Top 10 Training Metrics

Is it time to measure the effectiveness of your training programs? If you’re not sure where to start, these Top Ten Training Metrics can help.

Measuring training effectiveness is a very difficult task for stakeholders, training departments, and end users. If you’re a training manager or business stakeholder looking for ways to measure the effectiveness of your programs, these ten metrics are a great place to start.

One: Greater retention. Most HR departments measure retention rate across all or multiple positions. Many times, front-line, high-turnover jobs get the most attention. If newly trained employees feel ill-equipped for the job, they are more likely to leave within the first 90 days. When you measure training success this way, higher retention points to a successful training program.

Two: Increased sales. Many organizations can track efficiency based on sales. If the training is heavily geared toward a sales or customer service force, an effective program will eventually increase the number of sales. You can also measure product knowledge training as part of a sales number – poorly educated salespeople usually don’t make the sale. Dollar numbers and unit sales are good metrics, but be sure to balance any metrics with other factors that may influence sales numbers.

Three: Increased operational efficiency. In highly regulated or production-oriented businesses, managers seek more efficiency, which lifts the bottom line. If your training programs teach skills, look at management efficiency metrics, for reference, before and after the training intervention. If you’re building a new program or product, look at the efficiency numbers for guidance on training course content.

Four: Customer service results. Any organization can link training to customer service, which can be both internal and external. Customer service is also one of the easiest places to start: a well-written survey can identify a host of customer-related issues that can be addressed through training programs. Remember that training may not be the only solution to these problems. If your organization already has a customer survey, use those metrics to benchmark your programs. When your programs affect survey items, you can correlate an increase in customer satisfaction with training.

Five: dashboards defined by the company. Training subcontractors tend to use client-defined criteria to determine training effectiveness. If your organization has a wide variety of possible measures, sit down with management and stakeholders to create a custom scorecard based on expectations and training programs that need to be put in place.

Six: Cost of training. This is an internal measure of the training department. In high turnover organizations, the reduction of the cost per student can be used as a measure of effectiveness. The cost of training could also be directly related to retention: if you spend less training new employees, your retention may be higher. Work with your stakeholders and HR to determine training costs and where you want those numbers to be.

Seven: Return on Investment. ROI has long been a “catch all” metric. In some cases, it’s easy to define ROI, but in most cases it’s getting harder. If you provide soft skills training, it’s hard to put a dollar figure on the return. There are numerous ROI calculations available, so if you’re considering using an ROI metric, look up the formulas and plug in what you can. If you’re part of an organization that’s driven by numbers, you can build relationships with stakeholders by defining and measuring concrete ROI.

Eight: Income generation. This metric seems more likely as a combination of sales numbers, operational efficiency, and customer service. If an organization shows increased revenue, a strong training program can be part of that increase. If your organization is implementing a new revenue driver, such as a product or service, that’s generally the best time to use revenue generation as your training metric.

Nine: Instructor Performance. Instructor evaluation is an important internal measure. Results may come from student and manager evaluations, and should take into account instructor presentation skills, subject matter knowledge, projection of organizational values, and adherence to instructional guidelines. The nice thing about instructor performance as a metric is that it can also be used as an external measure. When it comes to training, training managers should be the first to praise their instructors for providing quality instruction in every course, and instructor evaluations provide the supporting evidence.

Ten: End-user satisfaction. Your audience can measure effectiveness faster than anyone, both immediately after training and after a set period of time, like 30 or 60 days. The immediate results, sometimes called “smile sheets,” can give you an idea of ​​what happened in the classroom. Delayed results can tell you if the material is useful or not. Additionally, end-user surveys are great tools to demonstrate effectiveness with management.

Remember that training metrics can take time to implement and show results. It is also important to gain stakeholder buy-in as you determine how to measure results. Use these metrics to get started, and use them any time you’re developing or renewing training programs. Once you can prove the effectiveness of the bottom line, your credibility will go a long way.

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