Picture this. It's a beautiful morning. The sun rises over the ocean. Waves crash on the beach. You wiggle your toes in the cool sand and look up. A helicopter circles overhead. Your heart is pounding and your stomach is tied in knots.
Look at the people around you.
A few are chatting and smiling, but most are silent. Tension and fear are etched on their faces.
Excitement is mixed with the anxiety because you've been working, planning, and anticipating this day for twelve months. This is it. Your final exam. Welcome to the starting line of the Ironman® Triathlon.
This is the ultimate measurement.
I'll never forget those long moments before the starting gun at my first Ironman. What a reality-check!
I was about to be held accountable for everything I'd done in the previous year. This included every lap in the pool, every mile on the bike, and every step on the track. It included every bite of food, glass of water, and hour of sleep. On this day, it all counted and it all mattered.
The Ironman is like truth serum. You must complete a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile marathon - all in the same day.
There's no faking it. There's no place to hide.
Ironman racing has taught me the incredible power of accountability. You see, there's no way I'd train that hard, or eat that well, when left to my own devices. I'd choose pizza over broccoli any day. Only the certainty of an Ironman race-day could provide sufficient motivation for me to follow a year-long training plan.
There are obvious parallels to the realm of training measurement. We all need accountability in order to perform to our potential. That's why a key ingredient to getting great results from training is, in fact, letting people know they're going to be held accountable in the future. Otherwise, why would they take it seriously?
Another parallel is facing the fear of the unknown.
Even with sufficient training, there are no guarantees you'll finish an Ironman. There are just too many outside variables. Similarly, training measurement involves a certain degree of risk. Your first measurement project can be intimidating. There are, in fact, outside forces that can affect the results (we can control for most of them). But which is worse? Getting feedback on where to improve, or getting no feedback at all?
Finally, your measures of success must match your goals. After every Ironman, at least one person back at the office asks, "Did you win?" I look them square in the eye and say, "Absolutely." That's because my list of goals for the race have little to do with crossing the finish line first. That's just not realistic. My objectives are specific to my situation: get into shape, meet new people, relieve stress, explore my limits, learn some hard lessons, have fun, and . . . finish without dying. These goals provide me multiple measures of success, and more than one reason to celebrate.
There are many legitimate business reasons for investing in corporate training and development - beyond generating an ROI statistic. I believe traditional measurement has totally missed the point.
We're not in the business of training. We're in the business of transformation. That's why my company is here. Every person has a story to tell, we can help you tell it.
Thanks for reading. Now, let's go!
- Scott
Here's the official bio for Scott Watson:
After a dozen years of successful work with Fortune 500 companies, in June of 2006, Scott Watson launched Beyond ROI, Inc., a different kind of measurement company.
Beginning in 1994, Scott managed the Consulting Services practice at a leading training firm. He personally designed and implemented more than 600 assessment and measurement projects with clients such as ExxonMobil, IBM , Dell Computer, Xerox, AT&T, Verizon, Hewlett-Packard, and Accenture. See the Experience List.
As he gained experience, Scott moved beyond traditional measurements like Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation and Return on Investment (ROI) calculations. When clients wanted to know what happened after people left the workshops, he created SmartTrac SurveysT, a web-based form of accountability for participants and their managers. When clients asked if the training really caused the results, he pioneered the Definite DifferenceT to isolate business results from external factors such as employee tenure, location, competition, and changes in the economy. To measure the effect of manager coaching, he developed the Hi/Lo ComparisonT to show the relationship between leading and lagging indicators of performance.
Scott says, "Measurement is no longer a mystery. Today we can clearly show the connections between how people behave after training and how they perform. It's like seeing inside the black box."
In addition to his measurement work, Scott is a researcher, consultant, writer, conference speaker, and author of the upcoming book, Beyond ROI: Training Measurement That Matters. A number of Scott's articles can be found in the News and Insights section.
Scott is a member of the Instructional Systems Association (ISA), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), and Association for Services Management International (AFSMI). As a presenter, he has received high marks at international conferences such as ASTD, AFSMI, and the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA).
Scott holds a graduate degree in communications and management research from Texas Tech University and a bachelor's degree in marketing and public relations.
Scott is married to Kip and they have two awesome kids, McKenna and Joshua.
If you've read this far...yes, Scott is a three-time Ironman® Triathlon finisher, most recently competing in Ironman Florida on November 6, 2005.
start.
I was about to be held accountable for everything I'd done in the previous year. This included every lap in the pool, every mile on the bike, and every step on the track. It included every bite of food, glass of water, and hour of sleep. On this day, it all counted and it all mattered.