The Chapter’s Applied Research Council opens Employee Learning Week with a special prelude event that goes to the heart of our profession’s greatest challenge. For if Employee Learning Week is dedicated to demonstrating the “link between learning and organizational results,” then it is essential that we, as workplace learning and performance professionals, be able to conduct and present credible research on the outcomes of learning interventions.

The capability to perform evaluation research, however, requires more than possessing the skills and knowledge to conduct a competent study.  As we should know from our own work, learning is transformed into sustained, productive performance only when it occurs within a supportive culture.

In short, workplace learning and performance professionals need to build a culture within the learning function that supports evaluation research. This requires developing a strategy to move toward this goal and learning new skills to recognize and overcome resistance to the practice of evaluation research.

Specifically, through a dynamic presentation by Lawrence Marino, drawing on his evaluation research expertise, you will, By the end of this session, be able to:

·        Articulate what an evaluation culture is

·        Discuss why it is important to measure productivity

·        Describe the importance of developing an evaluation culture environment

·        Clearly define the strategy needed to develop an evaluation culture

·        Identify resistance to evaluation and define the strategy to overcome the resistance

Here, then, is the place to get a head start on your New Year’s Resolution to make the regular demonstration of results from learning part of your professional practice.

About the Presenter:

 Laurence Marino has had a long and varied career as an instructor, motivational speaker, actor, and sales specialist. Laurence is a management professional with 15+ years managing, developing and facilitating leadership programs within the financial services and insurance industries. He is a successful manager who is experienced in customer service, technical, and HR generalist-related issues in retail call center and back office support environments. He is currently the Corporate Learning Specialist at Washington Dental Service in Seattle.

Laurence recognized the growing importance of determining and documenting the link between learning and organizational results early on, and has worked hard over the years to develop his skills in this area. He has led and participated in several major evaluation research studies.

In addition to being highly knowledgeable about the workplace learning and performance field, Laurence adds considerable spark to his classroom presentations by calling on his extensive theatre experience. He earned a Master’s degree in Theatrical Production and has used his talents in all these areas. He has taught theatrical set and lighting design at Kent State, Oregon State and Linn-Benton Community College and has directed and appeared on a number of stages in Ohio, Oregon and Washington State.