ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development (2nd Edition)

Section V

The Growing Importance of Measuring Results and Impact

Luminary Perspective

Robert O. Brinkerhoff

Anyone who has had anything to do with training and development (T&D) for more than a few months, much less years, knows this simple truth: Sometimes training works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In my four-plus decades of evaluating T&D—from leadership development to technical skills, in dozens of settings from foundations to corporations to government agencies—I have seen many instances where training had tremendous impact, helping drive new performance that led to highly worthy organizational outcomes worth many multiples of the cost of the training. And I have seen an almost equal number of instances of training failure, producing no learning ...