Features

Published November 2009

It's Time for Measurement Strategy

Chris Moore

You’ve heard it over and over again: “There’s no better time than the present.”

We could apply that phrase to just about any situation in life where we’re trying to produce some type of positive result: exercise, eating right, saving for retirement. You clearly understand the consequences if you procrastinate too long in any of those areas. Couldn’t we say the same about learning measurement?

We know the purpose of learning is to produce positive results, and we know the purpose of measurement is to make better, more accurate decisions. So, if you could make informed decisions about producing positive results from learning, why would you continue to put that off? The reasons, in most cases, are the same as why we don’t exercise enough or put money away for that rainy day: We don’t make the time, and we don’t make it a priority. As a result, we put our future and livelihood at risk. And that’s exactly what we do when we continue to push learning measurement off to next month, next quarter and next year.

Now, it’s true that no one reaches his or her desired weight in a week, nor can you save a huge nest egg in a couple months. It’s the same with learning measurement. You have to take an incremental approach. And you have to start somewhere.

Challenges to Measurement

Reducing risk is one of the key benefits of a successful measurement initiative, yet it’s commonly overlooked by those who just can’t seem to get out of the starting blocks. There are many hurdles keeping organizations from instituting a sustainable learning measurement process.

Perhaps the most common hurdle is that the learning function is simply too busy dealing with the day-to-day tactics of learning administration and delivery. No doubt about it: You’re doing lots of stuff. But how do you know it’s the right stuff?

Maybe you don’t have the resources — people, time or money — to get a measurement initiative started. Measurement and reporting may be happening as some end-of-quarter event, or even ad hoc. Unfortunately, as a result, the learning team practically reinvents the wheel each time to produce its reports and metrics. Or perhaps they’re being directed to create ad hoc reports in a reactive way to meet the changing demands of metrics-hungry managers.

The risk here is that the learning organization must continually drop what it’s doing to react to these projects, putting other deliverables on the back burner. Then again, if they don’t follow through with those end-of-quarter scrambles, they may not produce the analytics and key reports necessary to assess progress to date. After all, you can’t make the critical decisions that are imperative to run your business effectively without the information you need, right?

Another hurdle is that many organizations don’t know where to start measuring. Some don’t know what to measure, while others have difficulty prioritizing their measures of success.

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Executive Search

Senior Manager, Global Learning & Talent Development
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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.

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