Leveraging Learning to Achieve Results Through Kirkpatrick's Level 3

Social skills such as Communication, Leadership, Time-Management, Self Confidence, and Flexibility, are all important qualities for the professional who wishes to pursuit a career and meet the employer’s needs. Such skills are usually best developed through experiential learning since adult trainees have the need to participate actively in the training event and reflect critically on the training experiences they had. However, how does one measure the development through training of these skills? And how is it verified that the knowledge and skills acquired in the training room are transferred in the trainee’s behavior exhibited at the work place?

A rapidly growing banking organization in Southern Europe (Bank of Cyprus, Greece) with more than 2,500 employees and a Human Resource Development Department consisting of training experts and professionals, researched¹ these questions in order to measure, with both qualitative and quantitative methods, the transfer of knowledge and the positive behavior change in the work place.

Using the D. Kirkpatrick Model for the evaluation of the training program offered to the research group, the focus canalized mainly in the Level 3 and the change in professional behavior that occurred as a result of the attendance in the training program, after the trainees left the classroom and returned to their everyday working positions. Focus on Level 3 evaluation was decided upon the strongly supported opinion that “No final results can be expected unless a positive change in behavior occurs”.²

To continue reading, please download the PDF article.