What?s training feedback?
Training feedback, also known as training evaluation, is ?the systematic process of analyzing training programs to ensure that it is delivered effectively and efficiently; it identifies training gaps and even discovers opportunities for improving training programs? (source).
Creating an effective learning and development strategy and providing your employees with adequate training programs is essential. However, doing this in the absence of post-training feedback might prove to be useless. Collecting training feedback gives trainers and learning and development professionals a framework for assessing whether specific training programs achieved previously set objectives or not and if the learning resources met the expectations and needs of learners. There?s always space for improvement, but one cannot know what should be improved in the absence of proper feedback.
Training feedback: what should you cover
Every training feedback has its own specificities, its own desired outcomes, and its own learning resources, thus the feedback questionnaire should cover all of these. However, there are also general points that should be included in a training feedback template, and we?ll try to come up with a few examples so that you get a more clear perspective on where you should start when planning your training evaluation.
Before listing a few possible questions that you might use in your training feedback template, you should have a few things in mind. For example, you should know what the purpose of this feedback evaluation is and ask questions accordingly. Do you want to collect feedback from your employees to know what you should include in the following knowledge reinforcement training program? Do you want them to assess the structure of a specific training program? Do you want to collect feedback to know how to further improve the training strategy, without focusing on a specific aspect of the training, but rather covering a variety of strengths and weaknesses?
After defining a clear purpose for your training evaluation, decide who should send the feedback forms and who should collect the feedback, and keep in mind that employees might be reluctant to be completely honest with some people, such as their team leader, but might be more open when sending the feedback to someone from the human resources department, for example.
Last but not least, try to ask questions that delivered measurable results and avoid yes or no answers or generic questions such as what did you think of this specific training program? You should also use one or more questions to address a specific aspect of the training without mixing them up, approaching training aspects such as its structure, its content, its delivery, etc.
Training questionnaire
Here?s a list of 15 possible questions to be included in your training feedback questionnaire, with the mention that not all of them might be applicable to your specific training programs, or that you should add some others, based on what exactly you want to find out from the feedback forms.
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the overall course content?
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how engaging would you say the overall content was?
- Were the learning materials easy to follow?
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the overall course delivery?
- How much time did it take you to complete the course, including all the assessments? (for online training programs with flexible scheduling)
- How would you rate the total course duration? Would you recommend shortening or extending the course?
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the trainer?s delivery skills?
- Did you feel comfortable asking the trainer clarifying questions?
- What would you change in the course design?
- Did you notice any bugs during the delivery of the training?
- On a scale of 1 to 5, how successful the course outcome was compared to your expectations?
- How would you rate your overall learning experience?
- Would you like to have received some further reading material on the course subject or do you think that the learning material was enough?
- Name a few things you really liked about the course.
- Name a few things you would change about the course.
As mentioned before, make sure that you customize the training feedback questionnaire based on the training program, the course outcomes, and the learners? needs in terms of knowledge gaps.
