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Sanjiv Narang Director:Innovation Systems Consulting The first problem, when we approach the subject is, ‘What to treat as a training success?’ Generally with respect to a lot of training programs, the only parameter of training success is program feedback. This on the whole is a poor assessment of the quality of the training program because a large number of times, I have noticed that participants give great gradings to a program if: 1.They have enjoyed themselves during the program. 2.They have not felt bored. 3.They have been involved. 4.They have felt excited about the possibilities. Do we treat such a program as a success? In most organizations such programs are treated as successes. However, there is something amiss. Okay, the participants had a great time, but has it made any difference, whatsoever to their lifestyle, their competencies, their successes or their orientations. If no difference has been created, then we need to categorize such programs as feel good programs rather than successes. I think, one critical reason for this predominant flaw is the training framework that we adopt in most organizations. Till the time, we keep on thinking of it as ,” training”, the flaw will continue. As soon as we make the mental pattern shift to “Competence Development” or “Performance Enhancement” a new ray of light becomes visible. This can cascade into new processes, new measurement system, new impact and the transformation of the training department into business and success partners for the organization and its personnel. Let’s see what this concept looks like when we look at it, after examining a success story. The IT department of an organization wanted to add business value to the organization. The Organization was functioning in a highly competitive market. The competitors had deeper pockets in terms of larger advertising campaigns. So, the organization decided to involve the IT department for generating process innovations. The entire IT team was put through a competence development Program on Innovation. The program was more than an Innovation appreciation program, which makes the participants realize the value of Innovation. The participants applied the Tools learnt to generate real time Process Innovations in different functional areas ranging from marketing to HR. It is difficult to appreciate the power of Innovation, unless it is experienced first hand. This is true of any competence development. Without application it can not be experienced, leave alone developed. These were presented to a senior management team for the purpose of “Selection”, so that the Potent Innovative ideas with a direct impact on performance parameters can be taken up for prototyping. Teams were put together to develop the prototypes. A facilitator was appointed to track, review and to initiate rectificatory action if no progress was being made. The result after 2 months was that 10 innovations were successfully prototyped and implemented. Since these Innovations were targeted at performance parameters, they had a visible impact. I would rather consider this program to be a training success as compared to those program which are considered successful on the basis of participant feedback only. What are the Key ingredients of this Successes?  This brings to the fore, the complexity of the Competence Development process. It is quite a challenge. The prevalent training process seems to be simplistic in comparison. Why bother to make a shift, if the existing process is serving the purpose and an adequate increment happen regularly? Well, if we want to add more weight to the training function; if we want to be more valuable personnel of the organization; if we genuinely want to be business partners and if we want to make a perceived difference, the adoption of this competence development process in necessary., Let’s examine a couple of Innovations, which can relieve us of the burden of uncomfortably shifting our feet whenever the training department’s value to the organization is being examined under a microscope. There is a process, which in spite of being known for ages has somehow not got its requisite importance. A pre and a post training test yields valuable data regarding the comprehension and assimilation of learning . It closes a long standing gap and error in training program assessment. In the words of a corporate trainer, “The pre and post test, creates an openness to learning among the participants. Since, they have encountered the questions in the pre-test, they are on the look out, when the answer appears during the workshop”. The benefits of a pre and post test are paramount for the trainer. Whenever I have included it as a part of my workshop, my confidence in the value that I delivered takes a leap. It is a great feeling to see that a difference has been made. The pre and post test data can be utilized by the training department to pitch its contribution, thereby reducing the incidence of being impaled on the sidewalk when the organization is in a hurry. Without this data, the ability of the training department to repulse the attacks on its credibility is stunted. Another valuable contribution of the post test data is the identification of competencies, where comprehension has not occurred. This paves the way to redesigning of the ineffective parts of a competence development session. |
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