Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020 - 20

1

DOES IT HAVE SENIOR
LEADERSHIP PRIORITY
OR SPONSORSHIP?

L&D has the potential to be an
undeniable driver of performance for

achieving business goals. Achieving
business goals is the priority of the chief
executive officer; the priority of senior
leaders should be the priority of the
learning team.
If a senior leader is lending his or her
influence by championing a training
or talent development program, an
impact investigation is necessary and
appropriate. When executive leaders
use their voice to support and promote
learning aligned to business goals,
evidence for impact is expected. When
the C-suite puts faith in the learning
team for being a critical contributor
to business outcomes, the impact of
learning deserves an investigation.

2

IS IT ALIGNED TO A
BUSINESS GOAL?

What does alignment between a
business goal and learning mean? It
means there's purposeful connection
and agreement that learning (in
partnership with other contributors)
has the potential to move the business
toward a specific target or priority.
It means that learning has purpose
and intention.
My work as an L&D detective is primarily
focused on training solutions that
purposefully exist to help organizations
grow, succeed and win. That means
there is agreement and positioning of

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learning as one of the critical drivers
for achieving a specific business
goal.
When
there's
agreement
that learning is part of the winning
strategy, it deserves an impact
investigation that reveals fulfillment
of purpose.

3

DOES IT HAVE
SPECIFIC TARGETS
FOR PERFORMANCE
OUTCOMES?

A measurable performance outcome
is not, "You will know...," "You will
learn...," or "You will understand..."
Those
are
traditional
learning
objectives. A measurable performance
outcome is how knowing, learning and
understanding appear on the job.
Performance outcomes are indicators for
behavior and actions. Learning solutions
with specific performance outcomes
that achieve business goals is the point
of intention for purpose and alignment.
If the learning solution has intentional
targets for performance outcomes - and
not learning objectives -it qualifies for
an impact investigation.

4

DOES IT HAVE A
LARGE TARGET
AUDIENCE?

The larger the number of people whose
performance is needed to achieve the
business goal, the greater the number
of people who are targeted for learning.
When the target audience is large, there's
higher visibility and expectation for
impact. Learning solutions and programs
with significant depth, breadth and reach
deserve an impact investigation.

There is an exception. There may
be a small target audience with high
expectations for impacting business
goals. While the target audience is not
large, conduct an impact investigation
considering expectations for impact.

5

ARE THERE
SIGNIFICANT
INVESTMENTS FOR
MONEY AND TIME?

There are two ways to think about
investments for training and learning:
Monetary costs for delivery and
employee hours engaged in learning.
The higher the investments, the greater
the expectation for return on investment.
Learning projects with substantial
investments in time, money or both
deserve an impact investigation.

DOES THE TRAINING OR
LEARNING SOLUTION
NEED TO MEET ALL FIVE
CRITERIA FOR AN IMPACT
INVESTIGATION?
A question I am asked often is, "Do all
five qualifying criteria have to be met
for an impact investigation?" There is
no one right answer. Learning teams
and their business partners will have to
decide for themselves.
For me, the first three criteria are
absolutely necessary for deciding
whether to conduct an impact
investigation. I am flexible with question
4, and I would need to be convinced
not to consider question 5. Careful
consideration must be given to the time
it takes to solve measurement mysteries.
The more criteria met, the more likely it
is that you have the facts, evidence and
data to prove training is worth the time
and effort required.

COLLECTING IMPACT
FACTS
There are three facts that are critical to
an impact investigation. These are facts
about business goals, performance
requirements to achieve those goals and
Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2020
