What Your Audience Wants to Know


In figure 10-1, the four financial audience levels are once more depicted, this time reinforcing the timeframe that each audience level is typically concerned with. Underneath the financial value chain are displayed the five levels of evaluation.


Figure 10-1: Aligning value and levels of evaluation.

Levels 1 and 2

In figure 10-1, levels 1 and 2 are aligned under the Individual level of your audience. This is because evaluation levels 1 and 2 are concerned with data that Individual contributors need to know in order to discern if the training or other intervention will help them meet their measures. Individuals ask themselves questions such as, ‚“Is it going to be worth my time to be in this class ‚½ (reaction) and ‚“Will I learn enough by being there? ‚½ (learning). Evaluation levels 1 and 2 help answer those questions.

Level 3

It is not until level 3, that you begin to move up the financial value chain to get data that your first management level is going to be interested in. Yes, some managers at every financial level will want to know if the learners liked the intervention and if they learned well. But, for the most part, for everyone above the Individual layer knowing that the intervention was well constructed and kept people awake, engaged, and learning correctly is a given. They think to themselves that, of course, this is the case or else it is time to find a different WLP professional to manage the WLP tasks .

Important ‚  

You cannot satisfy the Senior, Mid, and 1st/Ops levels of your audience by showing them level 1 or level 2 data. You can only dissatisfy them if they ask to see it and it is not there!

The 1st/Ops level is interested in level 3 behavioral data because this data corresponds to what they have the most day-to-day control over and are held accountable for. Yes, many 1st/Ops managers are interested in results or ROI data, but being able to change organizational level 4 and level 5 numbers is often out of their control. For example, any single 1st/Ops manager may have had a great result within his or her own group , but he or she cannot control the results of his or her peers. Level 3 data is the most useful and directly applicable data for the 1st/Ops layer in the financial value chain.

Levels 4 and 5

Are some Mid-level managers going to be concerned about level 3 data? Of course, but for the most part, the job of the Mid-level manager is too removed from the day-to-day activities of the Individual contributors to be able to directly influence behavior. For the Mid-level manager, level 3 data is a given.

Mid-level managers think to themselves that, of course, their WLP programs are going to be applied and people will behave differently on the job. Otherwise, why would they waste money on the interventions? Workplace learning and performance practitioners know that in reality ensuring new behaviors can be difficult, that reinforcement is key, and that the support of Mid-level managers is often critical to ensure the transfer of new behavior to the job. Mid-level managers expect that the WLP professional is going to arrange for support, communication, and other reinforcement as required. But, the Mid-level manager is not going to chase the WLP professional down to make sure these ‚“given ‚½ activities are going to occur. You cannot truly satisfy a Mid-level manager by pointing out that people actually applied the new behaviors on the job. You can only dissatisfy them if the learners do not!

Mid-level managers are often responsible for level 4 (results) and level 5 (ROI). Mid-level managers have measures such as total revenue, COGS, days inventory outstanding, or other measures as discussed in previous chapters. It often takes time for results and ROI to be able to appear so that they can be calculated. This lag time places ROI in the timeframes between the long end of the 1st/Ops level and well into the Mid level of your audience.

Important ‚  

If you are communicating ROI percentages to an audience for the first time, it will need to hear more details about the other levels of evaluation to convince them that you have built a solid case and are presenting a valid ROI. In addition, telling the whole story of a great accomplishment can be just as valuable to the participants as it is to the people who manage them. Nevertheless, if you ‚ ve earned your credibility and people are hearing an update to a continuing story, presenting other levels can lead to the too-much-information syndrome. Symptoms of this syndrome include glazed eyes, sleepiness, and fidgeting in your audience. If you sense that your audience is being overwhelmed with too much information, get to the point with the level of information your audience is most interested in.




Quick Show Me Your Value
Quick! Show Me Your Value
ISBN: 1562863657
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net