One of the most complex challenges in Learning and Development today is demonstrating the business impact of your training programs. As a result, one of the most frequently asked questions is this: “What is the ideal solution for measuring the effectiveness of my online courses and training?”
We have been talking about “training measurement” for several decades now. Since the 1950s, when Kirkpatrick developed his 4-level model △, industry professionals have always tried to understand and analyze the relationship between training results and business results.
A puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
This is such a complex challenge that many organizations forgo evaluating their training activities altogether. On the other hand, those who decide to do so focus primarily on course evaluation, measuring participant reactions, retention of learned concepts, and satisfaction with online courses and eLearning materials.
The reason is due to the fact (and I think we all agree on this) that measuring and demonstrating the impact on the training business is not at all simple. In fact, it’s quite difficult. Very difficult. But it is also absolutely necessary. Learning and Development teams must be able to demonstrate that their programs have a positive impact on business results. Otherwise, they will not gain approval or support (whether financial or otherwise) from company leadership. Furthermore, they must also be able to increase that impact over time.
Alignment is key
The best approach to improving the business impact of your programs is to connect your learning strategy to your organization’s business objectives. 🔗
It is important to note that how training affects an organization’s results depends solely on the objectives set, which may change over time. For this reason, training managers should regularly rethink their measurement strategies, redefining the very concept of “success” and finding new training approaches to achieve business objectives related to employee development , organizational performance, sales network training , performance of partners or customers and more.
In essence: If your training programs are not aligned to specific business objectives, it will be difficult to demonstrate their business impact.
Here are three elements to carefully consider to try to improve the business impact of your corporate training programs:
- The direction of the business 🗺
Future-focused leaders are deeply connected to all departments of the organization. They don’t just analyze their own metrics, they know the employee challenges and goals of each individual department. They know which business KPIs are used throughout the organization and have a global vision of their business.
- What are the success metrics (business KPIs) 🎯
Without a doubt, it is important to understand the overall direction and challenges facing the organization, but it is even more important to understand how these KPIs are measured. The metrics that matter to your business should strongly influence those used by your Learning and Development teams. For example, if a company goal is focused on customer satisfaction, then you should focus on improving the metrics related to that goal (NPS scores, loyalty, and overall satisfaction).
- Interdepartmental collaboration 🤝
Getting other departments in your organization to share KPI information can be trickier than it seems. This is where cross-departmental collaboration comes in. Staying in touch with other departments within your organization helps you gain a deeper understanding of the business challenges facing your training programs. Building strong relationships with cross-departmental stakeholders can also greatly facilitate the buy-in needed to drive change.
By focusing on these 3 elements, you will be able to keep up with the evolution of the business, which is fundamental in a scenario characterized by the need to have programs perfectly aligned and able to adapt to rapid market changes.
Better data = Better decision making
Organizations rely on data analytics to make decisions, and the education industry cannot afford to be left behind. To ensure you make the best decisions (both for your training programs and for your business), try asking yourself:
- What are my organization’s top 3 priorities for this year? (For the next three years?)
- How do my training programs align with the most important KPIs for the organization?
- What measures have I taken to always be aligned with the business and its challenges?
- How often does L&D actively collaborate with leaders from other departments to create strategic plans and address key challenges?
And finally, let’s go back to the initial question… 🤔
How can I measure the impact of my training programs?
Well, it depends. The most difficult way is to manually collect, analyze, and export datasets from your learning environments, then compare them with data from your business systems. But this approach takes a lot of time (and a lot of spreadsheets). The simplest and smartest solution, however, is to use a learning analytics tool. (Preferably, a tool with robust data visualization capabilities, which can also connect your learning data to your business apps.)
We know how difficult it is in the world of corporate and online training to analyze and understand the business impact, as well as the effectiveness of a corporate training strategy. Docebo Learn Data , the latest product in our AI-powered multi-product suite , was designed to effectively address this challenge.
Learn Data is a business intelligence (BI) tool entirely focused on training. It allows you to understand the actual results of your training programs, in an even more in-depth way. Discover new insights into training processes, but also how you can leverage your programs to improve decision making, increase performance and achieve greater business impact.
Connect your training analytics to your business data
Learn Data integrates with your Learning Management System (LMS) and third-party systems like Salesforce, Workday, Jira, and HubSpot, (just to name a few). Collects and analyzes training and business data, then automatically correlates how training metrics impact KPIs and your business results.
Imagine you’ve just launched an employee training program aimed at improving customer experience (a top priority for your company). Learn Data can extract data from your LMS (such as the number of sessions and completed enrollments), highlighting the performance of your program. It can also pull data from enterprise systems (Zendesk and Ask Nicely, in this case) that track the specific business goals you want to achieve.
As you can see from the dashboard above, the number of course enrollments increases 📈, while the number of support tickets on the same topic decreases 📉 and the NPS score improves over time. 🌟 This shows that your training is having a positive impact on the quality of service offered to customers, which translates into fewer open tickets and a higher NPS score. By presenting this data comparatively, it is even easier to demonstrate the business impact of your training programs.
Many organizations already have generic Business Intelligence tools. However, these tools are not equipped with advanced logic and algorithms to analyze training data. As a result, it is virtually impossible to link training programs to business outcomes. Learn Data focuses on learning data. It not only analyzes this data, but also collects company data and correlates how training programs have a concrete impact on the business. This way, you can make the best decisions, both for your users and for your organization, finally proving what you’ve always known: your training programs are the engine of your business.
Do you want to find out how Docebo Learn Data can help you? Request a demo .