measuring the impact of employee soft skills training
TRANSCRIPT
Presenting Today
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Erin BoettgeContent Marketing Manager,
Krista BrubakerMarketing Coordinator
BizLibrary helps organizations succeed by improving the way employees learn.
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Poll Question: What is the single biggest
obstacle you face proving the business value of your soft
skills training program?
Soft skills aren’t optional.
75%
of long-term job success depends on soft skills
SOURCE: Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Melon Foundation
6.8%of total economy per
year in gross value added
Soft SkillsSoft Skills are important in every sector. especially…
Business services
Retail
Public services
23%
202044%
2025
Contribution to the economy is expected to grow…
SOURCE: January 2015 McDonald’s report on the economic value of soft skills
7
Gender equality and diversity
Rise of the millennials
Strategic Business Challenges of 2015
Leads to need to truly innovate
Desire to update cultures
Where does my company fit in this new market reality?
Rebrandingfor customer
engagement, sales, marketing and more!
Mobile /online channels
Outbound sales doesn’t work
anymore, inbound must be embraced
B2B sales /marketing
Great! But…back-end struggles
Front-end innovation
Strategic Business Challenges of 2015
Leads to need to truly innovate
Desire to update cultures
Survival in healthcare (and likely other industries, too)
AdaptabilityOutbound sales
doesn’t work anymore, inbound must be embraced
B2B sales /marketing
How can we meet these challenges?
What are soft skills?
Sometimes, easier to say what they are not . . . .
Methods, processes or disciplines
Occupational skills
Knowledge
What are soft skills?
Work Ethic
Attitude
Communication Skills
Emotional Intelligence
Collaboration
…
100% of the very most sought after and hardest to find skills in the market today are
soft skills. . . .
The Top 5 Skills for 2015
1. Leadership Skills
2. Ability to Work in a Team
3. Written Communication Skills
4. Problem-Solving Skills
5. Strong Work Ethic
SOURCES: Job Outlook: The Candidate Skills/Qualities Employers Want, the Influence of Attributes, National
Association of Colleges and Employers
The one differentiator between high performing employees and others . . . a soft skill…
emotional intelligence
Average IQ people outperform high IQ people 70% of them time…
90% of top performers are also high in emotional intelligence
People with high EQ make more money.$29,000 more per year than people with a low degree of EQ.
EQ is an important workplace skill and predictor of success in all types of jobs.
SOURCE: Travis Bradberry, Emotional Intelligence – EQ, Forbes, January 2014.
Trust
Anger Management
Stress Tolerance
Time Management
EmpathyDecision Making
Change Tolerance
Communication
Customer Service
Flexibility
AssertivenessTeamwork
Accountability
Social SkillsPresentation Skills
Emotional intelligence is the foundation for critical skills.
Emotional Intelligence EQCan be learned and unlearned
The connection and interaction of the emotional and rational parts of our brain
Strategies to adopt and improve
Attitudes, choices and behaviors
WHAT I SEE WHAT I DO
PERSONAL COMPETENCE
SOCIAL COMPETENCE
Self-Awareness
Social Awareness
Self - Management
Relationship Management
SOURCE: Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
…Agility is demonstrated by the ability to quickly solve day-to-day business problems, to identify new processes and frameworks for speed of delivery, to cross global and functional lines without faltering, and to accept, respond, and initiate change.
Employees who can identify opportunities, adapt, and thrive in the reality of change have a propensity to be high performers. Given the right resources and investment in learning, these traits are achievable across the entire organization.”
John Ambrose, Sr. Vice President Strategy,
Skillsoft
11 minutes
Why short video…
actually works?
50% 70% 100 ms
Of the brain is used for visual processing
Of the sensory receptors are in the eyes
To get a sense of the visual scene
Visually Wired Brain
Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.”
SOURCE: Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
LEARNER EXPECTATIONS
• Easy to use - intuitive
• Learning experience fits to delivery mode
• Content is accessible no matter what device I’m using
• Content is accessible in any location or work environment
• Easy to find and easy to share
• Engaging
CONTENT CHARACTERISTICS
• Delivery looks familiar to me and there is video to watch
• Content is personalized to fit my needs
• Mobile – must have, it’s not an option
• I choose when and how to access content
• Social – shareable with friends and colleagues and I can comment
• Short, relevant video
How do I measure the impactof soft skills?
LEVEL 1Reaction
LEVEL 2Learning
LEVEL 3Behavior
LEVEL 4Results
Participant satisfaction
Knowledge, skills and attitudes
Application and on-the-job learning
Business impact
LEVEL 5
Return on investment
Kirkpatrick – Phillips Model
It's not the 95% that's right that makes something work; it's the 5% that's wrong that messes everything up.
Source: Measuring, Managing and Maximizing Performance, Will Kaydos
SYSTEM/PROCEDURE CHANGES
INCENTIVE/MOTIVATION
MANAGER SUPPORT/ATTENTION
EXTERNAL FACTORS
EFFECT OF LEARNING ON IMPROVEMENT
TOTAL IMPROVEMENT
AFTER PROGRAM
Isolation Techniques
What, if anything, did this person learn that
was new?
How, if at all, did this person use the new
learning in some sort of job-specific behavior?
Did the usage of the learning help to produce any sort of worthwhile outcome?
1 2
3
SOURCE: Telling Training’s Story by Robert O. Brinkerhoff
Success Case Method
1
2
4
3
Focus on what you’re evaluating
Create an impact model that defines
potential results and benefits.
Survey and select success versus
non-success rates.
Formulate conclusions and
recommendations, value, and return-
on-investment.
CREATE A MEASUREMENT PLAN
Identify Performance
Areas
Engage Key Stakeholders
Clarify and Define Training
Establish Key Performance
Indicators and Metrics
1. Focus and Plan the Evaluation
2. Create a Model for Success
Business Unit Goals
Skills and Knowledge Behaviors
and Actions
WHICH STATEMENT BELOW BEST DESCRIBES YOUR EXPERIENCE SINCE PARTICIPATING IN THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TRAINING?
a. I learned something new, I have used it, and it has led to some very worthwhile results.
b. I learned and tried some new things but can’t point to any very worthwhile results yet.
c. While I may have learned something new, I have not been able to use it yet.
d. I already knew about and was doing the things this training taught.
e. I don’t think I can really use what I learned in the training.
3. Success vs. Non-success Rates
SOURCE: Telling Training’s Story by Robert O. Brinkerhoff
Unsuccessful Successful
Positive influences:On-demand access to resourcesOpportunity to apply learningPeer supportSenior leader involvementManager support
Areas of increased performance
The value of this increase
The costs to deliver value
Recommended improvements
to increase value
4. Recommendations, Value and ROI
Delegation Skills
TRAINING COSTS IMPACT
Human Resources: $1,000Stakeholders: $720Total = $1,720
• Newly promoted managers take an average of 16 weeks to gain full productivity
• Goal is to reach 100% productivity in 8 weeks at a value of $72,000 for 12 managers.
• Teams are less productive per employee as managers gain skills, and secondary goal is to increase productivity per employee.
Delegation Skills
VALUE ADDED TOTAL VALUE GAINED
• Costs per manager are $60.00 each by using online delivery of content.
• Managers reached full productivity by learning to effectively delegate tasks and assume manager’s role in 8 weeks.
• Gain in value of salary was $72,000.• Additionally, each team saw a .25% gain in per employee
production of $18,000 total across the six impacted teams.
$100,000 on a $1,720 program
Problem Solving Skills
TRAINING COSTS IMPACT
Human Resources: $90,000Managers & Reps: $250,000Total = $340,000
• Customer service satisfaction ratings of 3 or below during trials result in zero sales
• Ratings of 4.5 or better result in won business 85% of the time
• Goal is to reach 4.5 ratings or better in 85% of the surveys returned.
Problem Solving Skills
VALUE ADDED TOTAL VALUE GAINED
• Complex training program lasted a full year.• In the 12 months after the training program
really began to show modifications in behaviors as proven by reaching 4.5 customer satisfaction scores 85% of the time
• 24 additional deals were won on the same number of total trials.
$1,200,000 on a $340,000 program
Key Take-awaysRaising your organization’s mastery of soft skills is important regardless of industry or size.
We should approach the development of soft skills by focusing on the key behaviors aimed at supporting organizational objectives.
Learning content should be delivered the way employee’s work and live – short form video.
Measuring the impact is an important step in the training and development process.
The success case methodology focuses on amplifying the effects of training, not isolating.
Training Payback vs. ROI
1. Training Management2. Research3. Content Development4. Training Delivery
9 Lesson Course1. Feedback: Feedback Basics2. Feedback: Focus Groups3. Feedback: Interviews4. Feedback: Advisory Panels5. Feedback: Management by Walking
Around6. Feedback: Mystery Shopper7. Feedback: Question of the Week8. Feedback: Report Cards and Phone
Calls9. Feedback: Ways to Get Feedback
Getting Good at Surveys and Analysis
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