Learning Evaluation: The Why, How and What?

For the past 30 or 40 years, many learning and development professionals were overly focused on “What” reports and data they will present to senior managers and “How” this data will be collected and analyzed, with very little attention paid to “Why” the learning evaluation is needed and how it will add value to the business and the individuals.

When measurements and evaluation are taken, the evaluation team may face disappointing results. They discover that the process breaks down at various stages. In short, it wasn't designed to drive business results. This is a persistent problem, but the good news it can be corrected by applying the ROI Methodology® and starting with “Why”, we might be able to leverage the insights that learning and development professionals have known for a long time: connect and align learning & development programs to the business need. The connection and alignment of learning and development program to the business need can only be achieved by answering that one simple question: WHY? (Why this program at this particular time) That requires we thoroughly understand the business goals and drivers for the learning & development request and that we define the desired outcomes in business terms.

The key focus is on the business value for the learning and development programs. Unfortunately, because of the absence of “why” in learning evaluation, many learning and development professionals design, implement and evaluate programs that are not linked with the business and payoff needs, also not aligned with senior executives’ impact objectives and strategy. A study conducted by the ROI Institute found that 96 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs want to see the business connection, yet only 8 percent see it, and 74 percent want to see ROI, yet only 4 percent see it. Very few learning and development professionals have “the right” data to show top executives that their programs make a difference to the organization’s bottom line, this may explain why most executives perceive learning and development to be a cost, rather than an investment. Thus, in times of economic anxiety, it’s the first budget to cut—when, really, it should be enhanced.

Starting by defining the business outcomes through conversations with the senior executives and business leaders, will helps to clarify “why” they have asked for this program and what business measures will be improved. The “Why” of evaluation is also important for the learner and the learner direct managers, for example, if we want managers to support the application of program afterward, and play a proactive role in the evaluation process, we need to be able to clarify the “why” of the program and the benefits they should expect.

After answering the “WHY”, the next question is the “HOW”. How data is collected during the program implementation (reaction & learning) and after the program implementation (application and business impact), and how this data is analyzed. The first action of analysis is to isolate program effects in the impact data. If ROI is planned, the next action is to convert data to money. Then the monetary benefits are compared to program costs in an ROI calculation. This builds two sets of data that sponsors will appreciate: business impact connected directly to the program and the financial ROI, which is calculated the same way a CFO would calculate a capital investment.

The last question is “WHAT”: What output and report L&D professionals will present to different program stakeholders. Telling the story of the program is an important step of the ROI Methodology. Properly identifying the audience and providing appropriate information is essential. By default, four audiences are always essential: The participants directly involved in the project who provide data to the evaluators; The immediate managers of the participants who need evidence of the success of the project; The sponsors of the project who need to understand the project's value to the organization; The staff team members who need to understand how the study was developed

With this approach, learning and development professionals ensure that program evaluation is:

1.     Connected, aligned and linked with organization’s bottom-line results.

2.     Cost effective, easy to use, and credible.

3.     Show the value of the programs to different stakeholders.