Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2019 - 50

CASEBOOK

A YEAR IN THE LIFE:
EVOLVING L&D METRICS FROM A
REPORTING MANAGED SERVICE
TO BUSINESS INSIGHT PARTNER
BY ERIKA ROBERTSON

In 2017, my sales enablement organization
tapped me, a long-time performance
consultant, to lead and form a team whose
focus would be learning measurement and
analytics. While many organizations claim
they focus on measuring learning, few truly
dedicate a team to support it.
At that time, we had a two-member
reporting function within the enablement
operations team who provided reports on
course completions via Excel. We relied
on those individuals and the enablement
leads across departments to use filters
and pivot tables to make further analysis.
Prior to our team's creation, the enablement
operations team created non-standardized
questionnaires to distribute to course and
event participants, without leveraging any
measurement approach. Then, the same
two individuals reported the results. Our
leaders recognized a need.
GETTING STARTED
Tapped with not only establishing the
initial focus and objective but structuring
the team as well, I sought guidance from
mentors and set my mind on building
a collaborative and innovative team.
Within a few days, we had a team name -
learning measurement, analytics and seller
experience - and a general focus.
Our team - containing our two business
analysts, a program manager for our
seller experience program, a strategic
initiatives lead, an outgoing contractor
who supported our dashboard creation
and myself - gathered in person for a
few days, taking advantage of a globally

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dispersed team actually able to meet in
our headquarters. This made the beginning
steps doable.
First, we needed to define our team's
mission statement. What verbiage would be
our focus and reference for our direction?
While each of us relied upon technology to
work and connect virtually, we appreciated
and leveraged our face-to-face time. We
discussed ideas, shared thoughts and
wordsmithed. The mission statement
itself didn't take long, as we shared this
common vision:

Through measurement and analysis, we
could provide clear insights to arm our
performance consultants with, as well as
the data behind the stories they tell. We
knew that would take dedication and a
change of management.
MEASUREMENT APPROACH
To my good fortune, every person in that
room had a background in Phillips Levels
of Evaluation, and most had achieved
certification. The true foundation of this
team would be found in its measurement
levels (see Figure 1).

To provide actionable insight of enablement's
impact towards achievement of business
outcomes aligned to company priorities.

INTERNAL FOCUS
After our face-to-face meeting, the real
work began. How we functioned as a new
team was crucial to our success. Our basic
procedures and principles included:

OUR LEADERS

* Team meetings - At first weekly and
later transitioning to every two weeks,
these were our cornerstone event to
bring our geographically dispersed
team together.

RECOGNIZED A NEED.

There were many additional, valuable
words left on that whiteboard. Words like
strategy, passion, zeal, optimistic, connect
and balance. These words were ours,
not for external communications but to
remind ourselves what we brought to this
new team.
Although not mentioned specifically in our
mission or principles, we all agreed that we
did not want to be considered a managed
service. Our team's focus was to guide
the metrics maturity of our organization.

* Communication - We never wanted
unilateral decisions made on how to
improve or remove processes, tools,
and approaches to measurement and
analytics. Each team member provided
crucial input in these areas.
* Collaboration - As processes and tools
needed to evolve, we joined forces to
implement that change. Each team
member led, and each team member
supported multiple areas as we
moved forward.
Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2019

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