Know Your Destination Before Departure

One of the biggest challenges in conducting impact studies of performance-improvement programs is that the organization is not clear on exactly what they hope will change. It is not surprising that programs often provide little impact when it has no objective. An organization that is developing programs must determine what its goals are and state them in clear, measurable terms. The following are the three types of program objectives for performance-improvement programs:

• Define how the program will impact the business
• Define what behaviors are needed to meet the business objectives
• Define what the participant must know and/or know how to do to meet the performance objectives.

Ideally, the business objectives are established first. These objectives must be attainable given the business environment. Some business objectives could include:

• increase customer satisfaction index by 35 percent
• reduce overtime by 30 percent
• reduce turnover or absenteeism by 15 percent
• reduce grievances by 40 per year
• reduce meeting time in half.

After the business objectives are defined, performance objectives are established to meet the business objective. There must be at least one performance objective. Performance objectives must be stated in measurable terminology, and each objective must address one distinct behavior. The objective should be stated in such a way that the evaluator can say that they either did it or did not. Some performance objectives could include:

• ask correct questions on customer calls
• complete assignments on time
• create priority checklist for meetings
• consult supervisor before making modifications are made
• follow up on each help desk call to ensure problems are solved.

Most training designers are familiar with learning objectives. Just as there are normally more than one performance objective for each business objective, there are normally more learning objectives for each performance objective. But there must be at least one learning objective for each performance objective. Otherwise the program predictably will not produce the behaviors needed to meet the business objectives. Begin performance and learning objectives with action verbs. This will ensure they are measurable. A test item or an observation could measure the extent to which that learning objective is met during the program. The biggest mistake made when developing learning objectives is to open them in such a way that they cannot be measured accurately. It is impossible, for example, to measure understanding or appreciation.

Writing objectives that are measurable takes practice, but once completed, an impact study can begin, where each of the levels of evaluations can be measured.