So I wonder if we can help them by identifying measurable outcomes early in the design. First, we might need to steer the client to identifying a measurable result for the elearning–something like “Increase customer retention by 8%” instead of “Improve customer service.”

Once they agree to a measurable goal for the project, we can identify what the learners need to do (not know) in order to reach that goal. These actions will usually be measurable as well (like “Respond to all customer emails within 24 hours”).

During our design discussions, we could ask the client how they plan to measure the improvement caused by the elearning. If they give a vague response, we could suggest concrete things they can do, based on the goal and actions we’ve identified in our design.

It’s a challenging situation.

Cathy, well done, and great thanks for your informative and innovative writings..

Cheers!!!

Raj

http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/818

As Dave points out, if we were to imitate performance improvement expert Tom Gilbert, we’d ask our customers these questions:

- Do people have the information they need? (For example, do they know what standards they’re supposed to be meeting?)

- Do they have the instruments they need?

- Do you have incentive systems to support the performance you need?

These questions identify improvements that could remove the need for training. If we ask these questions before agreeing to develop a “course,” we’ll reshape our brand–we’ll help customers see us as people who improve performance. We’ll also have a much deeper understanding of our company’s challenges, so when we do create training, it will more likely be effective.

“We need to challenge the customers who expect us to slap an elearning band-aid on their problem. We need them to see us as people who improve performance, not just people who put information online.”

I think the real problem is the lack of effective branding within T&D departments/agencies. If we, as learning professionals, would do a better job of branding what we do as “improving performance and changing behaviors,” I feel confident it would cut down on some of the false expectations that our clients have about what we will do with their content.

How does that help? One way to talk to your client is to start with the accomplishments. This is a lot like “how will you know when you’ve solved the problem?” — the percentage of correctly rotated widgets goes up, or the length of time goes down, or the level of rotation-related injury drops. (That last example probably deals more with the behavior — am I following good safety practice when I’m rotating? — but it emerges from the accomplishment and the standards by which the accomplishment is judged.

In turn, this opens the possibility of true problem-solving based on accomplishments. “So, you want to reduce the loan error rate by 25%, and you’d like to shorten the time-to-approve by 20%. If we can develop a form that reduces error, that means we don’t need to train our way around the error.”