By: Shawna Simcik

Return on Investment, or ROI, is a popular profitability metric used to evaluate an investment’s performance. In the past, this has not been easy to measure for learning and development professionals. Proving the gains to an organization from its investment in leadership training.

If you are not already, consider measuring the impact of your efforts in L & D to make a case for spending money. Typically, during turmoil times in a business, training will be one of the first line items to be cut from a budget.

Showing the benefits of past training programs will support and persuade decision-makers to invest confidently in training. Further, it allows you to prioritize the highest impact training for your organizational performance in times of trouble.

Return on investment is not a smiley sheet at the end of the training measuring a participant’s satisfaction. ROI data may include sales data, customer satisfaction levels, and productivity and output. Some of these measures of success seem easier to accomplish. For example, did we see an increase in sales? Can we attribute this success to the training we provided? But it can get a bit more complicated when measuring the success of management or leadership development.

The Kirkpatrick four-level Training Evaluation Model can be a great resource to measure the effectiveness of your training efforts.

Level One: Reaction.

The basic level is understanding the learner’s reactions and responses to the training. Are there patterns to identify to improve participation, completion, and satisfaction?

 Level Two: Learning.

This next level of learning is quite simple – did the participant learn a new skill or acquire knowledge due to attending your training? This may be measured by pre-post quizzes, assessments, or on-the-job reporting.

Level Three: Behavior.

This level is meaty. Did the participant’s behavior change due to your training efforts? This level isn’t just about immediately following the training, be sure to measure after a more extended period – 3, 6, or 9 months later. You can measure this with pre-post manager ratings, employee engagement, and employee satisfaction results.

Level Four: Impact.

The final and tipping point of measuring ROI is impact! Did your training affect business goals and results? Impact levels include measures of employee retention, productivity, sales, and quality of work – any metric that is calculated in your business.

Collecting data and making training ROI calculations is no easy feat. You must define goals early, establish data that will be needed, determine benchmarks, and consider the isolation of the effects of your training. However, the impact can be powerful when justifying budgets for your development efforts.

As an ICC client, you receive access to a dynamic, high-impact measurement of the results of your investment leadership development. Our real-time dashboard holds leaders-of-leaders accountable at the highest level and allows you to calculate the percentage of leader improvement over time. Do you want to learn more about ICC’s Accelerator™ Leadership Development Program? Give us a call or email at 855-865-4400 or info@innovateicc.com