Your Go-To, Quick and Easy Measurement Strategy
Is there a quick and dirty, go-to methodology, or one or two metrics that we should be using to evaluate learning?
The answer is yes. I think of this as a minimum viable measurement strategy.
First, let's talk about methodology. There are a myriad of measurement methods out there to evaluate programs. We all can probably brainstorm a short list. Those would be:
The Kirkpatrick Model
The ROI Methodology.
LTEM
The Success Case Method
Valerie Anderson's Value of Learning
And, don’t forget, the latest learning measurement standards put out by the International Organization for Standardization.
I could go on and on…
With so many methods it can become confusing. What should we be using? What's the easiest way? What's the most appropriate for the program that we're evaluating?
If we're trying to find a quick and dirty minimum viable methodology, I have to be honest and tell you there is not one!
Trying to use one methodology all of the time simply makes evaluation more difficult. So, the question again… Is there a quick and dirty metric or methodology to help us evaluate programs? I don’t recommend using just one method, but there are three metrics I recommend using, regardless of the program goal, or purpose, or even the function of your learning and development department. And I have to say NPS score is not one of them!
Core Metric #1: ROE
The first is expectations. You may have heard this as Return on Expectations (ROE). Regardless of what your program is designed to do, improve performance or disseminate information, our learners, our stakeholders, our managers, our communities, have expectations about the outcomes for our programs. If we track and meet those expectations, we will increase the perceived value, not necessarily actual value, but perceived value of the program.
Let's be honest, if our stakeholders expectations are met, then we've got our foot in the door for having a seat at the table. Our reputation will be seen as more viable and more trustworthy. Return on expectations is that metric I would be tracking regardless of the purpose of your program. It’s also something people might look forward to. It’s not often that we get asked about our expectations (especially from learners and subject matter experts). So having those conversations works well to build meaningful relationships with all those who benefit from our program’s success!
I worked for an organization where NPS score was the CEO’s favorite metric. Despite the fact that I don't appreciate NPS scores to evaluate learning programs, that was what our CEO wanted. That was his expectation. If that's the expectation, whether I agree with that metric or not, I'm going to track it and report back to my stakeholders.
What are the other two metrics you ask? They have to do with alignment.
Core Metric #2: Business Alignment
I hear all the time that it's so difficult to measure our programs because things are changing so quickly. Whether it's your policies internally, your incentives are changing, or employee turn over. Everything is changing so fast, and I don't think that's going to slow down anytime soon.
Despite all the changes, there will always be one or two core metrics that stay the same. If you’re in the for-profit sector, that core metric is profitability and anything adjacent to profitability such as revenue, sales, even retention because we know how expensive it is to bring new people in and get them trained. If you’re in the social services sector, your core metric will be related to your mission. The mission and vision likely never change. What are those core metrics that tell you if you’re fulfilling your mission and vision?
We need to do a little homework and figure out what's the core driver for the business or the community organization that we're in.
So now, back to alignment. Are your programs aligned to those particular metrics? Do you have any visibility into how aligned they are? Or they're not? This is the starting place for us in the learning and development sector. More than likely, we don't have any visibility into how well aligned our programs or our learning function is to our core organizational metrics. Are you able to tell the story of how your programs and function are aligned with your core metrics? Do you have an answer for this question? How confident are you with your answer? This would give us a sense of our alignment score.
Core Metric #3: Program Alignment
The second dynamic of alignment has to do with our ability to predictability generate the desired outcomes of our programs. Research says that our learning programs have a higher chance of being effective (i.e. learning is going to transfer to something on the job) when a few core factors are aligned. Those being manager support, or other types of performance support on the job reinforcing what's learned in the classroom, stakeholder support and involvement, the environment supporting the behaviors, the activities and the performance that we desire to see. Research says the more aligned all of those factors are the higher likelihood that our program is going to be successful in whatever the goals are.
The take-aways …
There is not one method to use to evaluate our learning programs. That would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Doing so will always be more difficult and costly.
There are three core metrics I suggest always tracking regardless of your program goals to show our value:
ROE
Business alignment
Program alignment
There's not necessarily a playbook for these core metrics. We simply need to ask a few simple questions:
What do our stakeholders, subject matter experts, learners, and community expect from our learning function and each program we offer?
Can you clearly see and tell a story with integrity about how your learning function and each individual program is aligned with (i.e. designed to support) your organization’s core metrics (profitability or mission)?
How well aligned are the core components of a successful program? How many core components of learning transfer do you have incorporated into your program design?
These are your minimum viable, quick and dirty strategies to evaluate every program!
If you adopt these, please share comments tell us how it goes and where you get stuck!
Happy evaluating!
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