The Misconception That Wastes the Most Time in Learning and Development with Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick

Few people have watched the Kirkpatrick Model travel across as many organizations as Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick. Founder of Kirkpatrick Partners, steward of the model for 16 years, and the author of the foreword to Vanessa's new book, Wendy joins the show to talk about what the model was always meant to be — and the misreadings that still hold teams back.

Vanessa and Wendy dig into the belief that quietly wastes the most time and money: treating the four levels as sequential and equal, perfecting reaction sheets while the levels that matter wait years for attention. Wendy traces the model back to Don Kirkpatrick's 1950s dissertation, explains why Level 3 has an undeserved reputation for being "hard," and shares who she's seen do evaluation genuinely well. Along the way she reframes the whole discipline in a single line Vanessa promises to steal: training can only prepare people — the results come from partnership across the business.

In This Episode

● Why "sequential and equal" is the costliest misconception in L&D.

● The real reason organizations default to Levels 1 and 2 — and how to move.

● Why Level 3 isn't hard; it's where L&D earns its seat at the table.

● What the U.S. military and fast-moving corporations each get right.

● "Training can only prepare" — a phrase to use with your stakeholders.

Learn more about the Kirkpatrick Model and upcoming programs at kirkpatrickpartners.com.

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