Partners In Change

TRAINING FOR IMPACT: How to Link Training to Business Needs and Measure the Results
Dana Gaines Robinson and James C. Robinson
Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1989.
Hardcover (308 pages): $40.50 (10% off retail price of $45.00)

Description

Dana and Jim Robinson reveal the critical difference between effective and ineffective training programs—a direct link to the organization's changing business needs, problems and opportunities. In TRAINING FOR IMPACT, they present a straightforward approach to training—the training-for-impact approach—that will help human resource development (HRD) professionals achieve this link. They show HRD professionals how they can develop and implement training programs to give people the skills and knowledge needed to improve their performance, create a supportive work environment to reinforce new skills, produce results that can be tracked on the job, and so help the organization achieve important goals.

TRAINING FOR IMPACT goes beyond the delivery of formal classroom sessions to specify what must happen before and after instruction to link training to organizational needs and goals. This hands-on guide provides the framework that enables you to maximize your training initiatives. Adopting the twelve-step approach described in this book ensures a direct link between your training efforts and the organization’s business goals. What better way to prove the value of your department than to provide results-oriented training that, when measured, demonstrates a positive impact on organizational results.

Contents

Part I: Moving from Activity Training to Impact Training

1. The Training-for-Activity Trap
2. The Training-for-Impact Approach

Part II: Creating Strategic Partnerships with Management

  3. Identifying Business Needs and Clients
  4. Forming a Collaborative Relationship with Clients
  5. Conducting Initial Project Meetings

Part III: Diagnosing Organizational Needs and Making Decisions

  6. Assessing Performance Effectiveness
  7. Analyzing Causes of Performance Gaps
  8. Tabulating, Interpreting and Reporting Results to Clients

Part IV: Building Evaluation and Tracking Systems into Training Programs

9. Participant Reactions: Going Beyond "Smile Sheets"
10. Participant Learning: Assessing Development of Knowledge and Skills
11. Behavioral Results: Evaluating Transfer of Learning to the Job
12. Non-Observable Results: Identifying Changes in Values, Beliefs and Cognitive Skills
13. Operational Results: Measuring Impact on the Business

Part V: Using the Training-for-Impact Approach

14. How and Where to Begin

Testimonials

“I really appreciate this book! Its emphasis on the human aspects and its practical application of concepts makes it valuable. I consider it a reference tool worth having at arm’s length.”

“Bravo! ‘TRAINING FOR IMPACT’ is the best resource of its type that I’ve used in my career as an internal department manager and training consultant. This book should be required reading for every HR manager.”

“Well done. Thorough, sensible and practical. A ‘must’ for anyone who manages or conducts training.”
“This book provides training and development professionals with practical, hands-on tools to document the contributions of their training efforts. I predict that this book will serve as THE handbook for future tracking and cost-justification of training and development efforts.”