessary.     Roadmap to Success.  Produce a document or provided online system that shows the roadmap for successful transfer. Here you provide participants with a guided approach of how to apply and master their skills typically with the timeline of what you would do in the first week, the second week, and so forth.     Use Social Media.  Consider using intra company social media activities to drive transfer. Establish instant messaging systems where graduates can ask each other questions, support each other, and share best practices on application of course skills.     Summary: this is just a few of the possible techniques and activities you can use to drive and manage the transfer of training back in the workplace. As always please let me know what other activities you have used in this area.    

In training, participant begin the transfer process by applying what they’ve learned in class many times over. At times they succeed and at times they struggle. But more often than not they move a little off course from what their employers had hoped the on-the-job behaviors would be. This is where application support by trainers post-program can bring students back on course, can aid participants in perfecting their skills, or help reenergize their willingness to try if they have fallen short. The steps to implement application support by trainers are: Step 1: Determine the appropriate time to schedule formal post program one-on-one meetings between the participant and the trainer. You want to make sure that the first meeting is far enough removed from when the class is held so that participants have the opportunity to apply their new skills on their own but close enough to when the class was held to keep them motivated. Also, I recommend two formal meetings between trainers and participants. This gives participants the opportunity to review their action plan in the first meeting and then determine what can be done to realize the plan before the second meeting. Step 2:. The trainer should reach out to each participant and schedule the first one on one meeting. In the invitation, trainers should include the purpose of the meeting and items that are appropriate to talk about with participants. Here is an example of a recent email I sent to participants in preparation for one meeting following a project management class: The purpose of these meetings is to help you implement your projects. Specifically, I would like to talk with you about: The progress you have made with the Action Plan you put in place at the end of class. What has gone right so far and what you could do better.  How has the company environment enabled your success and where has it hindered your efforts? How well has your project team functioned and how is the performance? What help do you need as you lead the team? How well are you using the project management tool? What can I help you with? If you have something specific you would like to discuss with me, please let me know.  Note: everything we talk about will be held in confidence. Step 3: The trainer, who is now becoming the coach, must properly prepare prior to each one-on-one meeting. Trainers/coaches should review participant work output, which is evidence of application of the learned skills from the class. They should also analyze the work output comparing it against the desired on-the-job behaviors that were documented in the impact map for the course. Trainers/coaches then need to create a summary of their analysis, documenting what they think was done well, or where opportunities for improvement exists, or list questions which need further information before participants are judged. The participant’s plan of action should also be reviewed carefully and added to the trainer’s notes so that the trainer can discuss with the participant their progress and offer any help they can provide. Here’s an example of notes for a recently held meeting:   Step 4: Conduct the one-on-one application coaching session with each participant. This is a conversation with a purpose. These purpose-specific discussions are planned conversations around the application of course skills. But coaches also want to be alert to opportunities that emerge. In these instances, they want to seize the moment and "coach." Coaches should show respect for the participant by letting individuals express themselves, by not interrupting, and by not judging what the individual says. Coaches should listen with purpose and use effective listening techniques, which builds trust with the participant. As a coach works through and provides students with feedback on their application of skills and shows them different or more advanced techniques of how to apply what they’ve learned, coaches should be sure to move towards a commitment conversation. They need to do everything possible to ensure the participants act on commitments made during their prior coaching conversation. I make it a point to end every coaching conversation with a summary question that encourages action. Some of the questions I use are: "What’s your next step?" "I want to remind you of your action plan to…" "When will you have this issue resolved?" "You’ve done well. Where else can you use this?" Coaching sessions need to conclude with agreement on a plan of action in order to succeed. To begin the process, what’s been discussed should be summarized and options reviewed that were explored earlier.  It is crucial to gain commitment from the participant to try new things or continue on with training transfer. Step 5: The final step is to follow up with a 2nd one-on-one session, usually 8-12 weeks post course.  I follow the same process as outlined previously but look for opportunities to enhance institutionalized skills or correct less than stellar application. As always, I enjoy hearing ways that you have done things similar to this, so don’t hesitate to contact me with comments or questions.

Training only provides capability to employees - the opportunity to try and master learned skills is where performance really happens.  For me, the element that is most crucial in the Learning to Performance system is organizational support by management.   There are numerous methods by which the management team can support learned skills and turn them into successful performance.  Today, I offer a few techniques that work in most environments and with any type of learned skill. Tip 1: Post-program teleconference/web meeting with managers. Once participants have graduated from the training program, consider holding a post program teleconference with their managers. The objectives of this meeting are: (1) to educate and inform management of the new skills that have been acquired by their employees in training, (2) describe the on-the-job behaviors that were identified in the Impact Map and designed into the learning experience, and (3) provide management the tools and techniques they can use to fully support their employees as they try out the new skills on the job. If possible, have a senior leader invite and host a meeting, therefore increasing the likelihood of attendance by management. As a training professional, your role is one of facilitation and answering questions versus driving attendance and subsequent action by management. The key to this session is to drive home the desired on-the-job behaviors that were clearly identified in the Impact Map. Tip 2: Managers conduct post-course conversations with employees.  Holding a brief conversation with participants after training makes a significant difference in what gets applied on-the-job, especially if supervisors review participants’ action plans. Ideally, you would like this conversation to occur within 1-2 weeks after training - the sooner the better. This provides an opportunity for the manager to shape their employee’s transfer (action) plans and set up support as the employee progresses down their journey. These conversations usually take only 5-10 minutes. Consider supplying managers with a Post Course Conversation Job Aid that’s customized for the course (in this case Project Management). Tip 3: Incorporate the employee’s Action Plan into their annual development plan. If you can, and if it’s within your company’s policies and practice, incorporate the action plan from the course into your employee’s annual development plan and objectives.   Tip 4: Ensure employees have the proper tools and resources. Many times, employees get back to the work environment and the tools and resources that they learned in class aren’t available to them. Without the right tools and resources, transfer and subsequent performance is highly unlikely. Therefore, the solution is to ensure that the employees have the proper tools and resources to be successful. Tip 5: Reward and recognize employees. As employees successfully implement skills learned in training and, therefore, their performance improves, use your company’s approved reward and recognition practices to honor them. These simple tips are best practice activities for organizational support by management. As always, I would like your reaction to these items.

Frequently I share  best practices in the training and development field.  Those of you have a read my posts previously know that I believe in a Learning to Performance approach.  Here  is a recent success in using this approach with one of my clients. My client and their business issue.   I was approached by the VP of HR for a very successful 100 year old global manufacturing firm.  As we talked, I found out that a component of their 2012 business plan had teams working on five strategic initiatives.  Early in the year, five task teams were operating with differing levels of consistency with respect to project management and milestones were being missed. The CEO, President, and the VP of HR realized that the company needed to implement basic project management (PM) across all five teams with the desire to institutionalize common PM processes and templates for future teams and institutionalize a common method for project management.  Hence the call to me - "Can you help us?" The solution.  I recognized immediately that this opportunity was tailor made for the Learning to Performance approach. And so we began. Step 1 - The Impact Map.  First I formed a Steering Committee of the CEO, President, VP of HR, Training Manager, and myself who created a simple Impact Map that documented the project management skills, knowledge, and on-the-job behaviors: Step 2 - Redesigned Work Processes & Tools.  Before beginning instructional design, I created and proposed a simple project management process that all teams would follow.  The trick here is to absolutely ensure that the process meets the needs of the company so that the process reflects the real work to be dome.  To accomplish this, I performed an analysis of the firm’s project management level of maturity, skill & experience of the target audience, profile of the target audience in terms of skill, and provided simple but effective tools and templates to enable the process.  After several meetings, the Steering Committee agreed upon the following process: We also agreed to use an on-line project management collaboration tool called Smartsheet as the software for all project teams.  To meet the need of a consistent use of tools, I created a standard project management template in Smartsheet with 3 standard documents that are required via the process. One incredible thing was that the President took ownership and reviewed, modified, and finally approved the Smartsheet template and documents.  What a cool thing for a President to do! Step 3 - Design & Development.  With the Impact Map, tools, and process in place, it was easy to design and develop a 2-day hands-on workshop.  I built the design so that participants were required to have an assigned company project that they would use during the workshop.  70% of workshop time was applying the process and using the tools as they mastered their new project management skills. Step 4 - Management Prep Team Session. With all of the elements in place, I conducted a 4-hour management prep team session. In this session, 16 executives attended (all the CEO and President’s direct reports). In the session, I taught then we discussed: The project management workshop Project management principles & processes How to make project management work and be an executive sponsor Meeting with your employee before and after the workshop Providing post-workshop support After this session, I met with the Steering Committee to talk about next steps. There I voiced that one of my concerns was that the firm was missing an Officer of Project Management to own and oversee the process. Without this piece we would have less than predicted transfer (performance on the job).  The Steering Committee embraced the idea and a few weeks later I was informed that the VP of Operations was promoted to the Director of Project Management for the company.  From that moment on the two of us worked together to make the rest of the Learning to Performance approach work.  I also became his personal coach with respect to PM. Step 5 - Training.  18 employees were selected to attend the workshop which included the new Director of Project Management.  The design worked flawlessly.  To aid in transfer to the job, the workshop incorporated 4 journaling points and a final action-planning module.  The action plans were captured on-line via Survey Monkey while still in class.  The next day, the action plans were sent via email to the participants and their managers thus facilitating a post-workshop conversation.  The action plans were also sent to the VPs of HR and Project Management - participants were informed that this would be happening and were encouraged to write solid plans of action. Step 6 - Organizational Support by the Management Team.  All participants met with their managers within one week of the workshop to finalize their action plans and go over their projects.  Participants then applied the process and used the Smartsheet collaboration tool and the standard templates to get their tasks done all while being overseen by the executive team and the Director of Project Management. Step 7 - Transfer by Participants.  The participants applied the project management process, tools, and templates while performing the project tasks.  An enabling factor of the successful transfer was the collaboration function of Smartsheet.  Participant work was immediately available and shared daily to their sponsors, project teams, Director of Project Management, and myself. Step 8 - Application Support by Trainers (me).  I was contracted to support each participant in the 60 days that followed the workshop.  What I did was meet with each participant one-on-one for 1 hour at 30 and 60 days after the workshop.  At the 30-day meeting we discussed their action plan and where they were with it.  As needed, I then coached them on how to perform the work.  In some cases the participant was doing so well that I provided advanced project management skills and showed additional features of Smartsheet.  At the 60 day mark I reviewed there progress and talked about how they would use their new PM skills beyond their initial project. I also met regularly with the Director of Project Management (at 30 and 60 days) and other times to coach him as he settled into his new role.   As I talked to the Steering Committee during this time, one thing that they mentioned to me was that when participants knew I was coming at 30 and 60 days they sharpened their game so as not be embarrassed. Just the act of formal follow-up aided in successful Learning to Performance. Step 9 - Predictive Evaluation. So did the company realize the results it had predicted in its Impact Map? The results are: Intention Evaluation: 100% of the action plans were judged as acceptable (employees are planning to do the things the firm required). Adoption Evaluation: Did we get the desired transfer (performance)? Absolutely! 17 out of the 18 participants had successfully transferred the predict behaviors documented in the Impact Map. That is a 94% transfer rate - an extraordinary adoption! Impact Evaluation: Here are the company’s results now versus industry standard (1) Performance Management results. Thank you for reading and as always, I invite your comments and thoughts. (1) Source: The Standish Group

I’m pleased to announce that training and development professionals can now participate in virtual webinars to get certified in my Predictive Evaluation (PE) model, the first and only training and evaluation approach that adds the element of prediction.  My groundbreaking PE methodology allows trainers and business leaders to successfully predict training’s results, value, intention, adoption and impact, allowing them to make smarter, more strategic training and evaluation investments.  I’m now offering a virtual training program to certify other trainers in the PE approach.   March 2013 Session with virtual classes on March 13, 20, 27, April 3 2013 | 7-9PM EST My PE Certification program is designed to address the needs of professionals at all levels of training evaluation proficiency.  My PE workshop provides Predictive Evaluation training in an interactive, practical forum. Participants will explore the reasons why evaluation is critical to training success and hear case studies and best practices from companies that have used the Predictive Evaluation model effectively.  They’ll learn how to implement Predictive Evaluation, why it’s important, and how to use it to maximize training ROI. In these web-based classes, I will teach participants all about Predictive Evaluation and how to apply it to maximize the results of their training initiatives.  During this course, participants will: Predict Training’s Value Conduct Intention, Adoption, and Impact Evaluation As part of the certification process, participants will receive a signed copy of my latest book Predictive Evaluation, the Predictive Evaluation Companion Workbook, along with the tools I use, so they can effectively and efficiently conduct their own evaluations. For more information, please contact me at valelearn@gmail.com.  REGISTER HERE for the upcoming PE Certification class.

Are you fighting to justify training’s value within your organization? Does your organization view training as an expense versus an investment with predicted return? Do you need a method of predicting (forecasting) the training’s value to help decide whether to train? Are your current evaluation efforts always "after the fact"? Do you want to measure success using leading indicators that drive continuous improvement? If you answered yes to any of the above, then consider becoming PE Certified.  For the first time ever, I am offering training and development professionals the chance to become certified in my Predictive Evaluation Model, an approach that adds the element of prediction to ensure that training delivers business and organizational results.  

Over the past few years I have been pondering the question "Is training an outcome driven business or an activity driven function?"  Think about it. Too many times we design training that links content to intended business results, deliver the course resulting in participant skill/knowledge change, but then just report the activity. What I continually see in my experience are activity measures being reported by training functions versus the key impact to business results.  For example, those being: Number of employees trained Hours trained Cost to train versus budget Level 1 end-of-course reaction results (one could argue that these data begin to report outcomes - those being participants’ reaction or satisfaction with the training experience) I believe that these metrics are necessary and essential but they are activity metrics not outcome measures which are even more essential.  Outcome measures should state the value that training has brought to the business.  In other words: impact.  So what are some outcome driven business metrics?  There are many and they need to be chosen so that it is within the context of your company and its typical reporting measures.  Here is the approach I use: If you think of a training program as having a product life cycle (the stages through which a course bypasses) consider using 5 stages: 1) Forecast, 2) Design & Development, 3) Delivery, 4) Transfer, and 5) Impact. Forecast. This helps management in its attempts to cope with the uncertainty of the future, relying mainly on data from the past and present and analysis of trends. Forecasting starts with certain assumptions based on the management’s experience, knowledge, and judgment. Elements I use in a training forecast are: Budget for all stages Design & development cycle time Number of employees trained Predictive Evaluation Impact Matrix (Intention, Adoption, Impact) Predictive Evaluation ROI Forecasting usually is coupled with a needs analysis in which the learning objectives are provided. Delivery. The activity metrics used in delivery are typically: Expense versus budget Number of employees trained Training hours delivered During delivery, outcome measures can be used. The measures I use are: End of course reaction Predictive Evaluation Intention Score Predictive Evaluation Belief Score Transfer.  The transfer outcome measure is the rate and degree that participants have applied training skills on the job.  The transfer outcome measure I use is the Predictive Evaluation Adoption Rate. Impact.  Successful transfer should lead to increased employee and organizational performance which results in Impact - tangible business results from training.  The impact outcome measure I use is the Predictive Evaluation ROI. Thank you for reading and as always, I invite your comments and thoughts.

Last week I spoke at and attended the Training 2013 Conference in Orlando, FL. These are always wonderful times for me because for 3 solid days I just think about the training business which is my passion. I look for ways to be better. I and think of how the training function could be better. I observe and spend time thinking about how I can contribute to this wonderful profession that I am blessed to part of. Late one afternoon I wrote in my notes: "So many times we make decisions about training based too much on emotions". Think of a time where you were preparing a training plan for a senior executive., where due to your needs analysis you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the executive could say no to your perfectly constructed training proposal. To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer. The executive listened politely and then alternatively told you exactly what to train and how. She dug in her heels on denying your proposal and refused to budge. She wasn’t swayed by your logic or needs analysis. Were you flabbergasted? I am embarrassed to say that this has happened to me way too many times. Because my approach to this is usually as a set of facts, I are was doomed to fail because decision-making isn’t just logical - according to the latest findings in neuroscience, it’s EMOTIONAL. So at the point of decision, remember that emotions are very important for choosing. In fact, even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion. This finding has enormous implications for training professionals. Bringing emotions into business decisions used to be considered taboo, but times have changed dramatically. People who believe they can build a case for their training program using only reason and numbers are in trouble because they don’t understand the real factors that are driving the other party to come to a final decision. Those who base their training strategy on logic end up relying on assumptions, guesses, and opinions. I’ve always thought that if my analysis is logical, then leaders can’t argue with it and are bound to come around to my way of thinking. The problem is, you can’t assume that the other party will see things your way. I’m a business guy in a trainer’s body. I love metrics - my books tell that story. Forecast, measure, and improve. Period. For me numbers and charts are the core to understanding the success of training. Until now. While I still believe that metrics are essential, I have now added emotional decision- making to my proposals. Imagine if. A good friend, Elizabeth Doty, and I are members of the the Berrett-Koehler Authors Cooperative board of directors. Recently, Elizabeth and a group of authors were attempting to get a new program started with the Co-op but the leadership team was not listening. Then on for a board conference call, she put together a scenario which she titled, "Imagine If". She took walked the leadership team through a scenario that showed the future and the benefits of program - the beauty in the this approach was that she touched on their emotions while incorporating costs and return on investments. It worked! They listened and unanimously approved the program. I now use this approach with all my proposals and I find that I am closing more deals and getting stronger buy-in than ever before. Try it and see how it works for you. Thank you for reading and as always, I invite your comments and thoughts.

I am always thinking of ways to make training transfer and Adoption Evaluation better, more efficient, valid, reliable, and meaningful to participants. I have decided to pilot the use of a decision diary as a post-course transfer activity and then use that data collected as part of my Adoption Evaluation work with one of my clients. Before I employ this, please take a few moments to look at what I am thinking about. Do you have any suggestions? Have you done anything like this before? If yes, what were your lessons learned? My definition of a decision diary for training transfer is … a record of decisions made by the participant post-program associated with the use of skills learned, together with any assumptions made and the reasoning employed. The record is used to derive lessons to assist future decision-making and evaluation of the Adoption Rate of predicted on-the-job behaviors. I provide participants with an on-line system where they can easily capture their decisions using the form below. During the course, we train participants on how to use the system and when to update. I recommend 5 minutes at the end each day for 2-4 weeks.     Weekly I compile the dairy entries and send them to each participant for their records.  I then compile all the data and use it as part of my Adoption Evaluation data collection methods and include it in my analysis. So what do you think?  Worth the effort?  Doomed for failure?  Any thoughts you can provide would be greatly appreciated?

All of us in the T&D field want to provide our clients (internal & external) with information that is valuable to them in an easy and understandable way.  You may consider using the  dashboard method. I use three types of measure in my dashboards: (1) activity, (2) quality, and (3) value. For activity, I include: Number of students trained versus projected Costs versus budget For quality, I use elements from my Predictive Evaluation model:  Intention Score - An Intention Evaluation addresses the following question: Are participant goals and beliefs upon course completion aligned with desired goals? Intention Goals are the planned actions that we want participants to author during training as their personal transfer plan. If training is working as designed, participants should be writing actions that drive desired adoptive behaviors back into their everyday work patterns. Adoption Rate -  An Adoption Evaluation addresses the following question: How much of the training has been implemented on the job and successfully integrated into the participant’s work behavior? Adoption Evaluation measures participant goal completion rate against the defined Adoption Rate created when you predicted training’s value. Data is collected on the success that participants have had in transferring their goals to the workplace, results are analyzed and compared to the Adoption Rate, and an Adoption Dashboard is produced to report findings. If needed, corrective actions are put in place to improve adoption. For value, I use the Impact element my Predictive Evaluation model.  Impact Evaluation is identifying the direct impact on - and value to - the business that can be traced to training. It assesses in quantifiable terms the value of the training by assessing which Adoptive Behaviors have made a measurable difference. Impact evaluation goes beyond assessing the degree to which participants are using what was learned; it provides a reliable and valid measure of the results of the training to the organization. You can find examples of these dashboards here. What other elements have you found that have worked well in your dashboards?