An effective microlearning program should always have a clear impact on employee performance. Training has little value if employees are unable to remember or practice the skills they learned while on the job. Therefore, measuring the effectiveness of your microlearning program is essential. Tracking these 5 employee performance metrics will help you identify the true impact of your training initiatives.
Measuring the Impact of Your Microlearning Strategy with Employee Performance Metrics
There are many benefits to implementing a microlearning strategy by measuring it with employee performance metrics. Microlearning reduces training barriers. This strategy also delivers training in a way that is both convenient and familiar to modern learners. However, all employee training programs should be evaluated to ensure that they are not only effective but are also providing the maximum benefit to your employees and organization.
Employee Performance Evaluation Metrics to Measure
To help you better measure the effectiveness of your microlearning program, we have identified 5 employee performance metrics that will help you determine the true value of your program.
1. Knowledge Application
One of the simplest ways you can measure the impact of your training program is by tracking whether or not employees are applying the skills they learned during training while on the job. Knowledge application is a key employee performance metric.
Whether your microlearning program is focused on software adoption or product knowledge training, it will be easy to tell whether it was effective if you see a clear change in behavior.
For example, if your microlearning courses were about how to use new software but employees are still struggling with adoption, the program may not be effective. On the other hand, if employees are able to easily navigate and operate the new system, it can be concluded that the program is delivering the desired results.
2. Speed and Efficiency
Changes in the speed and efficiency of processes are another metric that will provide you with insight into the effectiveness of your microlearning program. Let’s examine this employee performance metric. The way you track speed and efficiency may vary depending on the type of skills the training was focused on. One example of tracking speed and efficiency might be tracking the number of first-call resolutions of your customer support staff. Or maybe you have noticed an increased number of sales calls.
Is work being completed more quickly than before the employees participated in training? Have team processes become more efficient? If the answer is yes, this is a good indicator that the training was effective.
3. Quality of Work
Some behavior changes are more nuanced and more complex than knowledge application or increased efficiency. It is also important to track whether or not the training had a measurable impact on work quality. This employee performance metric is usually measured by direct supervisors during annual performance reviews. However, it can be tracked and measured quarterly as well.
This particular metric is especially important because it also impacts the other key metrics. For example, it does not matter if the speed is increased if the quality of work suffers or if there are more errors.
An effective microlearning program will improve the quality of work employees complete. This signals that the employees have learned the desired skills and are actively applying them.
4. Number of Errors
Tracking the number of mistakes or errors made will also help you gauge the impact of training. Whether the microlearning was aimed at helping delivery drivers improve their skills or was designed to increase the speed and efficiency of data entry, an effective microlearning program should reduce the number of errors made.
If there is an increase or the numbers stay the same, this is an indicator that there may be a problem with the program that should be addressed. Tracking patterns in what errors are being made is also useful. There may be a particular module or subject that was not as clear as the others.
5. Qualitative Feedback
Another employee performance metric is reviewing qualitative feedback. This employee performance metric will help you go beyond simply tracking patterns and numbers. Qualitative feedback will help complete the whole picture and fill in the details as to why the microlearning program was or was not successful.
There are two types of qualitative feedback to consider. You can track customer feedback. You can also track comments from employee team members and supervisors. For customer-facing employees, customer feedback can be quite telling as to whether or not individual employee skills have improved. This will also give you insight as to which skills have improved and which ones may still need some work.
Supervisor and team feedback can also be useful in tracking the details of behavior changes. For example, has this employee reached their individual goals for improvement? This is also a good way to figure out if the Instructional Design was helpful or if employees could easily operate the microlearning platform.
Summary
Measuring the impact of your microlearning program will help you get the most out of your training investment. By tracking the right employee performance metrics you should be able to not only identify whether or not the program is delivering results, but also identify opportunities for optimization and improvement. To effectively measure the impact of training, measure the following key metrics:
- Knowledge application
Are employees practicing the skills they have learned in the microlearning program? - Speed and efficiency
Have individual employees or teams who participated in training been able to complete their tasks more quickly? - Quality of work
Has the quality of the work completed improved? - Number of errors
Has the number of errors or mistakes changed since employees participated in the training program? - Qualitative feedback
Has there been a noticeable change in customer feedback?
Each of these metrics will provide key insights as to whether your microlearning training program is improving employee performance. It will also help you determine if there are areas for improvement and what changes could be made to increase the impact of your employee training program. To learn more about how you can use this strategy to improve employee performance, read the eBook Microlearning Strategies For Corporate Learners.
By Anu Galhotra, CPLP