How Do You Measure the Real Impact of Soft Skills Training? Seeking Advice from Experienced Professionals

Hi All!

The title of this forum hints at "Ask the Seniors," and hence this question. I have been training in soft skills for more than 2 years now. I have been looking for a genuine way of "measuring" the impact/effectiveness of the same.

Let's face it... a simple pen/paper, pre, and post-evaluation are extremely juvenile in the case of soft skills training. For example, if I conducted a program on Motivational Skills, how do I answer the following question: Was the employee "more motivated" after attending this session? The same applies to programs dealing with written communication, cultural sensitivity, etc.

Can someone help me here with measurement parameters or guidelines for this? I would request the seniors to please look into this... 🤔

Dear Rakesh,

Yes, it is very difficult to measure the positive change in staff members after a training program. There are different methods through which you can measure the change:

a) Personality Development: - cannot be measured almost
b) Communication Skills: - written communication skills can be measured. Verbal communication for Customer Service Executives can be measured.
and so on.

If managers are well-versed in the subject, ideally the manager is the right person to certify whether a positive change has taken place or not.

Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
dineshdivekar(at)yahoo.com

Dear Dinesh,

I am handling training operations PAN India. I also want to know how we can evaluate the effectiveness of soft skills or behavioral training imparted to the employees of the warehouse and logistics firm. Is there any measure to determine the difference between pre and post training?

Waiting for your response.

Warm Regards,
Gowhar

Dear Gowhar,

Like Dinesh Divekar has said, it is not easy to measure the effectiveness. However, it has been tackled in innovative ways. How I wish that others also search the web before posting the query, digest what is available, and then start a debate about the effectiveness or otherwise of the methods described by others. For example, I found a site at YouTube - The Experience of Just Being Happiness 2 3a of 2 @ Hamburg 2009 00018 that briefly describes one method. This was found at Google.

Have a nice day.

Simhan
A retired academic in the UK