Solid Level 1 Through Level 4 Evaluation Before You Attempt Level 5 ROI

by Susanne Conrad

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!! It's the "green day"! I'm wearing a green sweater so no need to pinch me :)

Green brings to mind the green we all want to see on our bottom lines. Which  brings us to ROI on learning and development programs. More and more companies, for obvious reasons, are looking to determine ROI on their L&D investments. Quite a number of our clients have been talking about it, and a few have asked for assistance in projecting ROI when I submit a proposal.

There are a lot of things to talk about relative to ROI - and I'll address some of them over the next few weeks. But here's what I always tell clients who want to attain Level 5 (ROI): "Make sure you have a solid, consistent process in place to measure Level 1 through 4 first."

Sounds logical, but I think you'd be amazed at how many companies really don't have a robust system to do so. Here are just a few problems I see at organizations:

> Lack of consistency in the way Levels 1 through 4 are implemented/executed from program to program
> Lack of consistency in the way Levels 1 through 4 are calculated from program to program
> Disconnect between what management and L&D believe to be valid, objective measures

Let's share some best practices for making sure Level 1 through 4 are in place.

I say the following NOT because I'm trying to make a sale, but offer it as an example of one approach:
Our company sells an Excel-based tool that's a turnkey solution for Level 1 through 4. It provides a consistent process all L&D professionals in an organization can easily follow. It provides L&D with all support materials & tools to implement evaluations. It builds in a process for gaining management support. What's so great about it without going into all the nitty gritty details: Management has confidence in the the measures L&D gives them to show success or failure of programs. The results: Credibility for L&D for starters.

HERE'S THE QUESTION FOR YOU:
What does your organization do, if anything, to ensure solid Level 1 through 4 measurement?  

Comments

[Gary Summy]

Susanne – I am not a frequent blogger, but I love to write and many say a bit opinionated. I had to respond. This is a great post and I am in total agreement. I generally go further and question both the validity and value of what is often packaged as ROI evaluation. But I am a little biased and I am selling something here – read my chapter on measuring the impact of Sales Training in Renie McClay’s new book Fortify Your Sales Force.

Back to your original point. If you are having difficulty with the 1-4, what makes you think an ROI/Level 5 (or business impact) evaluation will suddenly part the seas and deliver you from the bondage of being just another staff function? The tool you described sounds like a great first step. We have to partner with sales and business leaders to first define objectives and metrics for any behavior change (training) initiative. Some of the questions we must address include: what are the outcomes we (the business) desire(s), how will (does) the business measure the outcomes, do we have baseline on those metrics now (how can I show impact or improvement if I don’t know where I am in the beginning), and very critically what evidence is required to validate that our initiative was a significant contributor to the outcome.

Any measurement should be in partnership with sales leaders and measure the things important to them, not us. Sort of like selling value, the value is defined by the customer (the business we serve) not us (or our company brochure).