Organizations try new things all the time. We may see someone else do it and copy it. We may get an inspiration and try it. Others innovate to push the envelope. No matter how you get to that point of change, it’s a gamble. How do we know if our efforts are worth it?
Lucky for us, people have asked this question before. Donald Kirkpatrick wondered about this very thing and, in 1959, developed the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model. It’s been tweaked over time to meet challenges of the day. But Don was onto something. He wanted to know if what was changed made any difference at all: for individuals and the organization.
Here are Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation you can use to identify how change is working in your organization.
Level One- Engagement
- Did the people of your organization get engaged in the process?
- Were they involved in a meaningful way?
- Did they like their experience of training or learning or getting equipped, figuring out the solution or being part of the assessment?
- What was the benefit for their engagement?
Level Two- Learning
- What was learned?
- Did people give enough of themselves to the change effort to learn new things, to become involved in what’s happening?
- Did people experience a data dump or a chance to play with new ideas, information, and apply them?
- What was their learning experience of the change like?
Level Three- Behavior Change
Hopefully, the change invited new behaviors, new ways of doing things, or new systems.
- Did the people in your organization adopt the change and did they use it over time?
- Did they let go of the old way of doing things?
- Did they “do things differently” because the change was introduced?
- How did new behaviors get rewarded and stick to become new norms?
Level Four- Organizational Impact
This level needs to be measured right after the change and then ongoing over time to read the lasting evidence of change in the organization.
- How did the engagement, learning, and behavior change impact the organization?
- Did the change make life better for staff, clients, finances, leadership?
- Are things easier, simpler, faster, more comprehensive, more clear, are parts aligned with the mission of the organization, are leaders getting developed?
- Did the hoped for outcome occur?
Let us know if you need help measuring change, planning change, organizational assessments or just someone to help you navigate change successfully. It’s what we do.
Kristin Wiersma | The Joshua Group, Consultant Team Lead | kristin@thejoshua-group.com