In a time when everything is measured, there is a rising expectation that training programs and learning initiatives have some degree of measurability as well.
Traditional business metrics—profit, production, marketing response rates—are nice and clean. People metrics can be messy. Yet, in a time when everything is measured, there is a rising expectation that training programs and learning initiatives have some degree of measurability as well.
Of course, there are already some approaches in place. At one end of the spectrum, we can capture immediate participant satisfaction as well as learning retention. However, these metrics are typically too disconnected from the context of “real work” to reveal the actual impact of your programs. At the other end of the spectrum, measurements such as increased productivity or better customer service, often don’t manifest until long after a program has wrapped, too late for them to be leveraged as practical business tools.
As a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP) with years of experience working with associations, I am currently the Executive Director of the Institute for Performance and Learning or I4PL. Our purpose is to elevate the performance of the Canadian workforce.
