Return on investment is critical for businesses planning an effective learning and development program. ROI matters long term because it’s how you will measure your success. It will tell you what is and isn’t working, and provide you with the data you need to make smart business decisions. But ROI doesn’t just appear on its own, you need to know what you’re looking for. When it comes to building a team with the skills and abilities to get your company out ahead of the competition, learning and development programs are critical. Show them how effectiveyour programs are by building courses and strategies with solid return on investment.
Here are 3 steps to start creating and measuring success.
Step 1. Track your spending
One of the biggest challenges when measuring ROI is having a full understanding of your investment. Make sure you have a cohesive strategy as it relates to your learning and development program, and make sure you are tracking your spending. For every training video, event, or even micro-learning opportunities, you need to know how much it’s costing your company. Only once you know your investment can you accurately measure the return.
Also keep in mind that some elements of your strategy may be more cost intensive than others, such as travel and expenses for conference attendance, or off-site training programs. There are so many different ways to build L&D initiatives into your business plan, you should never feel your learning opportunities (or those of your employees) are limited. But you should be trackinghow much they cost your company.
Step 2. Track Effectiveness
The challenge when it comes to measuring success is quantifying it to the same level as your costs as they pertain to learning and development programs. Success is often noted happily, but rarely is it measured in terms of actual dollars earned. Keeping track of your key performance indicators for training and development is critical.
Think about measuring success by the sales made by employees retained, increases in profits due to skilled work, or other hidden opportunities. Frankly, demonstrating ROI is much easier in some parts of the business than in others, such as business development compared to HR. The bottom line to measure ROI you need a hard number to compare to your spending. The formula that will help you understand what your actual return is as follows:
ROI = the quantified benefit (return) / the cost (investment)
Test out and compare different measurements until you find one that makes sense for your business and the success you are looking to measure. As ROI is expressed either as a percentage or a ratio, businesses are better able to understand whether they are in the red when it comes to their learning programs. Having a quantifiable ROI metrics to track your success gained from the time and effort invested in your employees will help you make a firm argument for that investmentin the future.
Step 3. Learn from Your Mistakes
Once you have a measurement of the effectiveness of your learning and development programs, you can explore your options. Learn what opportunities are available to try out different programs. L&D is a discipline that is constantly evolving, with interesting advancements in micro-learning, alternative training programs, and crowd-sourced information sharing making big changes to the industry every year. Remember that what works for you (or doesn’t work for you) one year may produce a different level of return in the future. The key is to be flexible, track success, watch your costs, and always be open to learning new lessons yourself.
Are you looking for consultants who know how to set up, track, and report key metrics in a learning program?
For more tips on how to build out an effective measurement strategy for the learning and development program, reach out and connect with the experts at Clarity Consultants today. Our team is uniquely skilled at helping companies like yours measure and act on the data that helps drive business success. Contact us today! If you are a consultant looking for opportunities, explore these available consulting opportunities. For more ROI advice for your L&D team, reach out to the team at Clarity Consultants today.
Return on investment is critical for businesses planning an effective learning and development program. ROI matters long term because it’s how you will measure your success. It will tell you what is and isn’t working, and provide you with the data you need to make smart business decisions. But ROI doesn’t just appear on its own, you need to know what you’re looking for. When it comes to building a team with the skills and abilities to get your company out ahead of the competition, learning and development programs are critical. Show them how effective your programs are by building courses and strategies with solid return on investment.
