How do you evaluate the success of your leadership training?

Executive buy-in. CEO promotes. VPs are heavily involved. Budget is allocated. Things will get done. We all react to incentives.

Although they may seem like synonyms, training, education, and instruction differ. We train someone to perform repetitive psychomotor tasks like operate a machine or flip.a burger. Leadership is a development of the affective domain moreso than the cognitive or psychomotor domain. Developing a leader often entails reversing deep seated biases and core beliefs. To this end, some people may never realize their full potential to truly lead a team, function, or organization.

Success starts with clarity. When embarking on leadership training, establish your objectives upfront. What specific changes or improvements do you hope to see in yourself and your team? Maybe it's fostering an environment of innovation, or perhaps it's strengthening relationships among your team members. Once your goals are defined, you can identify measurable metrics related to them. If your aim is to increase innovation, for example, you might track the number of new ideas generated per month.

I think it should be also thought about what makes a leader a leader. I think the goal should be making people better and motivate your team by developing your team. I participated trainings where it‘s about ?servant leadership“ - which basically means, to motivate your team by listening to them, and then change or make processes better. With that I agree that you‘ll succeed by raising sales numbers. Because everyone wants to earn money, but the easiest way to gain that is with highly motivated employees. After that, surely there are many different ways to lead further, to measure and then start on realistic goals, for the current year or even on long term thoughts with an overall goal.

These are all good examples of metrics that can help to assess the success of leadership training. You'll want to have some contingency plans in place as well, since teams shift, people move, and you won't always get the same people providing feedback in order to accurately measure performance improvement. I had a leadership program where we were providing surveys to the leaders' teams every three months; the problem was that the business moved so fast that the teams were constantly shifting, and many of the people taking the survey each quarter had not taken it the quarter before, so it wasn't exactly an "apples to apples" comparison. It still shed light on growth, but not as clearly or succinctly as we'd hoped originally.

My personal view that brings effort is that you must try and fail - like processes in production lines. But most important is to listen to people. Survey inhouse wise to get feedback - even anonymous or face to face discussions. Still you need to have different IT programs where you can see clearly actions which to analyze if your investment was the right one.

The evaluation methods and tools you select should align with your goals and provide clear insight into your progress. Surveys, performance reviews, observation, and feedback sessions are just a few ways to gather this valuable information. Don't underestimate the power of open conversations, too. As leaders, we have to value transparency, creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences.

Data collection is more than just a one-time activity—it should be ongoing. Continual data collection allows you to track changes over time and assess the impact of your leadership training. And remember, data isn't just about numbers. Qualitative data, such as personal testimonials and observational notes, can provide rich insights into the heartset shifts that quantitative data might miss.

Behaviour change is the goal.. and a few ways we have been able measure this is through 360 assessments, and also through IDPs with regular check in intervals- unless there are visible changes to the way the leaders actively practice and ultimately adjust or reinforce certain behaviours - the investment won’t last for long after the course..

Analyze relevant performance metrics or KPIs for the team or organization after the training. Look for changes in productivity, employee engagement, team cohesion, and other key performance indicators that the leadership training may have influenced.

Yay for 2023! The technology advancements of the past 8 months mean you can use tools like #chatgpt to help with data analysis. Upload results to find trends and analyze sentiments.

Transparency means sharing our findings—both successes and areas for improvement—with our teams. This level of openness builds trust and encourages everyone to engage in the journey of growth. Take action based on what the data shows. If your leadership training isn't yielding the desired results, don't be afraid to adjust course. That's the beauty of growth—it's a process, not a destination.

TL;DR 1) Capture lessons learned/after action reports 2) Make the information easy to digest 3) Make an easy to navigate repository Developing a robust and easy to navigate lessons learned / best practices library cannot be overemphasized. Most organizations have some form of repository for capturing lessons learned or after action reports, but very few design the repository to be easy to navigate. Fewer still synthesize the information in a way to make it easily digestible. If you can nail all three elements you will give your organization an innovation boost.

One thing I have found helpful has been a team impact evaluation of the training effectiveness. Your team will tell you if the leader trained absorbed, digested and could put into action that which was learned. If the leader cannot impact their people with the training get another leader.

Evaluating the success of your leadership training isn't just about checking boxes. It's about aligning your mindset and heartset, manifesting the core values of honesty, transparency, integrity, and loyalty, and continuing to build authentic relationships. At the end of the day, the true measure of our leadership training's success is the positive impact we have on people's lives. If we're empowering others to live and lead with authenticity, courage, and compassion, then we're on the right path. And remember, this journey is one that we're on together. Keep kissing your dragons, and keep saying 'Yes!' to innovation.

In order to have knowledge retention above 60% you need to make the training experiential. Research shows (McKinsey) that experiential learning mitigates the fact that we tend to forget about 75% of what we’re told in 6 days. If we feel and experience something, we remember it more readily and can assess when to apply it. Expecting people to remember and implement without giving them the chance to practise is asking for trouble.

Other considerations: - Relevance, importance, and utility of the training are paramount. Understanding the "why" and communicating how the learner can make a difference with the learning is crucial for success. - Accountability for the learning is critical. If an organization is going to invest heavily in its people (as it should), then the institution must build in responsibility for the acquisition of knowledge and the attendant application of skills. - Hubris can roadblock learning. We're never too old (or experienced) to learn. Senior leaders must check their egos at the door and set the conditions such that they, and their teams, are truly ready and willing to learn. - See more at "The eight imperatives of effective adult learning."

Leadership is both an art and a science. Leadership styles and philosophy must be tailored to the organization and the specific followers. A successful leader in one group may be abysmal in another group if they cannot adapt their leadership style to fit. The science can be trained, but the art requires actual practice and time.