Results assessment specialist Ceres Management has launched ‘Results Research 2012’, a unique partnership opportunity for a small number of organisations that are committed to high quality training evaluation practice.
Dr John O’Connor, head of Ceres Management, who has developed the ‘Results Assessment’ methodology, said: “We’re planning to roll-out Results Assessment with a select few ‘pilot’ organisations throughout the early months of 2012. HR and L&D leaders who would welcome a fresh approach to impact evaluation in their organisation are welcome to contact us to be part of our partnership programme.
“Organisations should care deeply about their people and their development because we know that a highly engaged workforce is a strong predictor of business growth,” he explained.
“But the challenge for many of us is to show that tangible connection between programme delivery and business results. This is especially true for training and development.
“To paraphrase Peter Drucker, ‘if we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it’.
“Measuring the results of our development activities is the only way to know whether we are adding value or adding cost to our organisation – and this challenge becomes even more urgent as organisations look to further reduce spend, in the light of the current economic climate,” he added.
Ceres Management is offering to introduce Results Assessment to HR directors, learning and development managers, training managers or OD practitioners who may be under cost cutting measures but need to show that their programmes support employee engagement and critical business goals.
O’Connor commented: “We can also introduce Results Assessment to operations or finance managers who feel their knowledge of HR/L&D isn’t strong enough to hold those teams accountable for the investments for which they’re asking – or, indeed, to programme managers who’re under constant pressure to deliver successful change and who want to mitigate risk.
“In return, we’re looking for training/development projects or programmes that address a current and relevant organisational need. The programme should involve a significant audience size at mid-to-senior positions, with clear organisational sponsorship,” he added. “Moreover, the project must be new – and we need to be involved at the programme-planning phase.
“It goes without saying that we’ll expect full collaboration from the project team to monitor and support all project elements. In addition, we need to be able to access and survey key HR and business stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.”
Results Assessment is designed specifically to link engagement to measuring value and provide practical ways to move beyond ‘level one’ measurement. It also defines what business success looks like; aligns evaluation goals with business needs; focuses evaluation around clear performance needs; defines success indicators, especially for behavioural outcomes, and is easy to apply and administer.
For further details of Results Assessment, contact John O’Connor on +44-(0)7838165778 or at [email protected]
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About Ceres Management
Ceres Management, which was founded, in 2009, by Dr John O’Connor, focuses on improving how we measure the impact of people development initiatives. It aims to enable clients to use the evidence of business results to make sound decisions about ongoing investments in people development.
Months of research, development and prototyping led to the launch of Results Assessment, a pragmatic, practitioner-centred evaluation model.
Results Assessment requires that ‘measurement’ be firmly situated at the forefront of every organisational development and training initiative. The model takes clients and stakeholders through an initial alignment exercise, which sets the roadmap for the remaining evaluation activities.
A practitioner in the field of learning and performance improvement for over 20 years, John O’Connor has a PhD in instructional design from Florida State University. He has worked internationally, with private as well as public sector clients, to design, deliver and measure high-impact learning & change initiatives.
Further information from:
John O’Connor, Ceres Management, +44 (0)78381 65778;
[email protected]
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405; [email protected]
