Evaluation reveals “failed” HR outreach program was actually a success
Custom assessment helps arts program measure up to state standards
Training department boosts budget, staff, and programs after enterprise-level evaluation
Organizational survey motivates Fortune 500 company to beef up training for front-line employees
PAR survey helps government agency evaluate internal and external training courses
Evaluation reveals “failed” HR outreach program was actually a success
Challenge: After a consent decree mandating increased representation of women in supervisory positions, a Fortune 500 company implemented a new recruiting program to promote women from entry-level to supervisory positions. After a year of using this program, the company found little improvement from previous levels of promotion for women. The company wanted to determine the reasons why women were not advancing in the company.
Solution: 3D Group conducted face-to-face interviews with 350 male and female employees in entry-level positions across 60 locations. Interview results suggested that there were no differences in promotion rates between men and women who wanted to be promoted. Women tended to view their current position as a career choice while men saw their job as a stepping-stone for further advancement within the company. The outreach program had been effective in that all entry-level employees felt they had opportunities for promotion, though women were less interested than men in pursuing these options.
Results: Upon reviewing 3D Group’s findings, both plaintiff and defendant felt satisfied that the problem had been adequately addressed. In the one-year review in the courts, no further corrective action was required.
Custom assessment helps arts program measure up to state standards
Challenge: A small nonprofit arts education organization was interested in linking its program to statewide standards for the arts. Specifically, the Executive Director wanted to explore program impact on standards related to language arts.
Solution: 3D Group developed an assessment methodology that enabled artists working in the classroom to diagnose students' skill levels in language arts and drama (via pre-testing) and then to identify changes in student learning (posttest). The assessment was tailored to the specific content of the program based on input from artists, program managers and the curriculum development team.
Results: The assessment development process helped artists articulate clear goals for the program. The assessment results provided valuable feedback for the program managers and curriculum team to enhance program delivery. This assessment process was included in a formal evaluation that was published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.
Training department boosts budget, staff, and programs after enterprise-level evaluation
Challenge: A newly established training department at a large national healthcare organization needed to develop an enterprise-level strategy to prioritize training needs for immediate and long term budgeting.
Solution: 3D Group’s Training Needs Navigator helped the client to identify training needs and to define an overall training strategy for diverse job families – ranging from front-line to executive-level positions. 3D Group identified specific skill gaps for seven different job families, profiled leadership effectiveness throughout the company, identified employee attitudes about training, and assessed executive support for training initiatives. Working directly with the senior training team, 3D Group helped the organization to address problem areas in current training as identified by employees, and to present those findings to senior leadership.
Results: The new training department developed several courses, secured a significant increase in its training budget, added key training personnel, and instituted numerous changes to training implementation procedures.
Organizational survey motivates Fortune 500 company to beef up training for front-line employees
Challenge: A Vice President at a Fortune 500 company with over 200,000 employees wanted feedback from employees on the ways in which the company's training programs could be improved. The VP had particular concerns about product knowledge training for front-line employees.
Solution: 3D Group administered a survey to a representative sample of over 8,000 employees selected randomly from all levels and across all functions within the company. Because not everyone at the company had Internet access, employees were given paper surveys but had the option of completing them online. 3D Group compiled a thorough analysis of employee feedback and facilitated a five-day, off-site session with the project team to understand the results and to develop plans for improvement. 3D Group then prepared a comprehensive summary of the five-day meeting that included its recommendations for improving the various training courses.
Results: 3D Group’s summary report was reviewed by the senior executive team and the board of directors, who subsequently authorized additional resources to develop and implement an 18-month, enterprise-wide strategy for strengthening front-line employees' knowledge of the company’s products and services.
PAR survey helps government agency evaluate internal and external training courses
Challenge: A government agency was expending considerable internal resources processing post-course evaluation forms that provided little useful information for trainers, HR staff, and executives seeking to send their employees through training. Not only were the existing surveys often ignored, the Director of Training was concerned that processing the surveys consumed most of one staff member’s time.
Solution: 3D Group used its PAR (Participant Attitudes and Reactions) Survey to gather trainee feedback on each course. Trainers distributed surveys immediately after each course, and the completed surveys were mailed directly to 3D Group. 3D Group sent detailed reports on each course to the instructors and the Director of Training. In addition, 3D Group prepared quarterly summaries containing course-by-course comparisons and feedback on the overall effectiveness of the training function.
Results: After gaining systematic feedback on the critical dimensions of training, the Director of Training was able to assign internal trainers more effectively, eliminate an ineffective external course, and demonstrate to executives that their employees were learning new skills that could be directly applied to their work. The employee who had spent most of her time processing surveys now had enough free hours to complete several other projects.
