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

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.

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. Readers on both sides of the “courtroom” will learn how 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)

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.

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.