INTERVIEW: TANNY NG SHARES HER EXPERIENCE ON THE KIRKPATRICK PROGRAMS
Tanny Ng recently completed her Kirkpatrick 4 Levels – Gold Level certification and generously offered to share her insights with us on the Kirkpatrick Model and how taking these programs have changed the way she designs and runs training programs. Tanny is the Director at the Centre for Home Team Skills Transformation at the Home Team Academy, Singapore.
WHAT IS THE KIRKPATRICK MODEL?
Recognized worldwide, the Kirkpatrick Model is the standard for leveraging and validating talent investments. Kirkpatrick certification provides participants with the credentials, knowledge, and tools to optimize training effectiveness within their organization.
The Kirkpatrick Gold Level certification (awarded only after completion of the Bronze and Silver levels) provides a way for professionals to share the accomplishments obtained from their application of The Kirkpatrick Model to their programs and to obtain appropriate recognition for themselves and their execution team. It is designed for professionals who want to make a difference in the world of training and development above and beyond their own organizations.
OUR INTERVIEW WITH TANNY NG
PLEASE TELL US WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO ATTEND THE KIRKPATRICK PROGRAMS?
“As a training and learning practitioner I’m interested to find out ways to enhance skills application post-course. I attended a short sharing session by Jim and Wendy (Kirkpatrick) about The New World Kirkpatrick model at ATD 2020. During the session they shared the importance of critical behaviours (and) required drivers, which intrigued me and caused me to sign up for the program to find out more.”
WHAT BENEFITS WERE YOU EXPECTING TO GET FROM THE PROGRAM AND WHAT DID YOU ACTUALLY GET OUT OF IT?
“I signed up for the program hoping to find out more about the model itself and to get a better understanding of training evaluation design. The learning was very rich, way beyond my expectations. I was given opportunities to even embark on training evaluation projects using my own work scenario and it was done under close guidance from the Kirkpatrick trainers themselves.”
TELL US ABOUT YOUR KEY INSIGHTS/TAKE AWAYS OR ANY MAJOR AHA! MOMENTS FROM THE PROGRAM.
“…I learned that when designing a training program, it’s important to do it with the end in mind. We have to take note of critical success factors outside the classroom, in the workplace itself, and find out what the barriers to success are.”
HAVE YOU CHANGED THE WAY YOU WORK SINCE YOU TOOK THE PROGRAM?
“Yes, I have applied the learning by sharpening the training evaluation questions. With this, I’m able to get cleaner data responses and this has helped to reduce time (and) data collection. I also began to pay more attention on getting evidence of desired behavioural changes at work through deeper engagement with key stakeholders, beyond the training participants. I engaged the supervisors, senior management and even the coordinators, to see how we can smoothen things out. My team and I have also applied behavioural insight principles to nudge learners’ success.”
WHO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS PROGRAM FOR?
“It is good for training and learning practitioners, who not just deliver training, but have influence over post-course activities, so they can actually create positive and critical behavioural changes in their learners.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER TRAINERS AND PRACTITIONERS INTERESTED IN TAKING THE KIRKPATRICK PROGRAMS?
“Most of the time we usually just look at designing the curriculum. A lot of thoughts are put into the modality, the trainer, the learner program. My advice is to look beyond that and imagine ourselves in the shoes of the learners and ask ourselves how we can facilitate their training, pre-, during and post-course. And it’s very important to get supervisors’ support at the onset to achieve good outcomes because I think learning takes place best post-course as well, to ensure application back at work.”
WORTH THE WORK
Tanny shared that she felt she got a lot more out of the programs than she expected. Having taken all 4 levels, she appreciated the time and dedication it took to achieve her Gold level certification and that the programs promoted her to ask a lot of “why” questions. These enabled her to understand the root cause of issues, helping her to better frame and design courses with the end result in mind. To close out the interview Tanny shared that “The work goes beyond the training evaluation course and requires a lot of follow up. Therefore it’s very important to manage my stakeholders’ expectations upfront.”
We’d like to thank Tanny Ng for her time and insights and congratulate her again on achieve her Gold Level Certification.
