Case Study

Published July 2009

Adding Value Through Measurement

Frank Niles

Leadership development firm The Soderquist Center reversed declining enrollment in one of its signature programs by quantifying its benefits, and learned more about itself in the process.

Amid the economic downturn and shrinking corporate budgets, CLOs are likely to witness a decline in resources dedicated to their learning solutions. C-suite demands for greater accountability and documented ROI make this scenario especially unsettling. Justifying your organization’s existence is never fun.

If you find yourself in this situation, you should ask yourself the following questions: First, how can you, as a learning organization, provide greater value to your customers (buyers) and demonstrate it convincingly? Second, how can you convey to the executive level that your programs are mission-critical?

Wendy Soderquist-Togami, director of emerging leaders at The Soderquist Center, a value-based, leadership development firm located in Arkansas, faced this situation and answered these questions to great effect. The Soderquist Center serves a diverse group of organizations, from local nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies, and recently experienced declining enrollment in one of its signature programs, Milestone, a retreat-style, experiential leadership development program designed to equip high-potential leaders with the tools necessary to succeed.

Before making any operational changes, and desiring a more effective way to communicate Milestone’s value to customers, Togami chose to assess the learning function using hard objective data.

“We believed [Milestone] was our flagship program and had put a great deal of effort toward that end, but found we were not able to communicate the ROI effectively,” Togami said.

With this goal in mind, she launched a comprehensive measurement and evaluation program for Milestone and other programs that comprise the firm’s core portfolio of products. This was an innovative and perhaps risky move. Like other small to midsize learning firms, The Soderquist Center lacked the necessary internal resources to launch an outcomes-based measurement initiative. Implementing such a program, however, was crucial to achieving operational excellence and increasing market share.

The measurement plan has exceeded expectations, delivering a set of data actionable to both stakeholders and customers. While it is difficult to isolate the unique impact of the initiative on the Center’s bottom line, measurement has had the unambiguous effect of driving up enrollment in Milestone. Even this year, with the recession in full swing, all of the program’s sessions are fully booked.

Togami said this is “due in part to the operational and communication changes we have been able to make because of this tool [the measurement program].”

The Academic Connection
Nearly half of learning executives polled in a recent Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board survey said their organizations do not have a relationship with a university. Of those that do, 62 percent are not satisfied with the corporate-academic relationship.

1 2 3 4 Next Page »

blog comments powered by Disqus

Executive Search

ESI International Director, eContent Strategy
01/14/2010
The Director, eContent Strategy is responsible for providing ESI�s executive team with strategic-level direction to implement alternative blended learning delivery formats to our worldwide client base.

Senior Manager, Global Learning & Talent Development
11/19/2009
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) is an organization of member firms devoted to excellence in providing professional services and advice. We are focused on client service through a global strategy executed locally in nearly 150 countries.

Director, Leadership & Organizational Development Parkland Health & Hospital System
10/26/2009
Parkland Health & Hospital System (www.parklandhospital.com) located in Dallas, Texas has been voted one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report for 16 consecutive years and recently named one of the "Top 100 Hospitals to Work For" by Nursing Professionals Magazine.