Training is an essential part of every organization’s compliance and ethics programs. But just how effective has your compliance training been to date? Have you been tracking the impact it has? What effect has it had on your employees and the performance of your business?
Highlighted in this article are a number of steps you can take to effectively measure the performance of compliance training and prove the value it adds in your organization.
1. Decide what metrics you will measure and stick to them!
Every successful strategy begins with a careful planning and preparation. In terms of a compliance training strategy, identify exactly what it is you want to measure in your plan, well before you have developed any training program. In fact, the metrics and expected outcomes out your training should dictate the design and content of the compliance training program. Consider of all aspects of your organization’s compliance and regulation and determine what metrics will help you determine what impact the training has on the success of your organization.
2. Avoid the “On Average” Approach to Data – Be Specific!
How often do we hear the words “on average”? Quite often, right? Too many training programs focus on an average figure when it comes to analysing results. Compliance learning executives need to be specific on the data they generate. For example, if a compliance training program is deployed inside an organization and is taken by 500 people across five different departments within one year, how does this impact incidence reporting in the following 6-12 months? Streamlined tracking and monitoring of training should allow compliance learning executives to provide senior management with accurate statistics about how the rate of compliance-related incidences have been affected since the training was rolled out. If it can be shown that training directly correlates to a reduction in incidence reporting, this will support any claims L&D teams make about the value of training.
3. Leverage Kirkpatrick’s Model To Develop Your Own Measurement Strategy
If you are not already familiar with Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Training Evaluation Model, you should get to know it and start applying it to your own measurement strategy. The model consists of four levels of evaluation:
- Reaction: how did learner’s perceive their training to be? How did they react to it?
- Learning: did their level of knowledge increase as a result of training?
- Behavior: did their skills and abilities improve and have they implemented what they’ve learned?
- Results: what impact has the training had on the business?
Use this model as a basis for measuring your compliance training programs. It could be very useful in evaluating the success of compliance training in terms of increasing awareness and understanding of compliance and ethics policies and procedures, to what extent compliance policies are adhered to in the workplace, how training affects the rate of incidences and what affect it has on the business’ success.
4. Follow Up with Knowledge Assessments and Feedback Surveys
No matter what employee training is required, follow up is absolutely essential. If there is no follow up, how can any organization really know what impact training has had on individual employees and the jobs they do? Scheduling follow up activities within a designated timeframe after training should form a key part of your compliance training strategy. Popular follow up activities include distributing feedback surveys or questionnaires to employees, knowledge assessments, and group discussions to allow employees to provide feedback about their training. Adopt a suitable approach to generate data that will help you evaluate the performance of compliance training.
Measuring the performance of compliance training can provide a whole range of benefits for an organization. In addition to securing future training budgets, it can help reduce costs, improve staff retention and loyalty as well as developing a happier work environment for your employees.
If you would like to learn more about the importance of measuring training, read Proof Of The Pudding: Measuring the Business Impact of Corporate Training.
Do you need compliance training ?
Interactive Services has over 25 years’ experience in developing compliance training solutions for large organizations. Our CLC (Compliance Learning Center) offers 60 mix and match compliance learning modules. Contact us to discuss your compliance training needs today.
