How can we control the quality of training when instructors make changes to content as they deliver it?

ANSWER

Yakimovicz

What's happening to employee performance as a result of the training differences?  Are employees learning the wrong things? Not enough? Are workers who are trained differently from the norm less effective at their jobs than those who are trained  according to the standard?

If there are measurable differences, I would work with the trainers to ensure they understand their responsibility for employee performance. You could create a control chart and track employee performance after training (both level 2 and level 3  measurements, if possible). On the chart, show the acceptable range of measurements, then display each class's results. Send the chart out to all the trainers regularly. Have discussions with any trainer whose class falls outside of the acceptable range about steps he or she can take to improve future class performance, such as using the standard material.

If there are no measurable differences and employees are performing at the

level you want after training, regardless of delivery differences, maybe it's not an issue worth pursuing.

Donovan

It isn't easy to manage training when internal courses are delivered off-site. As you have noticed, trainers like to add their own “signature” to the courses they deliver. At times, that can result in wasted time or poor learning.

I have managed traveling training teams a few times in my career and consulted to an external training provider that used many contract trainers to deliver their standard courses. Here are some suggestions for maintaining a quality program under those circumstances:

Involve the trainers in course development, especially if they are subject matter experts. That could include interviewing them, gathering their stories related to course topics, or involving them in reviewing drafts of training materials.

Elevate being a trainer to a privileged position by recruiting through a process, creating a training team with a sense of ownership over their own performance and the business’s success. Appoint trainers for a term of a year or two and have a path to reappointment based on their track record (see assessment item below).

Run a Train-the-Trainer event (or several if schedules or distance are an issue). During the event, introduce trainers to their new professional image. I have found using the competencies of the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction to be useful in that process. You can create a low-key activity such as a game or role-play to involve the trainers in identifying crucial issues.

Build assessment of the trainers’ performance into the course evaluation by asking specific questions around critical content, materials, and methods. Prepare evaluation reports that compare the results course by course (you can use MS Excel to graph the results).

Acknowledge and reward the trainers who play by the rules. This is the most important step you can take.

Voci

Many training departments have faced this dilemma and tried to ignore it, because the problem isn’t easy to remedy. However, a few different steps can have a positive impact:

Use evaluations wisely. Distribute the same one at all events regardless of location or facilitator. Making this data uniform allows you to make some general observations about the content covered. Effectively written questions can direct participants' answers so that discrepancies are more readily identified and can be pursued with the instructors in follow-up conversations.

When training the trainers, emphasize the business case for consistency. For example, it will preclude the need for retraining on the same content and save money for the company. Also, it can provide a basis for effective evaluation that is in everyone's best interest.

Use a common sense approach. Different instructors are always going to lend their own experience, anecdotes, and personality to the content, and that will alter the body of knowledge transmitted to some degree. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if the alterations are minimal and don’t detract from the learning goals.

Place some content online. That can help ensure more consistency. Leave the practice sessions and role-plays to the live instructor, and his or her personality and experience can help participants learn experientially.

Establish and maintain good working relationships with instructors. Leverage that sense of trust and camaraderie to continually monitor and support the learning goals of the organization. Get everyone on board with why it's desirable to stick to a specific body of knowledge and be consistent in the follow-up. If you make it a serious issue that matters, then be prepared to stay with the work of following up and reinforcing what happens in each course.