Assessing the Value of Your Training: The Evaluation Process from Training Needs to the Report to the Board

Citation

Mann, S. (2003), "Assessing the Value of Your Training: The Evaluation Process from Training Needs to the Report to the Board", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 303-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2003.24.5.303.2

It is always a source of much irritation to me that many trainers neglect the most important part of the training process – its evaluation. Without evaluation, we cannot know whether training has been successful, yet many see this as the rather minor “add‐on” that can be conducted with a few “smiley” indicators and forgotten about. I know there are many reasons for this neglect, one of which is surely not knowing how to evaluate properly. Assessing the Value of Your Training should mean that this can no longer be an excuse for anyone.

This book really is the bible for training evaluation. It starts with assessing training needs (again, a neglected area for many practitioners) and devotes four chapters to issues such as job analysis, knowledge analysis and analysis techniques – all before even discussing the start of training. Important models and schemas such as Kirkpatrick’s model, critical incident technique, repertory grid (a whole chapter is devoted to this and is one of the best accounts of the use of the Repertory Grid I have seen) and behaviour observation are discussed in appropriate detail here.

Finally, by Chapter 6 Rae is ready to allow the reader to contemplate the actually training programme. Training techniques are not presented – these would lie outside the scope of the book – but initial assessments using the familiar questionnaire format are discussed. Knowledge tests, use of true/false choices, Thurstone scales and Likert scales all have their place in this chapter, but, surprisingly, “reactionnaires” do not – we have to wait another couple of chapters until these are presented.

Before getting stuck into end‐of‐event evaluation, there is one chapter on “assessments during the event” and I think this is a very interesting extra that many evaluation books miss out. This is followed by two chapters on end‐of‐event validation – which seems a little thin until you realise that there are another four chapters towards the end of the book dealing with post‐training issues.

This text is a revised edition of How to Measure Training Effectiveness and Rae is to be congratulated on including a chapter on assessing e‐technology or media‐based learning methods. This edition also concentrates a chapter on business return on investment which is a valuable addition to the text.

Whilst I think this is an excellent text – I do not refer to it as the bible of training evaluation lightly – I do think it has one or two shortfalls (that could, no doubt, be addressed in future editions). I would have liked to have seen more discussion on the importance of training evaluation in the first place – perhaps the author reckons that anyone who has invested almost £50 on this book needs no further persuasion, but I suspect this is wrong. I still think the idea of effective training evaluation needs selling – even to the supposed “converted” who have bought the book. I would like to see the couple pages that are devoted to this discussion in Chapter 1 extended to a full chapter.

My other criticism is a minor one, but I feel that the 14 chapter book could have benefited from a more structured presentation; it seems to me to fall easily into three parts dealing with assessing training needs, evaluating training and other post‐training issues. I feel that such a structuring of the text would make it easier to use and to flick in and out of.

On the whole, however, I think Assessing the Value of Your Training is an important investment for anyone involved in the training process, whether they are experienced or not. The book is readable, approachable and sensible with the right mix of classic approaches and modern ideas.