Assessing Your Employees for Training
The key to effective training is identifying employees who have the right motivation.

By Ken Mayer

A lot of managers assume that the training value formula goes something like this: “The performance or behavior problem that I see can be fixed, if the employee(s) involved are fixed. So, I’ll find some training that will fix the employee, which will fix the performance or behavior problem for only the cost of training.”

If the formula doesn’t work, the managers rationalize that it must be the result of poorly motivated employees. That’s it; if training didn’t fix the problem, it must be the employee’s fault.

Training may be the most overused and underutilized tool in the management arsenal. Overused because a lot of managers believe that they can “fix” employee performance or behavior problems if they just apply enough training. So, year after year, lots of money is put into training in good times; and in bad times, managers use the lack of money available for training as an excuse for a wide variety of problems.

Assessment Saves Money
Research over the past 20 years has consistently revealed that up to 80 percent of employee training dollars are wasted. The changes in performance or behavior anticipated from training most often never occur, or quickly fade. Yet, managers continue to hope, and spend.

Is training useless? Certainly not. But getting value for your training dollars requires that employees be motivated to learn and apply what they are taught. Therefore, the key to effective training is how well management develops and identifies employees with the right motivation.

If it sounds like the bulk of the responsibility falls on managers, it does. Forget about relying on your employees to be totally self-motivated, self-managing and self-taught. Most employees will only be motivated to take full advantage of training if they know they need new knowledge, skills or information in order to meet job performance expectations. On the other hand, if employees see no connection between the training they receive and what they are expected to do on the job, motivation is unlikely. You can’t “fix” employees with training.

What to Assess
Let’s assume that you have identified a need for training. You may feel that your employees need a new skill, or, perhaps they need to communicate better, work more effectively as a team, develop their ability to solve problems or improve their technical ability. How can you assess your employees’ readiness and motivation for training?

Before you select a course and schedule training, you should assess the following for each trainee:

1. Understanding of job expectations. How well do employees understand the need for training, and how it will help them perform their jobs? If you find that the connection between the training offered and the need to use the skills on the job after training is weak or non-existent, an employee’s motivation to attend and learn will likely be low.
2. Prerequisite knowledge or skill. Does the employee possess the basic knowledge or skill needed to learn what will be taught, or is the training too advanced? It often is useful to test potential trainees to ensure that they have the necessary prerequisites for training. If trainees are in over their heads, motivation will be low.
3. Learning ability. Is the employee mentally capable of learning what will be taught? There are a number of relatively inexpensive learning ability assessments available for this purpose. How can an employee who knows or discovers that “it’s just too hard for me,” be motivated?
4. Learning attitude. Does the employee have a positive attitude about personal learning and growth? Again, if desired, this can be formally assessed through the use of a variety of available instruments. Certainly there are some employees who just feel they are above training. They think they don’t need it and already know everything they need to.

How to Assess
In most cases, the employee’s manager can assess potential trainees without the use of formal instruments or tests. However, it is often helpful to create a pre-training assessment checklist to aid the manager in these assessments. Unfortunately, if learning ability and learning attitude were not accurately assessed when the employee was hired or otherwise selected for the job—if the employee does not truly “fit” the job—then motivation for training will never be high.

Obviously, a multitude of additional factors can also affect a trainee’s motivation to learn. The timing and location of the training, the instructor, materials, physical environment, and social atmosphere also can greatly impact how an employee feels about attending and learning.

Assessing employees for training is an important issue because all managers want to get the most value possible from the training dollars they invest. Obtaining the value from employee training requires knowledgeable and motivated managers as well as motivated employees.

Ken Mayer is vice president of consulting services for The Mayer Group, Inc., an Overland Park company specializing in management advisory and coaching services, organization performance improvement and human resource management. He can be reached at (913) 327-1900.