BTSR guidebook ~ Training & skills self-evaluation

What provision at this level looks like and feels like

For the organisation

In 2008, 3% of broadcasters evaluated at this level.

If an organisation provides training and has no intention to evaluate it, why? Does it routinely make expenditures without caring whether they pay off? Only Santa is meant to do that.

On the other hand, if the organisation intends to evaluate its training but just doesn’t know how… well, there are steps to address that. That’s why this guidebook is here. But until those steps are taken, willy-nilly expenditure is going to send out unhelpful messages to employees. And suppliers.

How this environment feels for employees will largely depend on whether Santa thinks they have been good this year.

For the training function

No evaluation = no accountability. Great! Do what you like.

But of course the flipside is no evaluation = no record to trumpet (or defend) = negligible job security.

Benefits & risks of provision at this level

Benefits

There are no detectable benefits of provision at this level.

Risks

Among the many risks of provision at this level:

• The wrong training can have a negative effect on performance. So can the right training delivered in the wrong way… and/or to the wrong learners… and/or by the wrong trainer(s)
• Some or all of the above happens, but – with no instrument panel in the cockpit – nobody has the slightest inkling of the fact
• Non-trainers in senior positions are able to mandate perverse training interventions without challenge
• Considerable waste of money can occur, which could – when discovered – poison the well for future training investments
• When budgets are cut, it might not be the most effective training that survives
• An open disregard for outcomes can make the organisation a honeypot for less scrupulous training providers (indeed for all suppliers of negotiable integrity).

Processes & benchmarks for evaluating provision at this level

You can tell that you aren’t evaluating training by an absence of any deliberative attempt to evaluate training.

If you’re doing anything at all – even if it’s just asking employees about the training they receive – then you aren’t at this level.

Reference material relevant to this strand and level

Need it meets	Title	Words	Link
Introduces the Kirkpatrick Model, a classic since 1959	Evaluating e-Learning: Introduction to the Kirkpatrick Model [Note: article is relevant to all training, not just elearning]	851	www.e-learningguru.com

Examples of provision at this level

We can’t offer any helpful examples of provision at this level.

What it takes to get to the next level

Take a look at the Kirkpatrick Model (see Reference) and also at the material for Level B. There’s bound to be something in that lot that you can introduce quickly.

It only takes one change to break out of this level. Make that step count.