Whilst employee training is not offered quite as much as most employees would like, it still amounts to around $90 billion per year in the United States alone.  Knowing whether that investment has been worthwhile or not is therefore a pretty big deal.

In a recently published paper, researchers from Rice University describe a new checklist they’ve developed to do just that.  The checklist is designed to provide feedback and guidance at all stages of the training process.

Supporting the trainers

The checklist was developed after scouring the scientific literature on learning and development to try and boil down the essence of what the team refer to as ‘training transfer’, or in lay terms, the translation of knowledge into skills, which results in higher performance levels.

“Training transfer is vital across all industries, but among health care organizations the stakes are arguably higher,” the authors say.  “This checklist is an attempt to translate the science into a practical tool.”

The checklist is split into three sections, all of which contain a series of yes and no questions that are to be answered before, during and after the training undertaken.  In the ‘before’ section, the aim is to gauge whether the training will meet the needs of both the organization and the employee.  This is then followed by assessing the content of the training in the ‘during’ section, before the ‘after’ section addresses such things as whether employees have absorbed what they learned or whether they need extra help.

The team believe the checklist will help learning and development teams ensure that the training they provide actually helps improve the knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees, and ultimately their job performance.

“We believe the checklist will eliminate unnecessary training, enable more motivated, engaged, and effective staff, and possibly serve as a gateway for cultural change within an organization,” they conclude.