Assessing Behavior
Many organizations realize the need for assessments. They use surveys, focus groups, focused interviews training pre-tests and post-tests. These surveys promote the long-term health of organizations and the development of people.
On this topic, it’s important to distinguish between pre-/post-course knowledge tests and pre-/post-course behavior assessments. Assessing up-front knowledge helps people learn important concepts, because it provides a baseline for what people know.
However, to determine a baseline for what people do on the job, we need a different tool. This means getting feedback from direct reports, peers, bosses and the participants themselves about how they are currently using the specific skills to be addressed in training. And not just numerical ratings—narrative comments give depth to the feedback.
This data helps the training department decide where to focus assistance. Also, behavior-based pre-course assessment can motivate participants to improve their skills. End-of-course knowledge testing is helpful; but by itself it’s inadequate. Periodic follow-on multi-rater feedback from direct reports, peer and bosses allows the participants to gauge whether their performance is actually improving. This ongoing feedback is vital to reinforcing skills until they are automatically using these skills in everyday behavior.
To save time and money, we recommend that you find a versatile multi-rater feedback platform that can automate assessment set-up, collection and reporting, and where you have the opportunity to acquire unlimited usage licenses.
Bud Cummings, Professional Development Associates
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