Getting Your Money's Worth from Training and Development: A Guide to Breakthrough Learning for Managers and Participants [Paperback]

Andrew McK. Jefferson (Author), Roy V. H. Pollock (Author), Calhoun W. Wick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0470411120 | ISBN-13: 978-0470411124 | Edition: 1

This book fills a need for trainers, participants, and managers by providing a practical guide on how to get the most from a learning and development program. The book offers proven tools that help training participants get the most from the programs and includes the tools necessary to the transfer and application of critical new learning. The book explains how to create an environment that supports the participant's successful transition from program learning to producing valuable results. The tools and suggestions are a formula for success that will add value to virtually any learning and development initiative.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470411120
• ISBN-13: 978-0470411124
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.5 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! Practical tools for getting real business results from training, February 6, 2009

By 

D. Busard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Your Money's Worth from Training and Development: A Guide to Breakthrough Learning for Managers and Participants (Paperback)

Business leaders are accountable for allocating funds to improve business performance. But when it comes to training dollars, leaders question if they can really leverage these costs. Is training just something done away from the job, out of their control, and is over when the event ends? "Getting Your Money's Worth" candidly answers these questions. Business leaders are accountable for getting value from training dollars, and their targeted involvement will exponentially affect the business results achieved through the learning process. This book not only holds leaders accountable, but also provides practical information and tools to use each step of the way.

I found the format clever and intuitive. Half the book is for managers, and it issues a strong call for managers to take responsibility for learning's value. Flip the book over and you have targeted guidance for participants of training, helping them to truly own the outcomes of their learning. Both sections contain shaded text boxes throughout, with background information such as research findings and FAQs, making it easy to dig into details if you want, or skip over the nonessentials without losing continuity. The font sizes are easy on the eyes, pages stay open like a workbook, and the content has a straightforward flow.

In the manager section, the authors remind us that accountability for learning investments isn't new work for managers. They're already accountable for getting results through people - they just might not be getting the results they need. The book suggests a three-stage approach to leveraging training: Be More Up-Front, Be More Engaged, and Be More Results-Driven. After reading this section, I believe managers will have the process and tools to deepen their expectations and involvement in learning initiatives. They'll also have the confidence to hold meaningful conversations with learners about driving business value.

The participant portion of the book jumpstarts learner accountability with this statement: "Whenever you attend a training program, performance expectations go up." The authors present three keys for getting training value: Get Ready, Get Engaged, and Get Results. Here, the participant learns there's much more to do than just showing up for a training event. In fact, they will personally perform better and be more engaged by following the recommended process. After reading the Participants portion, I had a much broader view of the opportunities for personal growth from learning events. The worksheets are concise and help keep the process propelling forward.

This is not a book to keep on a shelf - you'll find yourself marking up the worksheets, bending pages, having "aha!" moments and (most importantly) taking action. The book provides a link and password to a website for premium content. I just checked it out and found a good selection of job aids and sample worksheets, as well as case studies and additional content.

The authors of "Getting Your Money's Worth" are true advocates of getting business results from learning. As a business leader responsible for key learning initiatives, I will be implementing the practical advice and tools provided in this book to drive value for our organization. My next step is to get this book into the hands of the people who matter most - the managers and learning participants who deliver our business results.

Diane Hinton

Governing Board Leader, Plastipak Academy

Plastipak Packaging, Inc.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for Workplace Learning Excellence, February 19, 2009

By 

Judith Ann Blair - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting Your Money's Worth from Training and Development: A Guide to Breakthrough Learning for Managers and Participants (Paperback)

For years, Nancy Maresh and I have promoted two essential concepts with our corporate and government clients: start engagement with adult students well upstream and continue follow through long after training in order to extend the impact of learning events. And, fully exploit the relationship of each learner with their own supervisor, since the quality of that involvement around training and development is the number #1 indicator of successful transfer from learning to improved job performance.

With great intuition and solid research as to brain function processes and workplace realities, the authors of Getting Your Money's Worth have created a handy and easy to use guide for both elements of the effectiveness tandem: the learner and the supervisor.

In tough economic times, training and development budgets can all too easily be cut, but I have a hunch this book will produce such great value and tangible results, executives will require the use of this two part tool to fully substantiate their sustainment of learning and performance efforts.

Judith Blair, CEO, Brains at Work

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Addition to Your Organizational Learning Toolkit, March 17, 2009

By 

Kristen Bell - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Getting Your Money's Worth from Training and Development: A Guide to Breakthrough Learning for Managers and Participants (Paperback)

Getting your Money's Worth is a treasure chest full of practical tools that are well-grounded in the authors' research and experience. I strongly recommend Getting Your Money's Worth because it recognizes that in order to contribute to sustained organizational improvement, training needs to occur in a much larger context that provides clearly defined business and individual outcomes, well-aligned organizational systems, supportive leadership and culture, and mechanisms for measuring, communicating, and learning from results.