Cut the Scrap with Predictive Learning Analytics™
 (PLA)

What’s the number one issue facing the L&D professional today? It’s scrap learning — and if you haven’t heard the phrase yet, you will.

Scrap learning, a term coined by KnowledgeAdvisors, describes the wasteland of learning that is delivered but not applied back on the job. It’s a critical business issue because it wastes money and time — precious organizational resources.

How big is the problem? Two benchmark research studies help put this in perspective. In 2004, Rob Brinkerhoff, professor at Western Michigan University, found that slightly less than 20% of learners never apply what they learn in a training program back on the job and another 65% try to apply what they learned, but revert back to their old ways for a whopping 80-85% scrap learning figure. More recently, a 2014 Corporate Executive Board (CEB) white paper reported that in the average organization, 45% of all learning delivered ends up not being applied.

What does this look like at the individual organizational level? Two statistics from the Association for Talent Development (ATD) 2015 “State of the Industry Report” help bring this into focus:

1.   Average per employee training expenditure and 

2.   Average number of training hours consumed per employee.

 In 2015, these two figures were $1229 and 32.4 hours respectively. 

Using the CEB 45% scrap learning figure you can see in the chart below that $553 of the $2129 is wasted money and 14.6 of the 32.4 hours is wasted time. The picture is even more bleak using the Brinkerhoff research which shows that $983 of $1229 is wasted money and 25.9 of the 32.4 hours is wasted time.

Scrap Learning at Individual Organization Level

Whether it’s 45% or 80%, think about the resources wasted in planning and delivering training and the lost opportunity from training not applied!

So what’s the solution? Phillips Associates has developed Predictive Learning Analytics™ (PLA), a new methodology for peering into the future, at the conclusion of a learning program, and predicting learner outcomes and actions, with the intent of changing those outcomes and actions for the better. PLA gives you the ability to identify:

• Which learners are most and least likely to apply what they learned in a training program back on the job
• Which managers are likely to do a good and poor job of supporting the learning they send their employees to attend, and
• What obstacles are preventing participants from applying all that they learned.

All this and more is possible using PLA!

Want to learn more about Predictive Learning Analytics™ and how it can add value in your organization? Attend the Phillips Associates PLA workshop Boost Training Transfer Using Predictive Learning Analytics on March 8-9, 2017.  

Register before by February 28, 2017 and save $100 with the early bird discount.

For more information contact Ken Phillips at 847.231.6068 or ken@phillipsassociates.com or visit us at www.theplamethod.com