Tips and Strategies to Shorten New Hire Time-to-Productivity with Employee Onboarding Training

The success of any staffing initiative lies not just in finding and hiring the right talent but also in how quickly new hires get productive. And the lynchpin to effective time-to-productivity is the employee onboarding training that each new hire receives. In fact, the speed at which new inductees become productive often determines the Return on Investment (ROI) generated by corporate training programs at large.

What Is Time-to-Productivity in the Context of Employee Onboarding Training?

Time-to-productivity is a measure of the time taken by employees from being hired to becoming productive members of the organization’s workforce.

Along with other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) associated with HR and staffing processes, such as time-to-fill, time-to-productivity sheds light on the effectiveness of an organization’s hiring and onboarding process.

Poorly constructed employee onboarding trainings not only extend the timeline of employee productivity but also add other risks to the staffing process: New hire disillusionment with training and resulting premature exits from the team.

In contrast, well-designed employee onboarding training plans play a key role in shortening time-to-productivity. Take a look at the following stats that reaffirm the impact of effective employee onboarding training:

1. When surveyed, organizations perceive effective onboarding as improving retention rates (52 percent), time to productivity (60 percent) and overall customer satisfaction (53 percent). (Source – Aberdeen Group)
2. 69 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding. (Source – UrbanBound)
3. Organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%. (Source – Glassdoor)

What Strategies Can Shorten Time-to-Productivity Through Employee Onboarding Training?

There are a number of strategies that L&D professionals may deploy, as part of employee onboarding training programs, that are effective at shortening learning curves for newly hired employees.

Some of these include:

1. Training based on SMART Goals: The training plan must be based on SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-oriented) training objectives. Trainers and new hires must know exactly what productivity targets to hit and how long they have to achieve them.
2. Personalized training: You can’t have a one-size-fits-all employee onboarding training. Time-to-productivity is unique to each new hire (because of background, skill, and experience) and each role. Employee onboarding trainings must consider those facts.
3. Blended Learning: Because of differences in learning styles and preferences, Blended Learning, which uses a mix of online/eLearning and Instructor-Led Training (ILT), assures better productivity outcomes than 100% eLearning or an all-ILT employee onboarding training strategy.
4. Mobile Learning: Organizations may shorten new employee training time by delivering on-demand learning. And the best way to do so is through Mobile Learning solutions. Shorter training = expedited time-to-productivity .
5. Leverage Microlearning: The strategic use of Microlearning, that is, learning designed around bite-sized modules, integrated into broader employee onboarding training topics, helps fill vital knowledge gaps more effectively than 3-hour lectures or hour-long videos. Such content may be delivered offline or as sidebars within main onboarding modules, or as additional resources that newly hired staff may pursue on their own.
6. Social Learning: Facilitating learning, through peer groups in social situations, helps learners absorb new concepts and ideas better (faster) than they do in Formal training environments.

L&D managers may also consider other employee onboarding training strategies that supplement the core ideas discussed above. These learning approaches, such as Gamification and Simulations, serve to enhance knowledge absorption and application among new inductees, thus expediting their progression to fully productive members of the team.

Are There Any Other Tips That Can Help Compress the Time-to-Productivity Further?

You can also adopt the following tips to shorten the process of employee onboarding training and reduce the time-to-productivity further.

Tip 1: Add Pre-boarding to the process

To compress time-to-productivity even further, consider adding a pre-boarding process to new employee training. This phase could cover basic orientation topics, such as:

• Introduction to the Organization.
• Mission, Vision, and Values.
• Introduction to various offerings.
• Organization Structure.

The new hires complete the training in their own time, prior to showing up (or logging on) for formal onboarding sessions. Ideally, use Microlearning modules, delivered through eLearning, for this process.

Tip 2: Structure the employee onboarding training into smaller chunks

To move new hires through employee onboarding training and make them productive as quickly as possible, structure it into sub-components that have specific sub-objectives. Some post pre-boarding sub-components may include:

1. Additional orientation – to familiarize newcomers with the organization policies and procedures.
2. Role-specific resources and responsibilities – where new hires learn what they will do, how they’ll do it, and what tools and technologies to use to perform their job more efficiently.
3. Networking and collaboration – that empowers newcomers with information and contacts to turn to if they need help and support while doing their jobs.

Tip 3: Continue the connect and ongoing learning (after the completion of the employee onboarding training)

Additionally, best practices recommend the inclusion of multiple follow-up and refresher training milestones throughout the employee onboarding training process.

You can pick from a wide range of Performance Support Tools (PSTs) or just-in-time learning aids to provide the on-going connects. These could include:

1. Quick Reference Guides.
2. Learning Summaries.
3. Cheat Sheets or Ready Reckoners.
4. Reinforcements (typically, 30/60 days after the completion of the onboarding training).
5. Practice zones (typically, 60-90 days after the completion of the onboarding training).

To summarize,

• Expedited time-to-productivity is indicative that the organization’s broader new hire strategy, and supporting employee onboarding training, is working.
• Not only are the right candidates being identified, but they are being provided with the right training that makes them productive within reasonable timeframes.

I hope my article gives you easy to use tips and strategies that can help you compress the time-to-productivity of your employee onboarding training programs further.

If you have any specific queries, do contact me or leave a comment below.

10 Mobile Learning Trends to Adopt in 2020 – To Drive Employee Performance and Behavioral Change

According to a survey by the Brandon Hall Group, Mobile Learning now features among the top three business development priorities for companies and ranks only behind the need for seamless business alignment and improved data mining.

Loved by learners for the flexibility and control it offers, Mobile Learning is now the dominant mode for online training delivery.

• Its widespread adoption (across varied corporate trainings across different industry verticals) is reflected in the fact that we now use the terms eLearning and Mobile Learning interchangeably.
• This is not all – it resonates with diverse learner profiles, the multi-generational workforce that is a typical characteristic across most organizations today.

Mobile Learning in 2020

2020 marks the acceleration in its adoption as it moves from being a “good to have” to a “must have” option. As L&D teams step up the adoption of Mobile Learning in 2020, I share my list of Mobile Learning Trends you should adopt in 2020. However, before I list the trends, I want to highlight the changing learner and business expectations and how you can use various trends to meet them.

I use this lens (changing learner and business expectations) to make my recommendations. Additionally, I share tips on Mobile Learning Trends you must adopt in 2020 that will help you address what modern learners want and what business units seek.

The Changing Learner and Business Expectations

Modern learners do not like the traditional training formats that tend to be prescriptive and often mandated by L&D teams.  They are typically “pushed” through an LMS with a focus on tracking. Let’s look at the changing learner expectations.

What Modern Learners Want

1. Modern learners want training to be easily accessible and one that can be “pulled” by them.
2. It also needs to sync with their lifestyles.
3. They should have the control on when, how much, and at what pace they can consume the training.
4. They want on-demand and instant access to training.
5. They want L&D teams to focus on not only the Formal or structured training but also on the supporting training that includes avenues for just-in-time training, learning aids they can draw upon as and when needed.

What Business Units Seek

Alongside the changing expectations of learners, there are increased expectations from businesses on the ROI of the training investment. They want the training effectiveness and impact to be measured to ascertain how it impacted the key business KPIs.

Here are my recommendations on Mobile Learning Trends you should adopt in 2020. They will help you address what modern learners want and what business units seek.

Mobile Learning Trend #1 in 2020

Mobile Learning will be used extensively to address a majority of corporate training needs.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Mobile Learning solutions enable learners to take the training seamlessly across devices. You can offer an entire spectrum of corporate trainings in this format now.

This gives learners the flexibility to consume it when they want to, move learning sessions across devices, and align it to their individual learning pace. As a result, you will see higher engagement, better completion rates, and more learners going back to review and refresh the learning resources.

Mobile Learning Trend #2 in 2020

Mobile Learning will feature different delivery formats to suit the content and the way it will be consumed.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Depending on the way the content will be predominantly consumed, you can opt for one of the two following options:

• Mobile Friendly or Adaptive Mobile Learning: Opting for this approach makes sense where the content will be consumed across devices (from desktops/laptops to tablets/smartphones). Essentially, the learners want the flexibility to access it on mobile devices, but this may not be the significant mode to learn.
• Mobile First or Responsive Mobile Learning: In contrast, adopting this approach makes sense where the content will be consumed predominantly on smartphones.

Mobile Learning Trend #3 in 2020

Mobile Learning will be used beyond Formal Training to drive performance gain and behavioral change.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: As we know, learners learn through multiple channels and these include:

• Formal and structured learning.
• Social Learning or collaborative learning.
• Experiential – on the job learning.

You can leverage Mobile Learning to offer learning aids and resources that will help you supplement the Formal Training.

More significantly, this will help you see an application of learning, performance improvement, and behavioral change. Some of the techniques you can adopt are as follows:

• Add learning resources for Informal learning (for application, reinforcement, challenges that can push learners to refresh/review, triggers to change thinking, increase sensitivity, and spaced repetition to bring about behavioral change).
• Learning aids to support ILT/VILT (Pre-workshop reading, During-workshop exercises and assessments, Post-workshop learning resources, and learning aids/nuggets to sustain connect).
• Support Social Learning.
• Facilitate Self-Directed Learning.

Mobile Learning Trend #4 in 2020

Mobile Apps for learning will see a wider application.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Mobile Apps help you offer highly personalized content to the learners. They also enable you to push Notifications and updates with ease. Leverage them for significant programs like Sales training, Leadership Development training, as well as to supplement specific Formal Trainings.

Mobile Learning Trend #5 in 2020

Mobile Learning will be delivered in a Personalized mode matching the learner’s proficiency or interests.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: This is a trend worth investing on as overwhelmed employees will invest on trainings that offer relevant content and can help them do better in their career progression aspirations.

Mobile Learning Trend #6 in 2020

Mobile Learning will leverage on Microlearning to offer learning pathways and specialized career pathways.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Microlearning based training is one of the widely adopted techniques to offer both Formal and Informal Trainings.

• Not only can it be used to offer Formal Training (as a series of learning nuggets connected over a learning path), but it can also be leveraged to offer a valuable supplement to Formal Training (online or facilitated).
• As Performance Support Tools (PSTs or Job aids), you can use the Microlearning nuggets to:
  • Reinforce learning.
  • Push the acquired learning to application on the job.
  • Challenge learners and push them to review/refresh primary learning.
  • Drive changes in thinking or behavior.
• By adding elements of Personalization and Curation (particularly, recommendations based on learner’s consumption/ interest or career progression aspirations), you can step up the learning pathways to be very focused career pathways.
• You can further enhance the impact by opting for Video Based Learning or Interactive Video Based Learning.

Mobile Learning Trend #7 in 2020

Mobile Learning will feature more varied formats of immersive learning strategies.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Today, you are spoilt for choice in terms of the learning strategies and the combinations thereof that can help you create highly sticky learning experience.

You can deliver this in Microlearning formats or use some of its best practices to enhance the impact of Macrolearning (longer run length courses for complex concepts).

Notable immersive learning strategies worth investing include:

• Gamification for serious learning (Fully Gamified or sprinkling of Gamified elements in the learning path).
• Virtual Reality (VR).
• Augmented Reality (AR).

More interesting application is through combinations like:

• Gamified Mobile Apps for Learning.
• Gamified Microlearning.
• Gamified Virtual Reality (VR).
• Gamified Interactive Videos.

Mobile Learning Trend #8 in 2020

Mobile Learning will feature Video and Interactive Video Based Learning to enhance learning, its application, engagement, and drive behavioral change.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: A versatile medium, Videos and Interactive Videos are great tools to help L&D teams for corporate trainings. Their true value is in using them to increase motivation, drive performance, as well trigger behavioral change.

You can integrate Video Based Learning or Interactive Video Based Learning as:

• Teaser Videos to engage and motivate learners.
• Conceptual Videos.
• Videos to set the context.
• Videos to accelerate change management initiatives.
• Videos featuring Scenario Based Learning (SBL) to trigger change in thinking and drive behavioral change.

Mobile Learning Trend #9 in 2020

Mobile Learning will be used to foster a culture of continuous learning.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Organizations acknowledge the fact that discrete and Formal Training is not adequate. There must be additional measures in place that encourage learners to explore and keep coming back for more.

You can leverage Curation to offer recommendations of additional, relevant content (based on user surveys, their proficiency, the way they have consumed content, or based on their interest). This would go a long way to foster a culture of Self-Directed and continuous learning.

Mobile Learning Trend #10 in 2020

Mobile Learning will be used to enrich the existing knowledgebase.

Tips to leverage this Mobile Learning Trend in 2020: Close to Curation is another measure, User Generated Content (UGC), wherein learners can make contributions to the knowledgebase.

Not only does this make room for continuous learning, it also helps you keep the existing knowledgebase current and relevant.

Anticipated impact if you adopt these featured Mobile Learning Trends in 2020

When leveraged right, the featured trends and their combinations will help you:

1. Meet the learner and business expectations.
2. Increased learner motivation and engagement.
3. Create sticky learning experiences.
4. Facilitate the application of acquired learning on the job
5. Offer reinforcements to offset the Forgetting Curve.
6. Offer challenges to learners so that they review or refresh the learning.
7. Provide practice zones that can help learners achieve higher levels of proficiency.
8. Trigger change in thinking.
9. Influence or drive changes in behavior.
10. Foster a culture of continuous learning.

I share a few stats that re-affirm the impact and provide good reasons as to why you should invest in Mobile Learning:

• According to the findings of the Asia-Pacific Skillsoft survey, 72 percent of the participants reported increased engagement with mobile learning.
• 43% of learners see improved productivity levels compared to non-mobile users. (Source: Towards Maturity)
• 70% of learners felt more motivated when training on a mobile device, as opposed to a computer. (Source: LearnDash)

I hope this article goes beyond the typical listings of Mobile Learning trends and gives you a better perspective on how you can leverage the featured Mobile Learning Trends in 2020 to create a successful L&D strategy in your organization.

Meanwhile, if you have any specific queries, do contact me or leave a comment below.

Tips and Strategies to Convert Your Outdated eLearning Content to Highly Engaging Training

Over time, L&D professionals accumulate significant inventories of legacy course materials. But as technology, techniques, and teaching strategies evolve, the legacy content becomes outdated. It fails to deliver engaging training or high-impact eLearning experiences.

Thankfully, when embarking on an eLearning course refresh cycle, not everything you have in your legacy eLearning content archives may need drastic upgrading.

In this article, I share tips, strategies, and ways to make this transition to convert your outdated eLearning content to highly engaging training more effective and efficient.

How Can L&D Professionals Leverage the Mandate of Converting Legacy/Outdated eLearning Content to Training that Engages Learners, Improves Performance, and Behavioral Change?

 You can use the opportunity of updating legacy or outdated eLearning content to highly engaging training that can help change learner behavior and create the impact the business seeks.

In this transition, you can use several tips and strategies that will help you improve the following 4 aspects:

1. Enhance learner engagement.
2. Improved learner retention.
3. Facilitate better application of acquired learning.
4. Achieve higher levels of learning transference.

Enhanced Learner Engagement

When it comes to assignments, tests, and assessments, most legacy eLearning content focused on static learning, where “one and done” rules prevailed. Using the same scenario, test case, or case study repeatedly – or variants thereof – with modern learners is a recipe for disengagement.

Today, millennials as well as other profiles of multi-generational workforce, crave for more engaging, relevant, and immersive training. This should sync with their lifestyles and must be available within their workflow. It must be easily accessible and should be packaged to address their learning need or help them clear a challenge. The training should fit in their workday that is fraught with the challenge of inordinate number of “distractions” (many of them as a result of multitasking in a highly connected world – that learners face in the digital workplace today). These disruptions prevent them from carving out time for learning.

Tips: What can be done to enhance learner connect and engagement

1. L&D teams must, therefore, repurpose eLearning content to deliver Mobile Learning that allows learners to pick it up on the go, between breaks/meetings, and even during commute. This should include formal learning as well as just-in-time learning aids (Performance Support Tools). Mobile Learning solutions can also be used to promote Social Learning as well as Self-Directed Learning.
2. L&D teams can repurpose the current lengthy text-based or graphic-intensive content into Microlearning nuggets, including Microlearning Videos to stimulate learner engagement. The series of Microlearning nuggets can also be threaded into Personalized Learning paths to provide more relevant content to each learner profile.

Improved Learner Retention

Traditional approaches, whether paper-based or digitized, relied heavily on quizzes, essays, and oral/verbal elocution to foster learner retention. And while stand-alone True/False (T/F) questions, multiple choice (MC) assessments, or fill-in-the-blanks tests are still valuable teaching aids, today’s learners are looking for eLearning content beyond those approaches.

Tips: What can be done to improve learner retention

1. One way to enhance learner retention is to repurpose legacy content into Scenario Based Learning. For instance, instead of simply porting legacy T/F or MC assessments into online HTML5 (or other newer web-based standards) web pages, consider framing learning objectives as learner-relatable scenarios. Applying T/F or MC quizzes to those scenarios helps deliver a more engaging context that aids learning and retention.
2. Additionally, L&D teams can add Micro Challenges (Assessments that are designed in Microlearning formats) that helps them validate their learning. Learners can also use the formative feedback to review/practice and achieve higher retention.

Facilitate Higher Application of Learning

eLearning content refreshes are an ideal opportunity to repurpose existing content for higher learning applications. Instead of using static PPT slides or legacy Flash-based eLearning content to deliver “101-type” learning, L&D professionals could migrate those training assets to latest techniques. This would enable them to create more engaging training that not only creates sticky learning experiences but also facilitates the application of learning.

Tips: What can be done to facilitate better application of acquired learning

1. You can now produce contextual, dynamic (changing) content; deliver interactivity; and create a higher, broader, and more engaging eLearning experience that support multi-device delivery. This gives learners the control to learn, practice (on the device of their choice), review, and increase the probability of application on the job.
2. You can offer content in a series of Microlearning nuggets to offer a learning journey that has a combination of Learn, Practice, Apply, and Test. This will enable learners not only learn but also apply the acquired learning on the job.

Achieve Higher Levels of Learning Transference

The objective of training is to ensure that the learning transfers into measurable behavioral changes in the workplace. Unfortunately, while using a passive format legacy (Lectures and notes, PowerPoint slides, Spreadsheets, Word-based templates), training materials may help “teach” learners a new concept or theory but they do not guarantee that learners can successfully apply what they’ve learned to their work environments.

Tips: What can be done to achieve higher levels of learning transference

1. The use of Branching Simulations is a great strategy to enhance decision-making capabilities among learners. You could use existing eLearning content, such as case studies and scenarios, and convert them into interactive decision-making experiences based on past work situations or potential future interactions employees are likely to encounter.
2. L&D professionals should also consider moving to more interactive eLearning content, such as experiential learning One way to do that is to embrace Gamification techniques. L&D teams can leverage existing learning assets (including lecture notes, workbooks, policies, procedure manuals, and study guides) to gamify eLearning courses and deliver training experiences that more closely mimic the workplace. Another approach is using Storytorials (Story Based Learning) with real-life characters and situations to drive the message. This approach is a very effective way to bring in behavioral change and can be augmented by Video Based Learning for a higher impact.

Tips: To draw up a successful action plan

In this transition, you can maintain learning relevance by applying the 3R’s approach – Recycle, Repurpose, and Reuse – as you convert legacy eLearning content. The advantage of using the 3R’s is that it delivers significant benefits to all stakeholders:

• Learners become more engaged.
• L&D professionals save time when creating new learning modules.
• HCM teams can respond faster to changing training needs.
• Line managers can ensure that the staff continually have the most updated knowledge they need to function efficiently.

Do use the following tips as you draw up the action plan to transform your legacy eLearning content into content that delivers more engaging training to your audience:

Scope and Pre-requisites

1. Create a detailed inventory of legacy content.
2. Assess what’s relevant (salvageable) and what to discard.
3. Decide on standards. Before converting legacy eLearning content, decide on standards, such as Backgrounds, Color schemes, Font, Pitch, etc. for Titles, Headings, and Sub-headings and Naming conventions for files, images, screens, assessments, tests, and quizzes.
4. Make technology decisions early in the process. Your choice of technology may help maximize the amount of legacy content salvaged and shorten conversion time.

Value-adds

5. Identify shortcomings and deficiencies in salvageable content (from 2), and quantify what’s required to fill the gaps.
6. Plan the conversion carefully. Consider delivery options, including Mobile, Responsive design, Microlearning, and bandwidth limiters (video, graphic-intensive).
7. Think about design features: Legacy courses might have mouse-click elements that are no longer relevant on mobile devices. Mouse-hover events may still be relevant on laptops and desktops, but not on smartphones.

Validate with the Target Users 

8. Create a wireframe (a blueprint of the upgraded course) and conduct a target user group testing to validate your assumptions.

I hope this article provides the tips and strategies that L&D professionals (with significant inventories of outdated learning materials) can use to quickly and effectively turn that eLearning content into highly engaging eLearning experiences for their learners.

The result would be more engaged learners, effective training that creates sticky learning, facilitated application on the job, and higher learning transference.

Meanwhile, if you have any specific queries, do contact me or leave a comment below.

How to Measure the Business Impact of Your Workforce Training Programs

Given the significant investment on time and money organizations make on workforce training programs, there is an intrinsic need to ascertain its impact on business. Not only does this have a bearing on approvals on further investment, it can serve as a great cue to determine which programs are delivering impact and tweak or update the ones that aren’t.

Challenges in measuring the business impact of your workforce training programs

However, there are challenges associated with this exercise of determining the impact of the workforce training on business. Without the supporting analytics (that can help confirm the business impact), L&D teams often find it difficult to showcase the impact on business and justify the ROI. I typically see the following two reasons given by L&D teams on why this is a challenging task:

1. Standard reports from LMS do not provide the required perspective or actionable insights.
2. Limited manpower and resources (tools) to collect data, analysis, and validation with business.

As a result, this area is often neglected, or the exercise takes so much time that it may now be too late to apply the actionable insights. As a result, the business finds that the training investment of a given financial year will not really help them see the impact of the workforce training on the business goals for the year.

What Will Help You Measure the Business Impact of Your Workforce Training Programs?

Focus on L&D Metrics is Not Enough

I believe that the L&D teams need to look beyond the basic assessment of training impact, which typically includes:

1. The number of training registrations.
2. The training completion rates.
3. Learner reaction/feedback on the training.
4. Learner reaction/feedback on the trainer.
5. Assessment scores.

Need of the Hour

What is required is to map the evaluation of the L&D parameters to the parameters the business wants to see. Essentially, you need to couple the L&D Metrics with the Business Metrics.

Let me illustrate how you can work with the combined view (L&D and Business) with an example.

Training Need: A Sales team needs to undergo training for the new CRM tool (as the organization moves from multiple tools or Excel based trackers to a single, enterprise wide tool).

Audience Profiles

Set 1: Sales Executives, Sales Managers, and Head of Sales – Maps to acquiring three levels of tool proficiency.

Set 2: CEO and COO – Only Dashboard review – with a focus on actionable insights.

The TNA would lead L&D teams to create a training that would help the Sales team achieve the required proficiency levels. This would be duly validated through assessments.

However, the focus is only on the L&D Metrics and the Business Metrics is currently missing.

For instance, the expected gain from the Sales Manager was that with the new CRM tool, the individuals spend less time on creating reports and more time on prospecting and customer engagement. This should translate to 12.5% increase in time spent on prospecting and customer engagement (basically, additional 1 hour/executive/day). This should have a proportional impact on leads conversion.

You see how the two teams are looking at very different pictures!

The Way Forward

Unless, the L&D teams work with the Sales team to identify how the business impact of the training will be measured, the desired gain will not be demonstrated. This exercise (to couple the L&D Metrics with the Business Metrics) needs the following:

• There must be a strong collaboration between the L&D teams and the Business teams from TNA to training deployment, collation, and interpretation of data that will help determine the impact of training on the business.
• During the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) phase, the two teams must clearly identify the parameters that will be used to illustrate the direct impact of training on business.
• All through the journey, a strong communication link must exist between the two teams so that both teams indeed look at the same picture (L&D teams speak the language the business wants to hear).

How Can You Accomplish the Mandate to Measure the Business Impact of Your Workforce Training Programs?

There are several models that can be used to ascertain the business impact of the workforce training programs.

At EI Design, we use a custom approach – an adaptation of the Kirkpatrick’s model of training evaluation.

For each level,

• We first identify exactly what is being measured.
• Then, we look at the outcome of this evaluation and see how we can use it to enhance the business impact of the given workforce training program.

Level 1: Reaction

Objective: As a first step, we need to validate the learners’ reaction – did they find the training to be useful, was it relevant, will the acquired learning be easy to apply on the job, and so on.

From an evaluation perspective, this feedback allows L&D teams to get the basic insights if the training was relevant and useful. Furthermore, would it help the learners apply the learning on the job. If there are any gaps, they can fix them through remediation or reinforcements.

Level 2: Learning

Objective: The TNA provides the L&D teams to arrive at the learning objectives of the training. The second level helps them validate if these learning objectives were met.

From an evaluation perspective, this feedback allows L&D teams to measure if they met the required learning mandate (this could range from knowledge gain or triggering a behavioral change).

Level 3: Behavior

Objective: The third level is used to evaluate if there is a change in the learner behavior that is directly attributable to the training.

From an evaluation perspective, we are moving up to validate the application of the acquired learning leading to behavioral change.

Level 4: Impact

Objective: The fourth level is used to evaluate the gain or the impact of the training.

From an evaluation perspective, this should validate if the goal of the desired gain that the business had sought (that is, the Business Metrics) was met.

EI Design’s approach – To assess the business impact of the workforce training

At EI Design, we use the following approach to assess the business impact of the workforce training and we leverage the Kirkpatrick’s model of training evaluation. We overlay this on a Learning and Performance Ecosystem to deliver the training and ascertain its impact.

Step 1: Training Needs Analysis (TNA) + Methodology to measure the training impact: As I had highlighted in my example, besides identifying the learning outcomes, we focus on collating the improvement areas – the key parameters where the business wishes to see a tangible improvement.

We also identify how this training impact will be measured. This needs a methodology to be defined that encompasses:

1. What would be measured.
2. How will this data be collated.
3. How will the data be analyzed.
4. Who (manpower) would be responsible to pool, collate, and analyze, and so on.
5. Additionally, to present the impact, we also secure the baseline data (current state) and quantify the anticipated gain (desired state).

Step 2: Select the right training delivery format: The next step is to select the learning format (ranging from online, blended, or facilitated) that will resonate with the audience (for instance, should it be on the go, available within their workflow, or facilitated or a blend) and help them meet the learning objectives.

Sometimes, we recommend other supporting measures to achieve the business mandate (for instance, coaching or mentoring).

Step 3: Identify the learning strategy: The right learning strategy helps engage the learners, acquire the learning, and apply it on the job.

Besides formal training, there must be room for just-in-time learning aids. These nuggets are available within the learners’ workflow and go a long way in supporting both learning and business mandates.

Additionally, we support the program through teasers (before the training), reinforcements, and challenges (post the training) to offset the “Forgetting Curve” and ensure learners are well equipped to learn, apply, practice, and gain the required proficiency and behavioral change.

Step 4: Validate the learners’ gain: This focuses on assessments to determine if the learning acquisition was in line with the learning mandate.

We integrate additional measures to facilitate the application of learning (business mandate).

Step 5: Assess and measure the business impact: This crucial step entails looping back to the TNA phase and seeing if the identified parameters show the required improvement.

If not, we assess what reinforcements or remediations would help the business see the desired impact. This may impact the selections made in Step 2 (training format) or Step 3 (learning strategy) or Step 4 (validating the learners’ gain).

While there is no single approach that can help you measure the business impact of workforce training, I hope my article gives you several practical cues you can use to measure the business impact of your workforce training programs.

Meanwhile, if you have any specific queries, do contact me or leave a comment below.

How to Use the Migration to HTML5 Opportunity to Enhance the Impact of Your eLearning Courses

Although Flash was the leading authoring tool to develop eLearning courses, in 2020, Adobe will stop its support formally.

Hence in 2020, all organizations need to factor for the migration of their legacy, Flash courses to HTML5. The migration exercise presents an amazing opportunity. You can use this exercise to not only gain a technology uplift but also incorporate trending and more immersive learning strategies.

Take a look at this Infographic, where we show you how you can use the migration to HTML5 opportunity to enhance the impact of your eLearning courses.

We hope this Infographic gives you food for thought that you can use as you plan the migration of your traditional eLearning courses to HTML5 format. Do use this opportunity to enhance your training delivery’s impact.

Want to learn more? Reach out to us.