Training Book Reviews

In Training on Trial (Amacom, 2010), Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick guide trainers and employee development professionals through the new role of training professionals. The main thrust of this title is neatly encapsulated in this quote by the authors:

“We survive and thrive when we understand that our role as workplace learning professionals is not to deliver training programs but to extend learning from episodic interventions to continual on-the-job enrichment. Ultimately, our role is to deliver demonstrated value to our business partners.”

While most of us can agree with that statement, the Kirkpatricks go on to provide a wealth of real-world data that shows how trainers and employee development professionals have been failing in their role, and they even posit that the role itself has fundamentally shifted. But all is not lost. This book provides practical solutions to repositioning the trainer-to-executive relationship, re-assessing how to provide return on expectations (ROE vs. ROI), and even walks readers through many training industry “stars” of the corporate world and shows us how we can learn from them.

We recently caught up with Jim and Wendy Kirkpatrick to talk about this honest (and sometimes painful) look at the role of training and development in general, the expectations we have of ourselves, the learners and the leaders in our industry.

HRDQ: This book gives straight talk to all of us in the training and development industry. Were people calling for this, or did you feel that it was just really important to open up or “frame” this conversation?

Jim: To be honest, I don’t think they were calling for it. I think that they saw the problems and realize that there is a “disconnect,” as evidenced by executives who don’t prioritize employee development initiatives, they cancel appointments, or give other indicators of how they feel about the training department in their organization. Trainers and employee development professionals can see the “disconnect,” but they didn’t understand that we share much of the blame for the problem.

Wendy: That’s right. We are the ones on trial and have to prove ourselves innocent. What happened to the economy in 2007-8 didn’t cause the problem, but exposed that training was inadequate for business. Once we started to give that straight talk, then people were happy –it was good news, because they can act on it. The responsibility is on us.

HRDQ: Have there been any surprises for you in the way readers have responded to or utilized the book?

Wendy: The return on expectations has become a movement. ROE can be measured as a matrix of various data points, dollars or in many other ways. On the other hand, ROI is usually a narrow term, and it attempts to measure success or failure by isolating one core data set or variable. That is where these two concepts (ROE vs. ROI) are completely different.

Jim: ROI ignores all the other factors that are such an important part of the business partnership formula that we talk about in the book. This is a fundamental shift that we have seen take off recently, especially since the publication of Training on Trial.

HRDQ: What is the core idea that you would like readers to take away?

Jim: When all is said and done, we still remain focused on learning versus training. As you know, learning is level 2 in the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model, but it is not making any contribution unless people apply it. The allure is that learning is the Holy Grail, but it is not. We always ask people to add “performance” to really emphasize the transition. We want to pay special attention to potential to perform versus performance itself.

Wendy: In other words, let’s connect learning to the doing and impact!

Readers will find themselves instantly engaged in Training on Trial, since the Kirkpatrick’s message is embedded in an expanded courtroom metaphor and real-life examples and anecdotes. Even more, Wendy Kirkpatrick takes us through her own journey of learning with a first person account of her experiences.

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