Navigating the Uncharted
During my time at work, I was once
assigned the task of visualizing the return on investment (ROI) in human
resource development (HRD) as part of the performance evaluation for engineer
and manager training. At the beginning, I sought the guidance of two experts in
the related fields, adhering to the primary rule of seeking help from experts
in times of trouble. However, both experts equally informed me, "There are
no established, precise ROI measures that quantify the gains a company achieves
from its investment in training." Nevertheless, one of the experts kindly
provided a valuable clue, stating, "Many subjective data points can lead
to approximate (rough) objective data." Taking their advice and comments
into consideration, I proceeded to design an interview process, questionnaire,
and success story survey for ex-trainees, and successfully implemented them.
When it came to the success story survey, I firmly believed in my tentative
theory: that numerous micro-stories (individual successes of ex-trainees)
collectively form a macro story, which can visualize the overall impact of engineer
and manager training. This memory holds a nostalgic place in my heart.