The Winning Teams Blog

Evaluation as a tool to improve performance

The CIPD reports that most L&D practitioners expect that in the next five years there will be greater emphasis on monitoring, measurement, and evaluation of learning and development effectiveness (see The Future of Learning and Development ). Although there is still debate about the most suitable way to measure and evaluate L&D effectiveness, its importance is now widely recognised, even if it not currently widely practised.

Dr Stephen J. Gill points out (The Performance Improvement Blog - Getting Results From Employee Training: All You Have To Do Is Ask) that the evaluation process “isn’t tangential; it is central to the training and learning process”. I agree with him, since as he points out, that without it: you don’t know what your staff do and don’t know; you don’t know how to improve performance; and you don’t know the value of the intervention.

This is sound advice, but many performance improvement consultants are reluctant to agree to include a formal evaluation process as part of their performance intervention, since they believe that the success of the intervention lies largely outside of their hands – with the performers, and with their managers. They also may believe that many of the benefits are not easily and immediately quantifiable.

Whilst both of these arguments can be countered, I think that there is another way of looking at this. In her book ‘Beyond Transfer of Training – Engaging Systems to Improve Performance’, Mary Broad advances the argument that the evaluation process itself is not only a tool to measure performance (which we know is essential), but is actually a tool that can be used to support and improve performance. To quote her: “The old saying holds true: ‘You don’t get what you expect, you get what you inspect.”

By placing emphasis on a formal evaluation process, you are sending signals to staff and managers that you are expecting a certain set of behaviours and actions as a result of the intervention, and that you expect to get the desired results. That is a very powerful message, and is a very different one to asking if they enjoyed the learning experience.

If you don’t insist on a formal evaluation system, you are over-looking a very valuable weapon in the performance improvement arsenal.

Which are the top Learning & Development blogs?

Photo courtesy flickr

There is a wealth of information in the Learning & Development blogosphere – but only if you know where to look. It can be difficult to find quality blogs. There are a huge number of e-learning and training focused websites, but far fewer performance improvement, HR strategy, and emerging L&D technology websites.

These are some of the blogs that I find insightful:

• nigelpaine.com – Written by Nigel Paine, BBC’s former head of people development, this blog takes a very broad view of learning and development trends, including leadership, talent management, and creativity and innovation.

• Parkin’s Lot – Written by Godfrey Parkin, a performance consultant, this blog is focused on improving performance with emerging internet technologies. This is a very widely read blog. My thanks to Terrence Seamon for pointing me to this blog.

• systematicHR – Anonymously authored blog on HR strategy, HR technology, talent management, and employee engagement.

• donaldhtaylor.wordpress.com – Written by Donald H. Taylor, the chairman of the Learning Technologies Conference, director of software house InfoBasis Limited. This blog focuses on human capital, performance and skills. Don often expresses more controversial views, and frequently writes for Training Zone.

• Learning Reflections – Written by David Wilson, a UK-based learning analyst, the blog mainly focuses on the corporate e-learning world, although some good observations on informal learning.

• Learning Circuits Blog – This blog is affiliated with Learning Circuits Online Magazine an ASTD publication. This is a multi-author blog. Each month, the blog posts the ‘Big Question’, and then aggregates the answers from its community.

• BlogERP: Jim Holincheck’s HCM Software Blog – James Holincheck is a Research VP at Garter, and writes about his research into Human Capital Management Systems. He posts a lot of very good links that he gains through his research.

• The Performance Improvement Blog – Written by Stephen J. Gill, and independent consultant. He writes about improving and increasing the performance impact of training and leadership/management development programs.

Are we on the same team?

Photo courtesy flickr

Business sees coaching as an essential part of training and talent management programmes, offering real commercial benefits. This was confirmed following recent research undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the International Coaching Federation, which found that the approximate annual worldwide revenue produced by coaching was $1.5 billion.

This is despite the fact that the coaching industry is un-regulated, there is no one governing body that has authority over coaches, and there are no specific laws and regulations covering how coaches practice. Coaching does not legally require any training, which is a significant contrast to the legal requirements for practice in psychotherapy, counseling, or any of the other recognised professions.

Coaching is a huge industry, and receives a great deal of attention, but it seems that there is a lot of confusion amongst coaching professionals as to who should actually conduct the coaching. A recent article in Training Zone, raises the point ‘Do managers make good coaches?’ The widely differing opinions in this article and the responses seem to indicate that the answer to this question depends on whose interests are being served.

Some professionals, who offer external coaching services, argue that no manager can coach:

“This inability of ANY manager to simply step outside the responsibilities of their managerial role - as compared with an externally-sourced coach whose primary responsibility is …. to the coachee - precludes the ability of the coachee to be completely open on ANY topic.”

Whilst other consultants, who provide courses on how managers can be better coaches, offer the following advice:

“The whole idea of a coach is that everyone is part of the same TEAM. Therefore, the role of the coach is to develop their people so that they can reach the goal and win. It's that simple. Reaching the goal is a win-win-win. That is, it is a win for the player, the coach, and the organization.”

My opinion is that not all managers are good coaches, but all good managers are good coaches. But I’m not a qualified coach.