ADVISORY
By Dr. Kenneth Smith, PMP
Honolulu, Hawaii
& Manila, The Philippines
“The meaning of life is to find your gift.
The purpose of life is to give it away.”
– Pablo Picasso
Independent accreditation bodies exist to establish quality benchmark criteria for formal academic institutions & trade schools. They also conduct periodic peer reviews to ascertain continuing capability by institutions to meet standards and deliver quality training in their chosen areas of expertise. Internally, institutions and their faculties go to great lengths to obtain & maintain their accreditation and reputation, through research, publications, conferences, consultancies, teaching and self-improvement. Every faculty also creates & administers a plethora of intermittent graded tests, practicums and formal examinations of their students vs predetermined standards; for them to qualify for the institution’s various awards, certificates, diplomas and degrees.
However, lesser training entities have no such external ‘Big Brother’ regulatory board watching them to assess their quality, &/or the competency of their faculties to conduct short-term training programs. These organizations survive on self-promotion to inform the general public of their capacity to provide high quality short-term seminars & workshops. They assert their competence — and that of their instructor-facilitators – citing testimonials, and relying on informal ‘brand’ recognition & word-of-mouth to sustain their reputation. Their subject-matter specialists[1] rest on their laurels (earned elsewhere), and concurrent external professional activities; unless apprised — by bad publicity — regarding shortcomings. Quality standards are self-determined & self-imposed. In this environment, ‘Diploma Mills’ inevitably abound.
It is therefore incumbent on ethical entities to proactively — and stringently — self-examine the quality of their offerings.
Demonstrated competence — in terms of knowledge, understanding & ability — is the only true measure of lessons learned, but given the environment and limited duration of most short-term training seminars, it is not usually practical for instructor-facilitators to administer tests or effectively assess participant competency – particularly with respect to skills.[2] Given the inherent constraints to both giving and receiving, rather than abrogating their responsibilities completely, short-term training entities and their instructors have to satisfice with substitutes.
___________
To that end, I identified two generic proxies for the value added by my courses, and developed a process to assess results. Admittedly massaging differential ‘informational-hierarchy’ levels attained by participants is superficial — like treating ‘apples & oranges’ as fruit to assess the composition of a salad –– and they still don’t address quality. However — unless you can share something better — a recent workshop is explicated here for your consideration, possible adoption &/or adaptation to meet your needs.
Rationale: Regardless of the topic, the objective of short-term training sessions is for the entity’s instructor-facilitator to provide pertinent information to participants, for their enlightenment and possible future use. Added Value is therefore the extent of participant accretion of knowledge and skill on the topics presented, over the baseline. As such, two generic indicators of Value-Added are:
- NTKI (pronounced ‘entiky’):e. the amount of Nice to Know Information acquired about a topic, and
- Utility: the amount of Usable Knowledge &/or skill attained about the topic by individual participants during the training session.
More…
To read entire article, click her
How to cite this article: Smith, K.F. (2025). Assessing ‘Value-Added’ in Short-Term Training Programs, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pmwj153-Jun2025-Smith-Assessing-Value-Added-in-Short-Term-Training-Programs.pdf
About the Author
Dr. Kenneth Smith
Honolulu, Hawaii
& Manila, The Philippines
Initially a US Civil Service Management Intern, then a management analyst & systems specialist with the US Defense Department, Ken subsequently had a career as a senior foreign service officer — management & evaluation specialist, project manager, and in-house facilitator/trainer — with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Ken assisted host country governments in many countries to plan, monitor and evaluate projects in various technical sectors; working ‘hands-on’ with their officers as well as other USAID personnel, contractors and NGOs. Intermittently, he was also a team leader &/or team member to conduct project, program & and country-level portfolio analyses and evaluations.
Concurrently, Ken had an active dual career as Air Force ready-reservist in Asia (Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines) as well as the Washington D.C. area; was Chairman of a Congressional Services Academy Advisory Board (SAAB); and had additional duties as an Air Force Academy Liaison Officer. He retired as a ‘bird’ colonel.
After retirement from USAID, Ken was a project management consultant for ADB, the World Bank, UNDP and USAID.
He earned his DPA (Doctor of Public Administration) from the George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia, his MS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Systems Analysis Fellow, Center for Advanced Engineering Study), and BA & MA degrees in Government & International Relations from the University of Connecticut (UCONN). A long-time member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and IPMA-USA, Ken is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and a member of the PMI®-Honolulu and Philippines Chapters.
Ken has two KENBOOKS: 1. Project Management PRAXIS which includes many innovative project management tools & techniques; and describes a “Toolkit” of related templates, and 2. MUSINGS on Project Management — a compilation of contemporary concerns in project planning, monitoring & evaluation, with some tools & techniques suggested for their solution. Either or both books are available from Amazon, and their related templates are available directly from him at kenfsmith@aol.com on proof of purchase.
To view other works by Ken Smith, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/dr-kenneth-smith/
[1] Both full & part-time faculty — aka guest lecturers, professors, teachers, instructors or facilitators.
[2] NOTE: In addition to each small group’s case exercise, developed ‘hands-on;’ I also created an objective multi-question test for post-course grading which takes another 2 hours to administer. It is occasionally used in company, and off-site overnight residential course settings either in an individual exam mode, or in small-groups. In both instances, it takes a further half-hour to review the correct answers with the participants in a competitive mode. The latter is most exhilarating and rewarding as it reinforces learning, rather than simply being a test for memory recall.
