If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
A new chief learning officer was hired to lead the function for a Fortune 500 company and “reinvent” the function. She was a go-getter with impeccable credentials and wowed everyone who met her throughout the interview process.
As she took stock of the current state of her team, she realized that they measured very little of their work, and reported nothing to the business. So, as someone steeped in metrics and analysis, she decided her team was going to measure the ROI of the function to prove the value of the function to the company. Months passed and the team proudly put together a detailed analysis that they believed showed unequivocally their ROI, so much so that they couldn’t possibly be victims of a layoff.
Yet, they were. What happened?
For starters, the company was already investing heavily in learning and development. However, executives neither needed nor wanted ROI data.
Not one member of the executive team cared about the ROI of the L&D offerings. But in their defense, no one asked them what mattered! Too often, L&D teams fall victim to the internal desire to demonstrate value, via ROI, to the business.
At the time, the company was interested in two key questions: Was the training well-attended (i.e. butts in seats), and whether people liked it (i.e. smile sheets).
- Butts in seats – Over the course of my career I’ve heard this metric ridiculed again and again. “Who cares if the room is full?” is a typical refrain, yet many companies live and die by product usage metrics. Why not L&D? If we can’t fill the room, isn’t that a bad thing? Let’s embrace the metric that the company values and frame it accordingly. If you’re filling the room — in-person or virtually — you’re doing something right. Record it, report it, replicate it!
- Smile sheets – Another oft maligned metric is good old Kirkpatrick Level One — did they like it. I can hear so many former L&D Leaders and CLOs from past lives: “We need to focus on more important things.” But if they don’t like it, will they come? And if they do, will they get anything out of it? We all know how important emotion is to learning, yet we so quickly ignore this foundational metric. Embrace it and expand it. Help the company to expand with you.
By focusing on metrics that mattered, the new CLO and her team would have built strong relationships with the executive team that would have opened new doors and allowed an evolution of the function.
The company has experts in calculating ROI and other measures in finance and other functions.
Too many L&D practitioners set out to prove themselves via metrics, and seek to do so with a proudly DIY mindset. There is a belief that ROI, or Level Four metrics, must be better than first-, second- or third-level metrics. I encourage you to take a step back. Consider L&D as a business that designs, develops and delivers products and services, much like any other line of business at the company. Consider a company like Apple. Does the next generation iPhone development team calculate the ROI to the business of their product, or do they tap specialists to do that? Why is L&D seemingly reluctant to do the same. Imagine the relationships and credibility you can build by tapping into other functions to help shape a metrics strategy.
Engagement — a metric ripe for picking.
According to Gallup, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are focused on employee engagement. One metric suggests almost half of all companies, of any size, measure employee engagement in some way. By one account, L&D can swing engagement scores as much as 40 percent.
It is worth noting that in the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey, three items are directly related to talent development. Unfortunately, most L&D teams are too inwardly focused to link their work to engagement outcomes. L&D, as most people functions, is so busy trying to measure the ROI of individual programs that they miss opportunities to show bigger outcomes. When you roll out a new program, monitor engagement scores of participants and non-participants to look for variance. Most companies are paying very large sums to survey providers annually and trying to create plans to improve results. L&D can be instrumental in these efforts by building bridges to the business and other people functions creating linkages to engagement items and outcomes.
Moral of the story
Think of your clients as customers and measure what matters to them (not you). It sounds simple, but in this case, common sense is not common practice. If it were, most learning professionals would be out of business. However, don’t underestimate the level of effort required to create the new paradigm for measuring learning impact. The staff of the West Wing say that they serve at the pleasure of the President. It would serve each of us well to consider that mindset when we are crafting our learning strategies and associated measures.
L&D initiatives, projects and programs should serve a business purpose and drive business outcomes. Too many of us decide what is needed.
When I finally embraced this lesson, I worked with my executive team to create a development advisory committee representing every division of the company. This team guided decisions, helped shape strategy, provided feedback and opinion, co-created metrics and acted as champions in the business. As a result, all metrics that mattered to that leadership team — engagement, commitment and knowledge transfer — grew significantly. Through this partnership, we were able to expand their knowledge and understanding of the role of L&D in driving the business forward. As a result, we maintained or grew staffing and budget annually. All you have to do is ask.
