Why our numbers are often meaningless!
Is 100 a lot or a little? Is 5 million a good outcome for sales training? It depends! It depends on what we are comparing those numbers to.
When it comes to making our numbers meaningful. CONTEXT is king. Yet, it’s the most overlooked detail from reports using data to demonstrate outcomes, results, and impact of our initiatives.
Deb Arnold shared her Golden Rule of Metrics in this week’s LinkedIn Industry Leader conversation. [Check out the recording here.} And that is … Always put your numbers in context.
Here’s a good example.
Our goal is for 80% of students to score 100/100 on their math exams. Our target is 80%, because in last year's exams only 50% of students scored 100. If we see 80% of students score 100, that would be a 30% improvement of test scores year over year.
In the paragraph above we’ve included targets and comparisons, and situated the numbers in a context that enables anyone to understand the meaning of our numbers!
Comparison Options
You can compare your numbers to a variety of other data points. Here are a list of options Deb commonly uses when she coaches her clients to write learning award applications:
Compare to a total (either number of points or a total target population)
Compare to industry benchmarks
Compare to your competitors practices, standards, benchmarks, or results
Compare to a goal or target
Compare to last year’s results
Compare to a previous program’s results
Compare to your stakeholders (or learners) expectations
I appreciate Deb’s Golden Rule of Metrics as it helps to determine metrics and targets for our training programs before we ever design and deliver them. It’s always easier to evaluate a program when we know what our program might be compared to, or evaluated against. Are we being compared to last year’s results? Are we being compared to our competitors? Are we being compared to a goal or target? This is useful because we can do a quick needs assessment to understand why we didn’t hit our goals in the past, what helped us produce the results we accomplished last year, or investigate what our competitors are doing that we aren't. Knowing what criteria our program is being evaluated on helps us to design an initiative to address those unique criteria!
One final thought …
If you struggle to get targets or goals from stakeholders for your learning programs, it’s likely stakeholders aren’t sure how learning can influence their key business goals and targets. Thus, they may say, well let’s just calculate how many people show up and be happy with buts in seats.
If stakeholders can see what’s possible, you might get better targets and goals to help you show how learning can influence targeted business goals. Use award winning learning programs as case studies to show what is possible to your stakeholders! You can find some of these case studies in the following places:
Training Magazine Training Apex Award Winners
Brandon Hall Award Winners
Chief Learning Officer Magazine
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