Management Training ROI – Tools and Techniques

If you’re looking for a rigorous approach to measuring and proving the ROI of management training then we might be able to help.

After running our own ‘Lean for Services’ training our clients tell us what they went back into the business and actually changed, and then what tangible results they achieved, but are there any tools or a ‘best practice’ approach to follow?

Here’s 5 links, tools and articles that  just might help.

1. Tools

The UK’s Chartered Management Institute are currently developing two tools:

• The first, an employee assessment package, which includes two modules – Perform and Engage – can reveal vital  gaps in managers’ skills, then measure their progress after targeted training.  The product is a partnership between Cognisco and CMI, which will take the lead in creating tailored training for candidates, and includes mentoring and coaching and online support, on a group  or individual basis.
• The second, an integrated alignment tool – part of CMI’s ROI Service – features a combination of bespoke consultation and online survey and analysis features. These allow you to assess the approach to L&D in your organisation, to consider how well it aligns to core business objectives, and then to provide a mechanism for measuring improvements in capability.

2. Theory

Gina Abudi’s white paper ‘Using Return on Investment to Evaluate Project Management Training’ is a template approach worth considering. Her paper includes a focus on the use of ROI to measure the effectiveness of project management training programs in particular. She cites Jack Phillips of the ROI Institute, Inc. who developed a Level 5 ROI evaluation, as a follow on to the Kirkpatrick Levels 1 – 4 Evaluation Model (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2005) for the measurement of training programs. Phillips’ Level 5 takes the measurement of the effectiveness of training program to a higher level – converting the benefits of the training to a monetary value, thereby demonstrating its value to the bottom line.

3. Benchmarking

UK based, The ROI Academy, has created what they call a ‘Training Impact Evaluator‘. They say ‘it is an easy to use solution benchmarked against the National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership. It gives you that ‘hard to find’ measure of what difference the training makes back in the workplace (Kirkpatrick Levels 3 and 4).’

4. How to measure the ROI of training

This very popular slideshow from ExploreHR.org  shows you the steps to take and is available to download too. Or you can even go on a course to learn it via The Independent’s own ‘Measuring Training Return on Investment 1 day workshop’.

5. Books

The Jack J. Phillips book Return on Investment in Training and Performance Improvement Programs is a good start and offers:

* Applies the well-known ROI method to training programs
* Provides you with the tools to identify the key indicators for measurement and how to measure them effectively
* Summarizes in simple language everything practitioners need to do to sell, defend, or expand training initiatives to senior management

Please let us know (by posting your comments below) of any more noteworthy approaches and we’ll add them to the list. Thanks.