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There’s a hard cost to soft skills – Show your ROL (Return on Learning)!

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More than the traditional ROI that focuses on hard, often technical, training a Return on Learning measures the broader cost of the problem.  This cost may be people-based and identifying its fiscal impact on the organization against the cost of creating and delivering the learning solution is a valuable way to demonstrate the impact learning has on the bottom line. From attrition to leadership communication, you can measure learning solutions that affect performance, and they have a measurable monetary impact.  There are hard dollars in measuring “soft” skills!

The first step to using learning strategically is to apply the same frame of reference your operational and leadership teams are using and apply them to the solution being implemented, the metrics that matter are the ones used by the client group so use their data points to measure the impact learning has especially around the behavioral skills we use in life to be successful.  In this video I share an example and a calculator you can use to show the value of different operational metrics that demonstrate the impact learning and performance solutions bring to the organization and the bottom line.

Key business functions such as first call resolution, retention, leadership style, net promoter scores, upselling numbers – how are you helping the person be able to perform better using the behavioral lifeskills that impact the organization?  To truly measure the ROI start by focusing on the ROL. Use my favorite 4 letter word to start with – PLAN: Prior (to) Learning, Assess Now.  Take ownership of the learning solution you are developing by first (prior to learning) gathering the current operational metrics (assess now) that you will be measuring against, so you can identify clearly to yourself and your client that the solution you put in place made a difference at the business level. Impacting performance on all levels creates value to the person and the process they are in leading to success for everyone.

If you would like to talk more about ways to demonstrate the impact your team has on the organization let’s Zoom and keep the conversation going!  I’d enjoy talking with you about how we can partner to strategically develop your team. Use the contact button above or visit our web site!

It’s not the ROI, ROL matters more!

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I had a conversation recently with a learning leader at an organization who was being pushed to show their ROI – return on investment.  Granted in the last couple of years they have brought a new LMS online andCapture added designers to the team so management wanted to know if the expenses were paying off.   But our discussion started with how many clicks had been captured, the test scores of the online modules, and how many people had taken these modules and trying to divide these into the expenses… well you get the picture.  And that’s the point – that isn’t where you truly measure the ROI. You need to have a more strategic view of the organization to determine the ROL – the Return on Learning.

Measure what matters and focus on what matters to the organization.  Key business functions such as First call resolution, lower product defects, higher quality scores, upselling numbers – the point is what are you doing to impact the business?  To truly measure the ROI you need to focus on the ROL. Start by using my favorite 4 letter word to start with – PLAN: Prior (to) Learning, Assess Now.  Take ownership of the learning solution you are developing by first (prior to learning) gathering the current operational metrics (assess now) that you will be measuring against, so you can identify clearly to yourself and your client that the solution you put in place made a difference at the business level.

Want to learn how to measure the return on your learning efforts then check out this short video about Return on Learning!  If you would like to learn more about using learning as a strategic business tool let’s talk!