Sidebar 2: Case Study: Wiping Up the Credit

Because the dispensers fall off the wall and rust, and the paper towels become drenched when the floors of food processing plants are hosed down three times a day, a paper products manufacturer adapted its towel dispensers for this unique environment. To make sure that the sales representatives could describe the unique problems of using paper towels in food processing plants and explain how the new towel dispenser resolved those problems, the company's training department requested that a course developer prepare a training workbook for the sales representatives.

In his plans for the workbook, the course developer included plans for evaluating the course. As is typical in most instructional designs, the course developer included a set of learning objectives for the course (which state the skills participants should be able to master when completing the course) and a corresponding test of those objectives. In addition, the course developer included the following objective for the course:

In other words, if the course were effective, this skilled sales force would be able to sell the projected number of towel dispensers after a learning curve of 2 to 6 months. The objective also notes a condition of success (also called a dependency): sales representatives must choose to spend time marketing this product. Because the sales representatives sold over 100 items from the corporation's catalog, their attention could easily be diverted to selling products. The marketing staff would need to provide sufficient incentives to the sales representatives during the first 2 to 6 months to keep their attention focused on selling this towel dispenser.

The course developer indicated that management could assess this business objective by tracking sales figures. Note that tracking the success of the workbook did not require a special set of measurements. Instead, training managers only needed to check a business measure already tracked by marketing management.

After seeing the information plan, the training manager thanked the course developer for including the business objective and suggesting how to measure it, but replied that the organization had no need for a business measure at this time.

The course developer expected this reaction. The training manager did not expect a business objective, nor was the department assessed on business objectives. The course developer recognized that this business objective was an "extra-curicular activity." In contrast, the training manager had expected the course developer to include learning objectives; according to several studies, course developers include them in nearly 100 percent of all courses.

Rather than sulk about the training manager's reaction, the course developer developed the course. Student performance on the required test exceeded all expectations; the average score was 92 percent. The training manager commended the course developer on the successful course.

A month after giving the course and the company launched the product, the course developer initiated a follow-up call to the training manager. "And how is the product doing?" the course developer asked.

"Great," the training manager replied. "In fact, sales exceed the plans by 400 percent."

The course developer already felt a sense of success. The course developer obviously felt a sense of success in the higher-than-projected sales of the product. But the course developer also felt a sense of satisfaction that the training manager even knew those statistics. The training manager probably would not have checked those numbers without the earlier suggestion in the plans for the course.

"And," the training manager continued, "The Vice-President of Sales credits the training course for the success." This truly surprised the course developer.

The course developer knew that other communication activities significantly contributed to the success of the product. The company had developed an extremely clever direct mail advertising campaign intended to pique the interest of potential customers in the weeks before the product launch. The marketing research department provided each sales representative with the names of several qualified leads for this product before the sales representatives began calling on customers. "But so many other things contributed to the success," the course developer acknowledged.

"Indeed," the training manager responded. "But you're the only one who made a special attempt to track the bottom line."

Although this demonstration of value ultimately is a matter of perception and other factors contribute to business success, the voluntary process of stating business objectives and suggesting ways to measure them can have a powerful positive effect on internal and external clients, and can go a long way in demonstrating value.

Not surprisingly, the training manager closed the conversation with the course developer by inviting the course developer to a meeting to discuss a new project.

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(c) Copyright. 2005. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.