How to know if your training plan actually worked
Evaluating a training plan after delivery means measuring two distinct things: what participants learned (assessment of learning) and what they changed in their professional practice (assessment of transfer). The first is measured hot, with post-tests. The second is measured cold, between 60 and 90 days after training, with follow-up interviews or managerial observations. Many organisations do neither.
The question no one asks
How many times have you asked participants to fill in a satisfaction questionnaire at the end of a training day? How many times have you asked, 90 days later, whether anything had changed in how participants work?
Almost all resources devoted to training evaluation in companies are concentrated on the first type of measurement. The second type is systematically neglected, for three reasons: it requires greater organisational effort, its results are less flattering, and it implies making room for the possibility that training did not work.
A three-stage method
T0: before training. Measure participants' baseline on stated learning objectives, and identify the operational performance indicators that should change if training works. This step is rarely done, and its absence makes any post-training measurement hard to interpret.
T+1 week: hot evaluation. Questionnaire of 5 to 10 questions measuring cognitive attainment (what participants retained) and perceived training quality. Hot responses are optimistic compared to real transfer, but they identify modules that were not understood.
T+90 days: transfer evaluation. Short questionnaire (3 to 5 questions) to participants and their managers on observed practice changes. This review can be done in 15 minutes and is the only measurement truly useful for steering training impact.
What to do with results
Feed them into the next training cycle, recognise teams that transfer, revise or retire modules that do not produce transfer.