Training on Trial: How Workplace Learning Must Reinvent Itself to Remain Relevant - Hardcover

Kirkpatrick, James D.; Kikpatrick, Wendy Kayser

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814414648 ISBN 13: 9780814414644

Publisher: Amacom Books, 2010

Synopsis

While upbeat lingo abounds about complementing strategic objectives and driving productivity, the fact is that most training does not make a significant enough impact on business results, and when it does, training professionals fail to make a convincing case about the value added to the bottom line. The vaunted business partnership model has yet to be realized and in tough economic times, when the training budget is often the first to be cut, training is on trial for its very existence. Using a courtroom trial as a metaphor, Training on Trial seeks to get to the truth about why training fails and puts the business partnership model to work for real. Readers on both sides of the courtroom will learn how to stop viewing training as a cost center, and bridge the gulf between what learning functions deliver and what business units need to execute their strategies. A thought-provoking read for trainers and business unit leaders alike, Training on Trial provides a new application of the Kirkpatrick Four-Level Evaluation Model and a multitude of tips and techniques that allow lessons learned to be put into action now.

About this title

About the Author

JIM D. KIRKPATRICK, PHD (St. Louis, MO) is SMR-USA’s Vice President of Global Training and Consulting, providing consulting to Fortune 500 companies around the world. WENDY KAYSER KIRKPATRICK (St. Louis, MO) is Director of Kirkpatrick Partners, LLC.

From the Back Cover

Praise from Training Professionals for Training on Trial:

“Training on Trial should be a required read for anyone in the business of buying, building, and delivering training.” — Judith Hale, Ph.D., CPT, Hale Associates

“This book is simply the most important read, now, for anyone engaged in the management and leadership of learning & development activity.” — Craig Hiles, Managing Partner, Whitestone, Inc., UK

“Training on Trial both forewarns us of the dangers of becoming complacent training providers and directs us to be proactive…A must-read for all training practitioners in the 21st century.” — David Cory M.A., President, The Emotional Intelligence Training Company, Inc.

“Perhaps, the next time you step into an elevator, you could be greeted by your senior executive with, ‘How’s it going with training?’ In Training on Trial, Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick help the CLO and staff lay out their ‘opening remarks’ with confidence and foresight. From whatever sector—private, government, or nonprofit—the examples and clear thinking about the Kirkpatrick levels of training evaluation will serve as preparation for your response to the potential plaintiff’s complaint, ‘What has training done to help us?’” — Harold Welch, Ph.D., SPHR System Manager, Leadership and Knowledge Management, U.S. Office of Personnel Management

“Training on Trial contains tips, tools, quizzes, examples, and case studies that help you build a ‘chain of evidence.’ Written in an engaging and practical style, Jim and Wendy introduce a new vocabulary that I hope will become common in the L&D world. They have changed the way I think and talk about training with my ‘jury.’” — Glenn Hughes, Director of Global Learning, KLA Tencor, Inc.

“In Training on Trial, Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick provide learning professionals a practical and realistic guide to remaining relevant to the bottom line…A must-read for anyone in the learning and development arena. — Kimberly Middleton, Supervisor, Learning and Development, Navy Federal Credit Union

“Yes, Training is on Trial, but the verdict is in favor of Jim and Wendy’s latest book.” — Elaine Biech, author of The Business of Consulting and Training for Dummies

From the Inside Flap

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 to 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 Level Evaluation Model has been adapted and applied to provide the foundation for your winning defense.

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 toward 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 ROESM (Return on Expectations).

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.

Training on Trial will give you an edge on enhancing the value of the learning & development services you provide—before you’re forced to defend your work.

James D. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., is president of Kirkpatrick Partners, LLC, partnering with Fortune 500 companies around the world. He is coauthor of Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels with his father, industry icon Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick. Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick is director of Kirkpatrick Partners, LLC. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

They can be reached at: information@kirkpatrickpartners.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814414648
• ISBN 13: 9780814414644
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239