Page 302 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

the first training session: the trial run 287
managers, or give presentations on the organisation’s principal strategies. This method
was also used in the firm.

INTRODUCTORY-LEVEL LEADERSHIP TRAINING:MANAGEMENT INVOLVEMENT
Involvement by senior management in the firm’s training process takes on many forms. So-
called “chimney evenings”, as the name implies, are held in the evenings during a training
course. These evenings allow participants to ask invited board members or senior managers
questions and to discuss strategic issues. Presentations on specific topics are given by senior
managers. Management also benefits from this experience by getting important, bottom-up
feedbackonaregularbasis.Thereisalwaysaseniormanagerinvolvedinthetrainingcourse
as a co-trainer. Management has an important role in the pre-training and post-training
discussions with employees.

THE FIRST TRAINING SESSION: THE TRIAL RUN

Each training course will inevitably improve with time. A trial run is a good way of
accelerating the process and finding out the strengths and weaknesses of a training
programme. One should be very selective when choosing participants for the trial run,
because valid and relevant feedback can make for significant improvements in a training
programme. One might wish to select a mixture of participants which includes an equal
number of both newly appointed managers (to see if their needs are being fulfilled) and
experienced managers (to find out if they feel that their management experience is well
represented in the course).

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

It is useful to get feedback at the end of each training module in order to verify if the
main learning goals have been met, to see if the learning methods were effective and
appealing and to find out if there was sufficient opportunity to apply the content to
real-life situations.
Open feedback methods like group discussions, in which the participants verbally
evaluate the above-mentioned aspects of the training module, might be useful. Surveys
might help to standardise the evaluation process by asking key questions in the main
areas of evaluation. Brainstorming sessions should be used for both problem solving and
the gathering of new ideas for improvement from the whole group. An overall exchange
of feedback at the end of the training programme will hopefully clarify those areas
of the training module that require further development. An interview with the initial
participants after three months should help to determine whether the training content
can in fact be applied in practice.
The final version of the training programme should be designed to include the trial
participants’ suggestions.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Despite spending millions of dollars on management training, few companies invest
money to have their efforts evaluated. Once companies have decided to spend the money
onmanagementtraining,itseemsthatmeresurfaceindicatorsaretakenassufficientproof