SC QUALITY GUILDTraining plan and Kirkpatrick evaluation
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Plan the courses that support a strategic objective, decide how each of Kirkpatrick's four levels will be measured, and calculate the return on the training.
ON THE EXAM · CMQ/OE VII.A, VII.D · FREE · NOTHING YOU TYPE LEAVES YOUR BROWSER
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Start from the objective, not the course catalog
A training plan earns its budget when it is tied to a strategic objective and a business measure. Work backward: which result must move (level 4), what people must do differently on the job to move it (level 3), what they must learn to do that (level 2), and only then which courses, for whom, by which method, at what cost and when. Method follows the objective: a hands-on skill needs practice; a leadership behavior needs coaching over time.
Write each learning objective as observable performance: an action, the conditions, and a standard. "Understand the coaching model" cannot be measured. "Coach a picker through an error using the five-step guide, observed by the manager" can.
Kirkpatrick's four levels
- Level 1, reaction: did participants find the training relevant, engaging and useful? Usually an end-of-session survey.
- Level 2, learning: did they acquire the knowledge, skill and confidence intended? Tests, practical demonstrations, before-and-after comparisons.
- Level 3, behavior: do they apply it on the job? Observation, audits, supervisor reports, work records, some weeks after the training.
- Level 4, results: did the targeted business outcome change? Defect rates, cycle time, incidents, customer measures.
Each level is harder to measure than the one below. The levels are not proof of one another: a high reaction score does not show learning, and passing a test does not show the skill is being used. When level 2 is met and level 3 is not, the cause is usually in the work environment: no reinforcement from supervisors, no time or tools, or no consequence for the old way.
Return on investment: Phillips' fifth level
Jack Phillips extended the model with a fifth level, return on investment. Convert the level 4 result to money, isolate the share caused by the training (control groups, trend analysis or conservative participant and manager estimates), and compare with the fully loaded cost, including participants' time. ROI % = (program benefits − program costs) ÷ program costs × 100. The benefit-cost ratio is benefits ÷ costs; a BCR of 1.5 is an ROI of 50%. ROI is credible only when the isolation step is done and the costs are complete.
On the CMQ/OE exam
Expect to name the level a given measure belongs to, to recognize that reaction data does not show learning or behavior change, and to calculate a simple training ROI.