The following guest commentary, co-authored by Jim Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., Wendy Kirkpatrick and Chuck Udell, MAAP, is part five of a six-part series on key strategies for making the most out of employee training opportunities. To read past articles, click here.
 
 
The Kirkpatrick Model
 
Research
suggests that as much as 90 percent of training resources are spent on
the design, development and delivery of training events that yield 15
percent on-the-job application (Brinkerhoff, 2006). Reinforcement that
occurs after the training event produces the highest level of learning
effectiveness, followed by activities that occur before the learning
event.
 
Currently, learning professionals are putting most of
their resources into the part of the training process that produces the
lowest level of business results. They are spending relatively little
time on the pre-training and follow-up activities that translate into
the positive behavior change and subsequent results (Levels 3 and 4)
that organizations seek.
 
Formal training is the foundation of
performance and results. To create ultimate value and return on
expectations, however, strong attention must be given to Level 3
activities. To create maximum value within their organizations, it is
therefore essential that learning professionals redefine their roles and
extend their expertise, involvement and influence into Levels 3 and 4.
 
Example:
Recently, Chuck’s company was engaged by a mid-size auto parts store
chain because fewer than 50 percent of their stores were profitable.
Each store manager was held responsible for their own profitability. An
investigation revealed several causes of the lack of profitability,
ranging from sales softness to high operating expenses, store managers
not being proactive and poor teamwork. We were asked to focus on and
identify why there was a lack of good teamwork in some of their stores,
as our client believed that this was a large contributor to the poor
overall store performance. In addition to our own observations, we
surveyed the VP of operations and the regional managers to identify the
causes of the lack of effective store teams, which were found to
include:
 
* Lack of commitment and poor attitudes of some store personnel
 
* A culture of blaming others rather than taking responsibility
 
* Lack of trust
 
* No effective delegation – store manager was trying to do it all and in doing so was not paying full attention to results
 
* Poor or no communication between team members, leading to poor direction about job and task expectations
 
Senior
management communicated to us that solving these teamwork issues in
their stores should significantly increase the number of profitable
stores. Thus, they had defined their desired result – increase the
overall profitability of the store chain.
 
To increase store
teamwork, we would develop a series of online seminars for the store
managers. This was an optimal approach because the store managers were
spread out over several states. Next, we met with the
VP of
operations and the regional managers to determine what the store
managers would have to do to apply what they learned during these online
courses, and ultimately what they would need to do on the job to
increase their store’s profitability.
 
The following critical behaviors were identified:
 
1.
Store managers will create and manage goals for each team member so
each has a defined role and understands how they should contribute to
the overall team and how their contribution will be measured. When
developing these goals, store managers will ensure that they delegate
more effectively to all team members.
 
2. Store managers will communicate priorities and progress regularly, and will be a visible figure in the store at all times.
 
3.
Store managers must lead and inspire their teams by serving as an
example and a resource for all team members, continually coaching each
team member, praising good behavior regularly and correcting problems
promptly.
 
Once these behaviors were agreed upon, the regional
managers determined what they must do to ensure that the critical
behaviors would occur. Steps for monitoring, encouraging, reinforcing
and rewarding were defined. The VP of operations then instructed the
regional managers to begin taking these steps after their store managers
had participated in the online classes.
 
The online programs
were developed and approved. Just before they were made available, the
VP of operations chaired an orientation meeting that all store managers
were required to attend, at which:
 
* The objectives of the training program were communicated clearly.
 
* The critical behaviors that were expected to occur after training were presented.
 
*
It was explained that the regional manager would meet with the store
managers after they completed each online module to discuss what they
had learned and how they planned to apply it in their store.
 
*
It was explained that the regional manager would be monitoring how each
store manager was applying what they had learned about building and
leading an effective in-store team.
 
 
The training in this example was successful because the following actions occurred prior to the formal training event:
 
1. The causes of the root problem were identified during a discovery phase;
 
2.
Meetings were held with the management team to determine what would be
expected of the training participants (store managers) after training;
and
 
3. The training participants (store managers) attended an orientation session to learn about the program.
 
These keys ensured the creation of true value for our client.
 
About the Authors
 
Jim Kirkpatrick
Dr.
Jim Kirkpatrick is a senior consultant for Kirkpatrick Partners. His
major area of expertise is the Kirkpatrick Business Partnership Model.
Jim consults for Fortune 500 companies around the world and is a
masterful facilitator, conducting workshops on the Kirkpatrick Model,
business partnership and his newest topic, Training on Trial. Jim has
co-written three books with his father, Don Kirkpatrick, the creator of
the Kirkpatrick Model. He also has written three books with his wife,
Wendy Kirkpatrick: "Then and Now," "Training on Trial" and "Bringing
Business Partnership to Life: The Story of the Brunei Window Washer."
 
Wendy Kirkpatrick
Wendy
Kirkpatrick is the founder of Kirkpatrick Partners, a company dedicated
to helping organizations become more effective through business
partnership. She applies her skills as a certified instructional
designer and expert presenter and facilitator to lead companies to
measurable success. Wendy’s results orientation stems from her two
decades of business and training experience. She held positions in
merchandising, direct importing and product development before becoming a
product manager with Springs Industries and Rubbermaid. Most recently,
Wendy was a training manager for Hunter Douglas Window Fashions, where
she managed the training curriculum for 1,500 sales and customer service
representatives across North America.
 
Chuck Udell
Chuck
Udell, MAAP, is a senior partner with the Essential Action Design
Group, focusing on improving performance and profitability for clients
through improved sales, marketing and leadership development solutions.
Part of his client engagement includes developing and implementing
Kirkpatrick evaluation plans. Chuck is the former president of the
University of the Aftermarket – an operating division of Northwood
University, and prior to that was president of AWDA University, the
education division of the Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association
(AWDA). While at AWDA, he received several awards including the
association’s Pursuit of Excellence Award in 1997 and the AWDA Memorial
Education Scholarship Award in 2000. He also is the 2010 recipient of
the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association’s (AAIA) Mort Schwartz
Excellence in Education Award. He serves on a number of industry
training and education committees, and is a silver level certified
Kirkpatrick facilitator.
 
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