Fresh new ideas for getting training success measures

It can be frustrating as a Change Manager if you go to develop and deliver all of this training for the change but then have no way of knowing did the knowledge, skills and capability actually sink in and get learned by the stakeholders and impacted teams? Offering training doesn’t mean people will actually do the training, and even if they were to attend a facilitated session it doesn’t mean they absorbed it or implement what they learned in their day-to-day work. 

This is one of the reasons my heart sings whenever one of my Leading Successful Change students shares that they used a tool or template or technique in their change or workplace: it’s evidence and proof they’ve absorbed it and put it in action, even if getting to mastery and the ideal results takes a little more practice!

At a very bare minimum, there are 3 things that should be tracked as key change success measures for a specific project: 

1. Training attendance

Did they attend the facilitated training or consume the training content?

2. Training completion

Did they actually complete the training and participate in the activities?

3. Training confidence

How do they rate their confidence in doing things in the new way after the training?

You'll need to work out how you'll track and measure these, but some ideas could be:

1. Training attendance

Tracking RSVPs, taking roll or marking off attendance in the training.

2. Training completion

Keeping an eye on who stayed in the room / on the call and who is participating and completing the required activities, which may even include a quiz or assessment to test knowledge or skill. If it’s pre-set training, it could be module completion via your LMS (Learning Management System), or if watching back a recording there may even be a way to track that depending on the platform you use.

3. Training confidence

A simple post-training survey at the end of the session, built into the allotted time, is the best way to make sure this happens. 

If you wanted to take things to the next level and increase accountability on the completion and integration of what people learned, you could include training measures in the team member’s Performance Plan or KPIs. I’d note here though that an individual change won't usually be included in a holistic annual Performance Plan unless it's perhaps a 3-5 year transformation the whole organisation or department is focused on OR such an important change that a team wants to include them. 

Always remember that training success has to be both internally and externally motivated. You need the carrot and the stick:

• The carrot means making the training so appealing, sparking curiosity and FOMO that they want to move mountains to attend. 
• The stick - what consequences will there be if they don't attend? Does it mean they won't get access to the system? Will they miss out on their bonus? Will they have to do a refresher training and if they miss even that too then they get a formal warning? 

It will be different in different organisations and teams based on culture and leadership maturity. But in my experience, making the training absolutely EPIC that people rave about it is the best way to make people want to attend. Check out a lot of my classes and courses and how I market them and use tools like testimonials to see this in action!

I talk about success measures more in my free Ultimate Guide to Change Management. It’s filled with everything you need to know to talk about Change Management confidently and Part 6 covers “How to Measure Change Management Success (or ROI)”. 

Read and download my free guide here: The Ultimate Guide to Change Management with Lata Hamilton

Lata xx