Two Distinct Results for the Same Training Program! A Mini Case Study
Just recently, I was having lunch with a friend who works for a large organization based in Boston. She heads up the Learning & Development (L&D) group and was working with two business units to deliver a training program for improving written communication skills. Both business units interacted with clients – internal and external – regularly.
Communications developed by the business units were varied and could sometimes be quite complex. The company was growing – globally and expanding their client base – and communications both internally and externally would become even more vital to the success of the organization in the near future.
The head of L&D spoke with the Vice Presidents of each business unit to discuss with them how to make sure the program would be valuable to the participants. She wanted to work in conjunction with the business unit vice presidents to develop a plan for applying the skills back on the job to ensure that the participants improved in their written communications. In Business Unit A, the VP agreed to participate and collaborate on development of a plan for training follow up; in Business Unit B, the VP decided that the training would be sufficient and there was no need for follow up or any kind of planning.
My friend always felt those business units where the VP and supervisors were actively involved and supportive of the training had the best results over the long term. She tried to convince the VP of Business Unit B of this and showed research that supported her claims. However, given how busy the unit was, he didn’t have time to put any effort into anything over and above letting his employees out of work for 2 days for the class.
And the story begins…
Business Unit A
The VP of Business Unit A was interested in how to ensure that the 2 days away from work would be most valuable for his staff. In conversations with the head of L&D, they decided that a pre-work component and a follow up program to the 2-day Improving Communication Skills class would help the participants to get the most they could out of the class and increase their retention of the skills by enabling them time to practice and use those skills.
The program structure for Business Unit A participants looked like this:
- 1 week prior to the class, each participant would submit two written communication pieces – one to an internal customer and one to an external customer.
- Participant would attend 2 day written communication class which will cover:
- Best practices for communicating effective in writing with others – whether via email, direct mail, in brochures, press releases, etc.
- Review of the written pieces they submitted – with feedback from others in the class
- Practice writing specific communication pieces and reviewing others’ work and providing feedback to other participants in the class
- Addressing irate customer communications effectively
- On the last day of the class, participants will complete at Action Plan, with their direct manager, as to how they will apply their new skills moving forward and what support they need to do so.
To download a template of the Action Plan used, see the Templates section of the blog.
Example Action Plan of one of the class participants developed on the last day of the class.
| Goal: Improve written communication to external customers around new products and services being offered by the company. | ||
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Improvement Strategies:
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Tasks/Actions Steps |
Support/Resources Needed |
Timeline (Complete by) |
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For the next week, have reviews done of all communications completed to ensure they meet best practices. |
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1 week from last day of class. |
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Develop new communication pieces to develop skills – such as press releases and brochures |
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Within a month |
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Support another participant by reviewing his communication pieces |
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1 week from last day of class and ongoing as new communication projects are introduced. |
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Implications for Professional Development: Given the expanded operations of the company, the business unit has additional communication work both internally and externally that requires much more thought around creation (global nature) – improved skills are required to manage these communications effectively and ensure the company’s brand image is protected. |
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Success Criteria: Improved communications both internally and externally that require no rewrite or correction or retraction after release. |
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Proof of Goal Reached: 100% of communications both internal and external meet the best practice criteria developed for communications. |
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The action plan would be followed up by the immediate supervisor of the participant on a weekly basis to check progress and provide any necessary support and resources and to provide opportunities available for continued improvement of skills. The supervisor would update on progress to his/her VP (VP of the business unit) on a monthly basis.
The following additional follow up surveys would be completed:
- 3 months after the class ended, a survey was to be completed by all participants and their immediate supervisor to gauge success in applying new skills.
- 3 months after the class ended, a survey was to be sent to the VP of the business unit and the senior leadership team to determine their thoughts on the success of the communication class and the application of the skills learned.
- 6 months after the class ended, a survey was to be sent to both internal and external clients to determine if they noticed a difference in the communications they received and whether the difference was a positive one.
Business Unit B
The VP of business unit B was fine with a pre-work component to the class as defined by the head of L&D and the business unit A VP, but did not want to have to be concerned about after class follow up via action plans. He felt that the 2 day class would be sufficient for his staff and neither he, nor the supervisors who reported to him, had time for following up on action plans. He also didn’t want the participants to be concerned about action plans after the 2 day class ended. As it was, the participants being away their regular job for 2 days would likely set the unit back in workload to be completed.
The program structure for Business Unit B participants looked like this:
- 1 week prior to the class, each participant would submit two written communication pieces – one to an internal customer and one to an external customer.
- Participant would attend 2 day written communication class which will cover:
- Best practices for communicating effective in writing with others – whether via email, direct mail, in brochures, press releases, etc.
- Review of the written pieces they submitted – with feedback from others in the class
- Practice writing specific communication pieces and reviewing others’ work and providing feedback to other participants in the class
- Addressing irate customer communications effectively
- 3 months after the class ended, a survey was to be completed by all participants and their immediate supervisor to gauge success in applying new skills.
- 3 months after the class ended, a survey was to be sent to the VP of the business unit and the senior leadership team to determine their thoughts on the success of the communication class and the application of the skills learned.
- 6 months after the class ended, a survey was to be sent to both internal and external clients to determine if they noticed a difference in the communications they received and whether the difference was a positive one.
Survey results
My friend’s expectation, and certainly research and studies supported this, was that the individuals who followed up the training with action planning, and were supported by their immediate supervisors to take the time to practice and apply their new skills, would show better results.
In order to separate the results from each of the participant groups (Business Unit A and Business Unit B), surveys were sent out specifically related to work done by the participants in a particular business unit. In this way, my friend and her team would be able to compare the same class – one with action planning in place and one without.
Senior leaders were provided examples of written pieces from before the class and after the class from participants from either business unit A or business unit B and surveys were coded for the particular business unit they were evaluating.
For internal and external clients, they were asked to evaluate particular communication pieces they had received and were provided the appropriate survey coded to either business unit A or business unit B depending on the pieces they were evaluating.
The results shown below are high level, summarized results of the 3 surveys completed.
| Survey Type |
Business Unit A |
Business Unit B |
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3 months survey completed by all participants and their immediate supervisor |
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3 month survey completed by VP of the business unit and the senior leadership team
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6 months survey completed by internal and external clients |
When compared with the past, customer service noted that when communications went out to external clients that required action, they received 72% fewer phone calls to clarify and provide further instructions. |
When compared with the past, customer service noted that when communications went out to external clients that required action, they did not receive a significant difference in the amount of phone calls they received to clarify and provide further instructions. |
The Bottom Line
It was apparent to the VPs of the business units and senior leadership that when action planning (supported by others and followed through) was a component of a training program, the results over the long term showed increased and sustained improvement in the application of a new skill or knowledge learned.
After one year, another survey showed that there was continued and sustained improvement in Business Unit A participants while Business Unit B participants either showed no additional improvement, or, in many cases, went back to their old ways of doing their work.
L&D re-ran the 2 day communication class after a year with the same Business Unit B participants with the full support of the VP of the business unit to use Action Planning, to get them to the same point that the Business Unit A participants were at, thereby increasing their productivity and performance within the organization.
Morale of the story…follow up any training program – regardless of how minor it may seem – with action planning for the best long-term sustained results in performance. This will significantly increase the value of training programs and show them to be the worthwhile investment within the organization.
Your thoughts? What success have you seen with following up training with a plan to apply the skills back on the job? Please share in the comments field below. Thanks!
