Supervisors are often charged with evaluating the training received by members on their teams but finding time to do so can be difficult.
With that in mind the Merit Systems Protection Board has offered a set of questions to structure a 10-minute training assessment.
The first five minutes entails having a chat about the training soon after a team member returns, and includes asking questions such as: What will you now do differently on the job? This question gives the employee an opportunity to think of how the information can be used and predict how work routines might change. MSPB recommends using the answer to schedule a second half of the assessment, a five-minute follow-up.
Once the employee has had the opportunity to put the training to use, MSPB recommends asking how he or she used what was learned, or whether the training was pertinent or could be substituted with something else.
It said a supervisor, taking notes throughout the assessment, should use his or her judgment about their team’s work habits and environment to add their own perspective as to whether this training would be useful for other team members.
In talking to others about these training episodes, MSPB said to be sure to refer to these notes and emphasize the perspective of other team members, as well as maintain a folder with those notes, which can also help meet annual training evaluation responsibilities.
