The Business of Training

Job Performance - R. Hibbard Job performance is based on several factors.  All of the factors must combine to achieve optimal performance from an individual. Training, education, and feedback are critical components to high performance individuals.  Keep in mind that job performance and motivation is just as applicable to the hourly employee as it is to the CEO.  Everyone has a boss, even the CEO - the Board of Directors.  It is the bosses job and the company's job to ensure that employees are challenged and motivated.  Absolutely not in a negative way, but in positive ways that encourage creativity and high performance.  In the 21st Century Company if the job can be done by computers or robots then that is the path that should be taken, since there is absolutely no way that you can keep people motivated and excited in monotonous, repetitive jobs.  There are still jobs that are currently too difficult to automate and special attention must be given to ensure the employees rema

When doing a Cost Benefit Analysis for training and education programs there are many factors that result in benefits and economic returns.  Some of them are: Labor Process efficiency Sales Management Time-to-fix Vendor costs Up-time Marketing costs Delivery efficiency Headcount Competitive advantage Market share OSHA  (USA or local equivalent) - work safety agency EPA (USA or local equivalent) - environmental protection agency Where are the benefits in each of these? LABOR - Typically there are efficiency improvements.  Do job better,quicker, less headcount. PROCESS EFFICIENCY - Same here; more product, less waste, quicker change-over, quicker start-ups, etc. SALES - more, higher margin, new market, customer satisfaction MANAGEMENT - fewer, can do more, better direction VENDOR COSTS - reduced through close project management, purchasing supply management better prepared DELIVERY EFFICIENCY - could be in terms of delivery type chosen (e-learning tends to be mor

Back in 1999 The Jack Philips Center for Research coined the term "The ROI Process" (TM) .  It was, and still is, a comprehensive methodology for capturing ROI as well as the measurement of all aspects of the benefits of training (learning or performance) interventions.  See The Four Evaluation Levels for Training Programs for additional insight. In The ROI Process there are five levels presented.  ROI being a separate level from the traditional levels presented by Dr. Donald L. Kirkpatrick.  Dr. Kirkpatrick included ROI in level four known as Results , because ROI is one of the measures of the final business results such as increased sales, reduced costs, etc.  In my opinion, ROI is really a nice 'business' way to summarize your investment in the training intervention. However, common sense must be enlisted when, and if, you decide to establish the ROI of a learning event.  The cost of determination can exceed the benefit! The organization that requests the learni