ComputerEase Resources
The Ten Rules for Perfect Evaluations
On choosing between training excellence and great evaluations.
by Jay McNaught
(Originally published by Data Training Magazine in May of 1991)
Among trainers, Joe Rogers was legendary. You would hear his name whispered whenever trainers gathered to discuss evaluations. A trainer among trainers, they said. The instructor with perfect evaluations. They claimed that he had never received less than a perfect evaluation from any of his students.
As a new trainer, I had to know how anyone could be so good that he always scored perfect evaluations. During a business trip, I found myself in the town where he worked, so I decided to give him a call and ask if he could meet with me to give me some pointers.
He turned out to be more than a well-evaluated trainer. He was a generous one as well, and he invited me to sit in on one of the famous training sessions in which I could watch Mr. Rogers's Rules for Perfect Evaluations in action. He even promised to give me an in-depth explanation of what he had done after the session was over.
The day of class, I arrived very early. I didn't want to miss anything. Rogers was already there. From all appearances, he had been in the classroom for some time and was busy preparing. He obviously left nothing to chance. Thick manuals were placed at each seat. I introduced myself, and Rogers told me to have a seat and observe. He pointed out that the work of gaining perfect evaluations required preparation, preparation, preparation.
1. Perfect order makes perfect evaluations.
Cardboard name tents were already placed neatly in front of the manuals. They were hand-lettered in tasteful calligraphy.
"This is incredible," I said. "Who does the lettering on these name tents?"
"Oh, I send those out," he said. "It costs a lot, but the effect is worth it." He placed each manual a precise distance from the name tent, and each name tent was a precise distance in front of a color computer terminal.
That was what drew my attention to the terminals. I had never seen a clean computer terminal. Yet each terminal in this training room was spotless. The screens were free of dust, and the keyboards were missing the typical sludge that develops over years of use by greasy fingers. I spotted a bottle of cleaner and a rag, and I began to understand.
I sat down and began thumbing through a manual. I was amazed at the detail and was becoming engrossed in the depth of the material, when my thoughts were interrupted. "Please, don't be moving that manual now," said Mr. Rogers. He looked at me over the top of his horn-rimmed glasses and I felt as if I were back in grade school. I set the manual down and walked nervously to a corner of the room where I had spotted refreshments earlier. As I poured a cup of coffee, I noticed him moving the manual back to the precise location where it had been before I violated it.
Satisfied with the placement of the manual, he looked up at me. "Perfect evaluations require perfect attention to detail," he said simply. "When the students are asked if the classroom was neat and orderly, the effort of arranging these manuals will be rewarded."
At this point I noticed the refreshments. Not only was there coffee, but there was juice and soda pop. Also included on the lavish refreshment tray were donuts, Danish, fresh-baked cookies, fresh fruit, and rolls. This was nothing less than a complete breakfast.
2. Good evaluations can be bought.
He noticed the way I was staring at the refreshments. "The shortest path to a good evaluation is through the student's stomach," he said. "Never let a student sit down to an evaluation form with an empty stomach." Then he walked over to the clock on the wall, pulled it down, and began resetting it.
When he replaced the clock on the wall, I noticed that he had set it a full five minutes earlier than the true time.
When the students began arriving a moment later, they would look up at the clock and then hurry to their seats. You could hear them say things like, "Goodness, I didn't realize it was so late."
3. A little guilt never hurts.
I took him aside and asked him why he had altered the time. His response was straightforward. "Make it obvious when you are right," he said, "especially if the student is wrong. You'll notice when you see the evaluation form that one of the questions asks if the instructor began the class on time."
"I don't understand," I said. "Why not just start the class on time?"
"I used to always start classes on time. But students never noticed what time it was when I started, so invariably, one or two students would just assume that the class had started late and mark the evaluation accordingly. I have learned that your good work gains you very little if you don't call attention to it."
When about half of the students had arrived, he began teaching the class. "The clock on the wall says that it is eight o'clock, so let's go ahead and get started. My name is Joe Rogers, and this class is titled, 'Using the Inventory System."'
At that moment, several other students walked in. Rogers stopped his remarks and stared as they entered. "Welcome to class. The class started at eight, so we went ahead and started without you, but you haven't missed much yet." The new students all seemed to turn the same shade of red.
Rogers continued his introduction. "I have been working with the new inventory system for about a year now. I was actually one of the founding members of the project team which developed the system. I have a master's degree in system development and a Ph.D. in inventory systems."
4. Evaluations start with student impressions.
I was impressed, and I could see that the students were, too.
Rogers continued, "If you'll take the manual on your desks, I will give you a moment to familiarize yourselves with the extensive documentation of the system which I have prepared. Pay special attention to the chapter headings and the table of contents." The students began thumbing through the thick manuals. Rogers quit talking while they read. More students entered, and there was some hubbub as they took their seats. Rogers began strolling around the room. When he came past my chair, he whispered:
"Impressions count. Look at this manual. The impression is that it is very detailed and rich in content. I have been using this manual now for a year, and it has helped me to get perfect evaluations. Look closely. The chapter headings are all accurate. And the first paragraph of every chapter is authentic. But the rest of it is simply the text of those first paragraphs, repeated over and over again in different formats." He rolled his eyes upward. "Thank heaven for word processing."
"Doesn't anybody complain about the content?" I said.
"Oh, come now," he said. "Have you ever met anyone who has read a manual? Excuse me. I don't want to give them too much time to browse it."
5. Teach to the evaluation.
Rogers turned his attention to the classroom. "Now that you have had a chance to get acquainted with the manual, let's take an opportunity to get to know each other. Would you mind introducing yourself one at a time, and telling what experience you have had with the inventory system?"
The introductions took several minutes. There were 20 students in the classroom, and as each student introduced himself, Rogers would move close to the student, stand only a few feet in front him, and stare intently at him while he spoke.
With the introductions complete, Rogers launched into a lengthy dissertation on the goals and objectives of the class. His explanation took over 15 minutes. I noticed that he repeated himself several times during this explanation. Evidently, the students noticed this as well. About the fifth time I heard him repeat, "So the primary goal for the class today is to make you very familiar with the manual and to inform you about the inventory system," it became apparent that the students were no longer paying any attention to him at all. Rogers recognized this as well. "Does anyone have any questions concerning the goals and objectives for this course?"
His question was greeted with total silence.
"Please do me a favor and turn to page five in your manual." He waited while the students obliged. "Now look about half way down the page and circle the section titled 'Goals and objectives of the class."'
The students all followed his instructions.
"Now, are there any questions concerning anything we have done so far?"
One student raised his hand, "Why does this class last only two hours? How are we going to learn all of this material in only two hours?"
Rogers took 10 minutes to answer the question. He went into theories on adult attention span and talked about the interactive nature of the inventory system. He discussed his theories on adult learning and told how the on-line inventory help facility was so powerful that they could no doubt use the system with no training at all. By the time Rogers had finished his response, the student had clearly forgotten the original question. "Did I answer your question?"
"Yes.
"Are you sure that I thoroughly answered your question?"
"Oh, yes, I'm sure."
Much later, during our private, in-depth discussion, I was able to ask Rogers why he had begun the class in this fashion. His response was straightforward. "I'm not going to waste my time doing anything that won't be directly reflected on my evaluation," he said. "Question two on the evaluation asks 'Were the goals and objectives clearly stated at the beginning of the class?' Question three asks, 'Were the students allowed to introduce themselves?' Questions four asks, 'Did the instructor have good eye contact?' And question five asks, 'Did the instructor adequately answer any student questions?' The students in this class may learn absolutely nothing, but they will know that I had them introduce themselves, that I told them the goals of the class, that I had good eye contact, and that I thoroughly answered their questions."
6. Good breaks lead to good evaluations.
After his lengthy answer to the student's question, Rogers must have sensed that it was time for a break. He went into great detail explaining where the restrooms were as well as phones and even nearby fax machines. "Now, we still have a lot to cover, so let's hurry back from break. I want to get started again promptly in 25 minutes."
The students didn't waste any time in leaving. Again, I was curious, and when Rogers and I were alone in the room, I asked him about it. "Isn't a 25-minute break a bit exces-
sive for a two-hour class?"
'The highlight of any class is the break," he said. 'From the moment the student first sits down, he is wondering when the break will be. I am convinced that the longer the break, the better the evaluations!"
Eventually the students returned.
7. Don't let the learning get in the way.
"I want to begin the second half of the class by giving you a quick orientation to the classroom and showing you how to use some of the equipment," said Rogers. "To begin with, you are sitting in special chairs designed to accommodate a variety of preferences and physical needs." He showed them how to adjust the chairs for maximum comfort.
"I want to point out that these terminals are also specially designed to afford maximum comfort and total student control." He pointed out the ergonomically correct keyboards and the special non-glare monitors. He showed them how to adjust the contrast for maximum eye comfort. "Now these terminals may be nothing like the terminals you have at your work location, but I do want you to be comfortable in class." The students were very impressed.
"I also want you to note our state-of-art projection equipment." He showed them how it worked, and how he could project a computer image on the wall that they could all see. No doubt this would help them in understanding the new inventory system, since they would be able to see the system demonstrated.
But then a student, whose name tent identified him as Sam, asked the question that I was wondering about, "Why are you wasting time showing us this equipment?"
Rogers launched into another of his flowery explanations, emphasizing the importance of using the right equipment in training, and how he was dedicated to quality instruction.
After the session, he told me the real reason. "There is a lot more at stake here than any of these students understand," he said. "I can't afford the risk of a lot of instruction when other things could affect the evaluation."
'Risk?" I said.
"Every year my boss gives me a performance review," he said, "and it is based entirely on how well I do on student evaluations. My boss doesn't care if the students learned anything or not. He only cares that I do well on the evaluations, because those evaluations are what he reports to his boss, and they are the basis for my boss's own performance reviews. If he gets a good performance review, then I get a good performance review, and we both get big raises. I can't jeopardize the welfare of so many people by spending a lot of time on something that counts for very little in the evaluation process."
8. Absent students don't complain.
His explanation to Sam about quality instruction and good equipment was still hovering in the air when the telephone rang. Rogers apologized for the interruption and quickly picked up the receiver. He had a brisk and hushed discussion. "I see. I'll tell him right away."
As he hung up the phone, Rogers turned to Sam, "That was your office. They said something about an emergency project. They want to know if you can leave class early and get back to the office right away."
Later, during our review discussion, 1 remarked on his good fortune. "It was lucky that Sam had to leave before you gave out evaluations. I had the feeling he didn't like you and might have given you a bad evaluation out of spite."
Rogers grinned and shook his head. "A good instructor leaves nothing to chance."
It took a moment for the implication of his remark to sink in. "You mean you planned to have the student taken out of your class?"
"It's an easy thing to program my personal computer to ring the classroom telephone every day right before I hand out evaluations."
9. Timing is everything.
"Well, we only have 20 minutes left," said Rogers after Sam left. "I am hoping that we can wrap this class up a little early, so I'm going to hand out the class evaluation forms now. This way we can make sure that you won't have to rush to finish them." He handed out the forms.
As the students began marking the forms, Rogers continued talking. "After you return your class evaluation form to me, I will give you your plaque, stating that you have successfully completed this class."
As the students began filling out the evaluations forms, we were able to have another of our hushed conversations.
"Why now?" I whispered. "Why not wait and let the students do a class evaluation after they get back on the job? It would seem to me that they could better evaluate the leaming once they actually started using the inventory system."
Rogers looked like he was going to laugh out loud, but he caught himself and looked around at the students. "You're so hung up on leaming," he said. "If I really wanted to know if the students had learned something, I would wait at least three months before doing an evaluation."
That seemed reasonable to me.
"I don't want my success tied in with the student's ability to learn," he continued. "What if I did wait to do the evaluation and then discovered that a student couldn't do anything he had learned in the class? What if the student was a total moron and just plain could not learn anything anyway? It would reflect poorly on me. So I give the evaluation immediately after the class, while everything I did is still fresh in the student's mind. This way, my performance in the classroom is all that is being evaluated. You might have heard this kind of evaluation form called a smile sheet. Well, to the extent it proves to my boss what a great trainer I am, it makes me smile!"
10. Ask the right questions right.
I watched the students fill out the evaluation forms. I was somewhat dazed by all that I had witnessed. I picked up an extra copy of the evaluation form and was enlightened concerning his tenth and final rule: Just ask the right questions and ask the questions right.
As I read over the evaluation form, I was sad to see that it mentioned nothing about what the student had learned. Of course, that was because the students had learned nothing. Then I remembered that Rogers said that I was too hung up on learning. I noted the way he had phrased the questions. There was no room here for ambiguity, no space provided for comments. In each case, the answer Rogers desired was the only one possible.
Later, I asked one final question. "Is that all there is to it?" I said. "Don't you do anything to measure performance?"
"Most definitely." he said emphatically. "After each class, I send a glowing letter to each student's supervisor. I tell how well the student did, and how confident I am for expert performance on the inventory system."
"Isn't that a lot of work?" I said.
"Sure it is," he said, "but it's worth it. A report like that puts the onus on the student to meet performance expectations."
I realized then that he was both determined and tireless in his pursuit of perfect evaluations, and he wasn't about to let student leaming stand in the way.
Class Evaluation Form
Class: Using the Inventory System
Instructor: Joe Rogers
Student Name:
- Were the classroom facilities adequate? Yes/No
- Were the goals and objectives clearly stated at the beginning of class? (Refer to page five in your manual.) Yes/No
- Were the students allowed to introduce themselves? Yes/No
- Did the instructor have good eye contact? Yes/No
- Did the instructor adequately answer any student questions? Yes/No
- Was the class too in-depth? Yes/No
- Did the instructor begin the class on time? Yes/No
- Did the instructor state his name at the beginning of class? Yes/No
- Were the refreshments adequate? Yes/No
- Were the handouts adequate and thorough? Yes/No
- Was the classroom neat and orderly? Yes/No
- Was the instructor knowledgeable about the subject? Yes/No
Jay McNaught, a training analyst with Public Service Company-Indiana, sometimes writes ironically about computer training.
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