Ensuring Training Outcomes Align With Business Vision

Enablement is NOT Checklists Let’s be honest: Too many enablement teams get stuck checking boxes (training delivered, content uploaded, certifications completed). But enablement’s real value isn’t in check the box exercises. Rather, it’s accelerating your company’s North Star. If your org’s 2025 goal is to “increase enterprise deal size by 30%” or “reduce churn by 15%” enablement must be the engine that turns that vision into seller behaviors and customer outcomes. Here’s how: Step 1: Align to the North Star What’s the ONE business outcome your leadership cares about most right now? - Revenue expansion? - Market share in a new vertical? - Customer lifetime value? Enablement’s role: Translate that goal into specific seller competencies. Example: If the North Star is “50% revenue from cross-sell,” enablement must equip reps to: - Identify cross-sell triggers in discovery. - Overcome “buyer indecision” objections (think The JOLT Effect Matt Dixon Ted McKenna) - Co-build ROI cases with champions. Step 2: Define Enablement KPIs That MATTER Forget “hours of training delivered.” Tie enablement success to business KPIs your CRO & other leaders care about: - % of reps exceeding quota (enablement’s job: skill gaps closed). - Deal velocity in priority segments (enablement’s job: applying credible & actionable playbooks for stickiness). - Customer retention rate (enablement’s job: equipping CSMs to spot risk signals) Step 3: Correlate impact beyond “Butts in Seats” Enablement leaders often struggle to prove ROI. Shift the conversation with data that links learning to outcomes: - Pipeline Impact: How did negotiation training affect average deal size? - Behavior Change: How often are reps using the new discovery framework and where is it driving velocity? - Customer Outcomes: How did the onboarding adjustments reduce time-to-value? The Bottom Line: Enablement Is a Strategic Lever, Not a Cost Center When you anchor to the North Star, enablement becomes the bridge between leadership’s vision and frontline execution. Your Move: This week: Ask your CRO/CEO:  - If you could only track one metric, what would it be? Or, What’s the number that, if it trends wrong, will haunt your next earnings call? - Why it works: Links metrics to real-world consequences (investor pressure). This quarter: Build an enablement KPI dashboard that mirrors it. Partner with your Rev Ops or Business Ops team to help you! #oneteam #SalesEnablement #RevenueOperations #Leadership

🚨 Most L&D programs start with learning objectives. But the most effective ones? They start with business strategy. Here’s the truth ↓ When L&D teams ask: ❌ “What should employees learn?” They often miss the mark. But when they ask: ✅ “Where is the business going—and how can we prepare people to get us there?” Everything changes. Learning becomes a growth engine—not just an expense. Here’s a simple 5-step formula to align L&D with business strategy: 1️⃣ Business Strategy Alignment Understand key business goals, not just training needs. 2️⃣ Capability Mapping Identify what people need to do—not just what they need to know. 3️⃣ Skill Gap Analysis Find the delta between today’s talent and tomorrow’s goals. 4️⃣ Learning & Enablement Plan Design experiences that drive action, not just attendance. 5️⃣ Impact Measurement Measure time-to-competency, internal mobility, retention, and business KPIs—not just completions. 💡 Real example: A tech company expanding to APAC. Instead of launching generic cloud training, their L&D team collaborated across departments to create just-in-time learning paths tied to product readiness and market-specific needs. The result? Faster ramp-up, better performance, and real business impact. 📣 If you're ready to stop checking boxes and start enabling outcomes... 💡 Want the full breakdown of these 5-step formula? ⬇️ Read the full article 🎯 Let’s transform learning into your competitive edge. --- ♻️ Did you enjoy this post? Repost it so your network can learn from it, too. For more content like this, follow Christina Jones, StackFactor Inc.! #LearningAndDevelopment #BusinessStrategy #FutureOfWork #SkillsGap #HRTech #StackFactor #WorkforceTransformation #LMS #LeadershipDevelopment #CapabilityBuilding #Upskilling #TalentStrategy #LandD

Demonstrating the value of learning is easier than you think! In a recent workshop with The Institute for Transfer Effectiveness, I demonstrated how! One workshop participant was designing safety training to help employees use Microsoft 365 strategically to prevent data breaches. She was struggling to capture the value of the program for organizational leaders to understand. I used an alignment framework that incorporates Rob Brinkerhoff’s 6 L&D value propositions and mapped out how to connect her learning program with metrics that matter to organizational leaders. Here’s what that looked like! Aligning learning activities, initiatives or programs to strategic business outcomes is like looking for the through line between disparate things: learning, human performance, departmental key performance indicators, and organizational metrics. This can feel nearly impossible. The glue that holds these seemingly disparate things together are Brinkerhoff’s 6 L&D value propositions. In the safety training example we started by identifying the most relevant value proposition for the program. In this case, it was Regulatory Requirements: a learning program designed to ensure employees are complying with industry specific rules and regulations. Then we connect the L&D value proposition (Regulatory Requirements) with the most relevant outcome for the organization. In this case, it was Net Profit. If employees are complying with industry-specific rules and regulations, this consistent practice will save the organization money in fines, lawsuits, or dealing with the unpleasant consequences of safety challenges (like a data breach). Then we must do the hard work unpacking what people will be doing to support the targeted departmental KPIs. If you’re struggling to figure out the KPIs, you’ll likely find them by asking department leaders what problem they are experiencing on a regular basis that they would like solved. In this case it was too many data breaches and too many outdated files on the server causing misinformation and inconsistent practices. I discovered that what people could be doing differently to support the desired KPIs was adhering to updated protocols on how to manage data and documents within the 365 suite. If people followed the protocols with 100% fidelity, departments would experience a reduction in data breaches. Now … we have the behaviors to target in our training program and the data to use to show the value of learning: Learning metrics: Training attendance and completion rates. Capability metrics: Percentage of fidelity to data and document protocols before and after training. KPI metrics: # of documents on the server that are outdated (being at 20% of lower), # of data breaches per department being at 1 or less annually. Organizational metric: Net Profit How will you use the 6 L&D value propositions and alignment framework to tell your learning value story? #learninganddevelopment #trainingstrategy #datastrategy