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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #076

Welcome to our last show of 2006. Today we talk about measuring success beyond just the hard numbers. How do you measure success? This show has more than tripled its listenership since this time last year- I consider that a success. Thanks to all of you.

Our guest is Dr. Bob Thompson, rebel psychometrician and consultant at AchieveGlobal.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show all ye who labor and are heavy laden with unrealistic expectations. This show is dedicated to Gottfried Achenwall

What is it about statistics?

2:40 Our quote of the week admits that statistics are somewhat pliable…so HOW do you show value? How do you prove the training worked or that the project was a success? That’s the point of this week’s show.

3:39 Welcome Dr Bob Thompson, master statistician and workplace heretic. All managers are getting their feet held to the fire to prove ROI. So what’s the problem? We’ve said this before, it’s as much book- keeping as human management…. Bob won’t blame the accountants, I’m not that noble…..

8:00 People know that training does something, the big question is, how does it tie to what we’re doing as a company- it’s not relevant. The question should be “What is it we need as an organization to move forward?” If it aligns, there’s less pressure to show ROI.

10:00 We get all training geek on you. We’re going to talk about Donald Kirkpatrick and the 4 levels of evaluation. Take an HR person to lunch and they’ll explain it to you in more depth than we do. Still, what’s wrong with the classic model?

14:00 So often, performance problems have nothing to do with training. People know what to do, they’re just not doing it. Try this instead- find out who’s doing it well, who’s not doing it at all and find out the difference. THAT’S your difference maker.

20:13 Bob works for AchieveGlobal. He heads up their measurement consultancy and most companies are pushing leadership training….. but how do you know it’s working?

24:34 What are some things managers can do without pulling out spreadsheets? It’s all about case studies and anecdotal evidence.

28:00 To find out more, check out The Success Case Method by Robert Brinkerhoff and check out Berson and Associates…
Thanks for supporting the show this year, gang. You can now email me at wayne@crankymiddlemanager.com and you can also check out www.crankymiddlemanager.com, although it takes you to my same, sad website for now.

Don’t let the weasels get you down.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 25th, 2006 at 12:21 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.