How to Measure Leadership Training Effectiveness

Over $15.5 billion is spent annually on leadership development. Still, research shows that most organizations don't feel confident that trainees can meet the corporation's future needs.

Measure Leadership Training Impact 

Your leadership training should be measured to evaluate the return on your training investment. One reliable way to measure training impact is to look at KirkPatrick Model Level 3: Behavior. If the training hasn't resulted in noticeable changes, then training managers need to assess why their learners aren't achieving the desired training goals. 

Study Behavior Change

By analyzing behavior changes after training, you learn valuable information about what parts of the training were impactful and which weren't. Quizzes and surveys can help you evaluate whether your learners gained important lessons from the training material, or whether more reinforcement is needed. It's critical to make sure your leadership training content achieves your training goals and you can prove business impact. If this isn't the case, the skills gap will persist.

How to Define Effective Leadership Training

There is a critical difference between effectiveness (do the right thing) and efficiency (do things right). Efficiency doesn't necessarily produce the desired impact. When you want to measure leadership training effectiveness, you need to measure three elements: application, timing, and impact.

Based on the application and timing of new skills, you can determine whether or not the training created impact within the organization.

Set Measurable Training Goals & Benchmarks

To measure training impact, you must be clear about what results you want to see as a result of the training. When training goals are too broad, organizations fail to see meaningful results. Once you've outlined your specific training goals, set measurable reinforcement objectives.

Build these training goals and reinforcement objectives into your courses. When leaders know what they'll be evaluated on, they're more likely to implement the objectives. 

When you focus your leadership training around the 7 principles of training reinforcement, you'll find that your leadership training is much more effective. Download our eBook, From the Olympics to the 7 Principles of Reinforcement, to learn more.

This post was originally published on December 5, 2019.

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