By Mark Dorosz
VP of Compliance Learning, Interactive Services
Compliance training starts when you hire new employees. Done right, compliance training creates an atmosphere of growth, advances the company, and protects the company in any case of legal action. “Done right” can involve many strategies, and positive outcomes will not always look the same, but there are ways to measure the success, both immediate and long-term.
Immediate Success
You can identify successful training immediately with “before and after” knowledge assessments.
Designing an exam with open-ended questions that ask new employees to express important ideas in their own words allows both trainers and trainees to understand the base level of understanding. The questions should address practical situations that highlight the key points of the training.
Naturally, the trainers should ask the same questions — or different questions that assess the same fundamental themes — at the end of the training. Naturally, the differing answers from the beginning are the first indication of how effective the training has been.
Long-Term Success
You cannot measure long-term success quickly, it requires time and dedication.
This part, while more difficult to execute, is even more important than the initial assessment. Knowledge tests can only express what the employees know in their heads, but time shows exactly how the training effected these employees’ performance.
Managers can use those same questions asked in the initial assessment, but instead of looking at what the employees say, the assessment must measure the actual actions of the employees. An essential continuing step of the training is providing feedback and potential steps to improvement. Each consecutive assessment should reveal growth, demonstrating the success of the initial and continuing training.
Conclusion
Successful compliance training begins with assessment of the employees’ knowledge, is tailored to their knowledge and needs, and continues long-term with performance assessment and feedback.
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Mark Dorosz has written and spoken extensively on learning, compliance and ethics in forums such as CLO Magazine, Training Week and Compliance & Ethics Professional. For the past 15 years he has helped multi-nationals in the US, Europe and Asia build a culture of compliance through learning. In 2014, he won a Brandon Hall Gold Award for his work with Tiffany & Co. Mark is currently a VP of Compliance Learning with Interactive Services; he can be reached at mdorosz@interactiveservices.com or +1 (212) 376-5780.