(Part 6) Training RAI™ and Raising the Bar through Assessments

Are You Serious About Getting Results?

If the outcomes are important to you, important to the participants, important to their boss, and important to the company, then you owe it to yourself to do it right.

That means treating your learning initiative as a process, not an event. That means investing in accordance with the results that you desire. That means ensuring that in addition to the 6 steps outlined above, you use an assessment process to also:

• Urgency: Create a sense of urgency and creative tension to get people engaged
  
• Kickoff: Initiate the change process and predispose participants to get the ball rolling
  
• Exactness: Customize the training to ensure that it is exactly what you need
  
• Baseline: Set baseline metrics against which to measure improvement
  
• Buy-In: Obtain buy-in right from the start
  

In Conclusion While many assessments on the market today are statistically invalid and often implemented in a way that inhibits trust, decreases relevance, and wastes time, we believe that the assessment process is an invaluable tool to drive true behavior change and positive results. Interviews, focus groups, and best practices can provide interesting data points to help ensure that your training design is on target. They are key elements to a successful solution. However, the assessment process, combined with an individual coaching plan, allows you to provide both the participant and the coach the tools required for sustainable success. So the next time you have an important business issue related to skill or knowledge gaps, be sure you can answer “yes” to the following 6 questions before you jump to or initiate a solution. Only then can you be assured that you are on the right path to the success that you seek.

• Does Leadership Agree Upon a Clear Direction?
  
• Are Leaders and Employees Aligned?
  
• Do You Know the Specific Skill Gaps of Your Target Audience?
  
• Do Your Participants Have a Game Plan?
  
• Are Your Coaches Set Up to Succeed?
  
• Are You Serious About Getting Results?