Chief Learning Officer- September 2008

IOL: Determining the Impact of Learning BY JIM NAUGHTON As long as learning has played a prominent role in organizations, metrics have played a prominent role in learning. If CLOs want to be among the heavy hitters at their organizations, they’ll have to make reliable and meaningful measurement a priority. etrics: Some CLOs swear by them, others at them. Chief Learning Ofﬁcer magazine columnist Mike Echols sounded the clarion call this February for CLOs to rededicate themselves to measurement, whereas former Goldman Sachs learning executive Steve Kerr called measurements like ROI “silly.” Love them or hate them, though, metrics likely will play a key role in resolving a serious challenge for CLOs. Few CEOs and CFOs are satisﬁed with the impact of their organizations’ learning programs. There is a need for discussion on the value of metrics and which metrics are valuable. M We’re All in This Boat Together First, there needs to be reconciliation between the two camps: those who believe metrics are our salvation and those who believe they’re a waste of time and energy and a feeble attempt to justify the value of learning. Secretly believe what you want, but the heads of your organization — you know, the ones who dictate the budget for learning — are dissatisﬁed and want evidence of success. Two years ago, when Accenture asked executives about their learning programs, only 10 percent were very satisﬁed. So after innumerable conferences, classes and advances in technology, CLOs still have a long way to go. ROI Is Dead Most organizations don’t bother to measure the ﬁnancial beneﬁts of learning. To a large degree, this is 32 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • September 2008 • www.clomedia.com because measuring the ROI of learning is perceived as difﬁcult, time-consuming and labor intensive. More than half of the organizations surveyed by Bersin & Associates cited the need to improve alignment with the business as one of the top learning and development challenges for 2008. Why would we consider using the same ROI method that has a two-decade-plus track record of indistinction? Simply put, it’s because the method being used for ROI is too complicated. Some, for example, attempt to isolate the effect of training and separate it from other interventions (e.g., technology, marketing, process improvements) as if conducting a laboratory experiment. A lot of hard work and effort gets applied to scrub ﬁnancial data and tease out the contribution of the learning function. This is but one small example of how we make Level 4 evaluation needlessly difﬁcult on ourselves. This apparent overcomplication drives many learning leaders to abandon ROI. But they still must do something to report on the training function. Many reach for readily tracked data, such as course-completion rates and training hours — none of which do much to establish the value of learning at the C-level. Offering up these metrics in some ways demonstrates a fundamental disconnect with the business. Course-completion statistics show nothing in the way of alignment with the goals of the business. There is no inherent value solely in the completion of courses. http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer- September 2008

Chief Learning Officer Editor’s Letter Contents Connections Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five Lifestyle Learning: Improve the Bottom Line With Behavioral Education Tracom’s Social Style Model CLO Profile IOL: Determining the Impact of Learning Communicating With the Boss About Impact Mission Accomplished? Measuring Success of Corporate Universities Borrowing Measurement Practices From Investors Value Creation With Human Capital Investment Business Impact Analysis at Chrysler Learning or Performance Enhancement: Which Is It? Best Practices in Global Project Management Training Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

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