Learning through application for ROI

As we develop new curriculums for our clients, we have put an incredible amount of focus on moving them from "training for training’s sake" to training for a documented return on investment (ROI).The following are a few elements that you should consider looking for a curriculum or creating for your own training efforts to drive ROI.

• First, determine your organizational and individual training needs. Then you can match the curriculum with those needs.
• Create a charter for application of the training in their facility. This should include the tasks that will be used to apply the learning points from the curriculum and the expected ROI from completing those tasks.
• Ensure that this charter is approved and owned by both the student and their manager.
• Verify that those who will be affected (above and beyond the student) by the training application work are aware and properly motivated. This could be operators, maintainers or supervisors in the area of application.
• Create course material that is not just hundreds of PowerPoint slides. It should be interactive and social. We use simulations, games, case studies and e-learning and teach back single-point lessons to ensure that we are engaging all of the learning styles of our students. Our goal is to spend only one-quarter of each hour on material directly from the slides.
• Don’t just have a training class. Connect your training with coaching in the field and project work that allows for application of each required learning point. This demonstrates learning while also driving your ROI.

In the end, we want to verify that the learning objectives have been retained and applied within the facility correctly, and through this application, we will then see the ROI for the training effort. 

– Shon Isenhour is a founding partner at Eruditio. This article originally appeared on Eruditio’s blog. Eruditio is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Erin Dunne, production coordinator, CFE Media, edunne@cfemedia.com. 

Original content can be found at blog.eruditiollc.com.

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