Creating Training? Start with ROI.

The training process usually begins with an ask similar to: “I need to improve my workforce’s usage of this tool” or “this team needs to be able to prove they can use the tools safely.” Then some poor soul cobbles together a powerpoint or even (wow.) e-learning modules, interspersing some assessments, creating something that is serviceable and may even get the job done. But how *well* is it getting the job done? If you make the learning course—and even keep it to 90-minutes, per your leadership’s direction—are you sure you’ve actually made the best use of that 90-minutes? Is 90 minutes enough time, or too much time, or Goldilocks-perfect? 

The only way to answer these questions is with data, something admittedly lacking in the training world. The trainer passes out some smile sheets and maybe administers a quiz; but is it really worth the paper and the mental energy spent analyzing worthless results? Do we know what’s actually working? Because even if training is cheap to make, there is a cost to the organization in terms of labor spent, brain power drained, and (to me the most important and least acknowledged) a loss in the faith of training and learning content. We need to dig deep to decide if the training is even worth it. 

Thus, any training request should begin with a counter-request for the overarching business-need justifying the training. In other words, if we improve usage of xyz tool through training, how will we be able to measure how much better usage of the tool became? Without this metric, training departments have a difficult time justifying the cost of training to their leadership—and more-so, to their learners. So if we can’t identify a business need with a measurable metric that affects the business’s bottom line, then we shouldn’t waste time, money, or morale on training.