Once we have agreed and set the measurable goals of the programme, this will then serve our second purpose of focussing employee efforts on what is important. The goals need to be communicated through all levels of management up to the frontline employee. Employees who know that there are goal posts, and know where the goal posts are, are much more likely to kick goals for the organisation. Of course, staff will want to know how the game is being played out. For optimal feedback, performance results are preferably displayed in a public place, such as the main corridor or team meeting room, and displayed in an easily understood form such as bar or line charts.
The third purpose of setting measurable organisational goals is to set the scene for effective training course design. If we know what the organisation wants from the training in terms of organisational outcomes, and we design the training around these outcomes, the training delivered will better serve the organisation.
So, beginning with the end in mind, we may, for example, determine that the organisation wants to increase the operational availability of its pressing machines by twenty percent. To achieve this, it proposes that machine operators take on the responsibility for preventative and simple maintenance operations and for identifying the more difficult repairs for escalation to engineers. From this specification, a list of new or modified workplace behaviours is compiled, stating as precisely as possible the technical and procedural activities required. Once the new and modified behaviours are known and agreed, the course objectives and learning outcomes may be constructed around the required behaviours. The learning outcomes, of course, are stated in behavioural terms, with any underpinning knowledge and required attitudes specified. The training intervention design and development may now proceed.