Why Read Training on Trial?
Compelling Evidence That Training Can Yield Bottom Line Results
As you already know, training budgets are among the first to be cut when economic times get tough. Whether you’re one of the in-house survivors or a struggling consultant, you can no longer coast on lofty notions about continuous learning and employee development. You need to provide compelling evidence that training delivers bottom-line results.
“We do not have a choice but to defend ourselves,” attests Dr. James D. Kirkpatrick, one of the world’s most respected training and management consultants. In Training on Trial, Kirkpatrick and his co-counsel, Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick, guide you through every critical step of making a case for the value of training—whether to your CFO or a potential client. Using a courtroom trial as a metaphor, the Kirkpatricks demonstrate how to refute the charge that training does not make a significant enough impact on business to justify its costs. To help you represent yourself to the jury—that is, whoever has the power to judge your relative value—the authors call on eminent industry expert Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick. Dr. Kirkpatrick’s famous Four Levels Evaluation Model has been adapted and applied to provide the foundation for your winning defense.
Steps to Leverage the Kirkpatrick Business Partnership Model
With Training on Trial in your corner, you’ll go beyond spouting training jargon to demonstrating the tactical and strategic business value of your training programs. While working towards creating irrefutable connections between all types of learning and performance, you’ll come to:
- Build expertise and become genuinely involved in your company’s or client’s business
- Pledge to work together to positively impact a pressing business need or pivotal business opportunity
- Ask the jury their expectations and revise your own to be more realistic and mutually satisfying
- Develop a plan, targeting the key drivers of performance success after training has taken place
- Execute your initiative and deliver a stellar ROE (Return on Expectations)
Case Studies to Illustrate Key Principles
Throughout, you’ll find key action points and business partner tips. To add to the case, the Kirkpatricks spotlight star case studies from their practice, including Georgia-Pacific, Clarian Health, Farm Credit Canada, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
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