The Challenges of Being a Learning and Development Director
The role of a Learning and Development Director is an important, yet challenging job. In this role, you are responsible for ensuring the success of the employees and the company by providing training and development opportunities. But how do you know if the investment in these programs is having a real impact? As a Learning and Development Director, quantifying the return on investment (ROI) of your training initiatives is an essential part of your job.
Measuring Impact: Intangible vs Tangible Benefits
When trying to measure the impact of your training initiatives, it is important to differentiate between tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefits are those that can be easily measured, such as increased sales or improved customer satisfaction. Intangible benefits are those that are more difficult to measure, such as improved employee morale or increased engagement. Both types of benefits are important, but they require different methods of measurement.
Quantifying Intangible Benefits
The classical way of qualifying intangible benefits is highly time consuming. It consists in measuring the impact of your training initiatives using pre and post assessments, surveys, and interviews to collect data from employees. You can ask questions about their satisfaction with the training, their understanding of the material, and their overall attitude towards their job. The insights you gain from surveys and interviews can help you make informed decisions about which training programs are having the most impact.
Use Technology
The second way involves technology and is therefore quicker and more powerful. Using an online tool to help you monitor and measure the performance of candidates after each training at any time of the year is crucial. Building a strong collaboration between the L&D department and managers is key to ensure competencies are implemented on the job. This way the pressure is distributed between knowledge acquisition and implementation. Senior leaders, managers, and team leaders’ duty is to help their employees implement what they have learned through communication and feedback. It is a proven way to measure the impact of your training initiatives using real metrics.
Ensure that your training initiatives are having a positive impact
As a Learning and Development Director, it is your job to ensure that your training initiatives are having a positive impact on the company’s bottom line. Measuring the ROI of your training programs is essential, but it can be a challenge. By using an automated tool that tracks performance and relevant metrics both to date and over time, you can quantify the impact of your training initiatives and ensure that they are having a real impact on the success of the company.
Costi Bifani is a seasoned expert with over 30 years of experience in Human Resources as well as General Management, advisor to Boards of Directors, and Consultant in various fields and locations, for local or multinational groups. His passion remains in the Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour domain. He believes in creating the best environment for people, who are the most expensive and the least stable resource, to perform in. His fortes are in leadership, structuring companies, and managing change and his preferred tools for developing talent are training, coaching, and team building.
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