ROI – Return on investment for training events, how do you KNOW you have got it?

This is the simple question that many clients really want to know the answer to. How will I be able to demonstrate to the business that my training intervention has had an effect on the employees, customers and the culture of the organisation? We have been working on a straight forward way to help with this, to really mark individuals positions at the start of an intervention and then revisit those positions at the end.

So how do PDP do that?

Firstly with some time dedicated to talking to you, about your development needs, organisational culture and desired outcomes. This consulting and communication process is critical to build confidence, objective outcomes and behavioural measures. Lots of development organisations outsource their behavioural measurement to third parties. We never do. We want your needs to drive the process, not someone else’s 360 model.

Most of our partner organisations have their own behavioural competence frameworks, used for the measurement of progress, gap analysis and often appraisals. We always look to use these in a simple, digestible format. We turn your framework into pictures! Pictures that generate discussion, highlight realities, are by definition not verbose and open to misinterpretation.

This particular organisation has four main competence areas that its managers need to work to. Delivering Results, Setting the Direction, Leadership and Working with Others. These main heading areas are then spilt into the more detail by describing 14 key competency areas. Your business will not be exactly the same, but similar principles probably exist.

The blue line indicates the self assessment of the individual against all these areas. The red line indicates the views of five others who sit around that colleague. In this scenario at least 1 customer was asked to contribute, because the business holds customer care as one of its strongest values.

Learning from phase 1?

Loads!

The individual;

  1. takes time to look at the competence framework and self assess
  2. gets a good picture of their performance against the frame work
  3. is informed about how other see them at work…..

The diagrams are sent to the individual a week before a scheduled 1 hour meeting with us. The purpose of the meeting is to build some rapport with colleagues and to explore areas where development may be required and strengths celebrated. This can be the start of really a meaningful coaching relationship, to set the focus on the training programme and its benefits.

The organisation;

  1. gets a snapshot of individuals performance at the start of the programme
  2. identifies where people are significantly at variance with their circle of colleagues
  3. often becomes aware of unknown skill shortages, which may be addressed within the development programme

The training intervention

Based on the outcomes of the first 360 and the associated coaching sessions the content and time frame of the training events are agreed. usually along with a coaching session “mid-Term”. At the end of the programme delegates revisit the 360 process. Take a look at the second chart, which was undertaken by the same colleague 9 months after the first 360.

So what does this tell us?

It indicates lots of things that are really important to the individual, their team and the business.

  1. the individuals view of himself is much closer to that of their peers.
  2. the competence areas are all outside of the “usually” sphere, where we would expect effective managers to be
  3. there is demonstrable growth in several of the competence areas from both the individual and their peers
  4. a 9 month intervention has developed this person at work. When the organisation looks at all the individuals we can measure the impact of the training across the business
  5. now we are in this position it is possible look forward to the next challenge, knowing where the people are
  6. a culture of coaching is becoming “normal” within the company because individuals know it works

Would you like to know more about PDP and how we can help with your training development?

Contact us by Email Richard or Paula,

by telephone on 08712 349 873

by Twitter Richard or Paula

We would love to buy you a coffee!