Understanding the Impact of Training on Performance

Your training budget is bleeding money. Here's why: You're measuring the wrong thing. Most manufacturers track: → Hours in training sessions → Certificates earned   → Courses completed → Knowledge tests passed But here's the brutal truth: Training is a COST until it's applied. I've seen teams ace Six Sigma exams, then go back to the same wasteful processes. I've watched operators get certified in TPM, then ignore equipment maintenance schedules. I've met managers who can recite lean principles but can't eliminate a single bottleneck. The problem isn't the training. The problem is the gap between learning and doing. The Real ROI Formula: Training Cost ÷ Measurable Floor Improvement = Actual ROI If the denominator is zero, your ROI is zero. No matter how much you spent. No matter how good the training was. Here's the system that actually works: STEP 1: Identify Your Losses First ↳ What's costing you money right now? ↳ Downtime? Defects? Delays? Waste? ↳ Quantify the pain before you buy the solution STEP 2: Map Skills to Losses ↳ Which skills would directly impact these losses? ↳ Root cause analysis for quality issues? ↳ Preventive maintenance for downtime? ↳ Value stream mapping for delays? STEP 3: Assess Current Capabilities ↳ Who has these skills already? ↳ Where are the gaps in your workforce? ↳ Don't train everyone in everything STEP 4: Train with a Target ↳ Before any training: "We will apply this to solve X problem" ↳ Set a specific improvement goal ↳ Timeline for implementation STEP 5: Apply Immediately ↳ The window between learning and doing should be days, not months ↳ Start with a pilot project ↳ Measure the impact STEP 6: Scale What Works ↳ If it worked on one line, expand it ↳ If it didn't work, understand why ↳ Refine and try again The shocking reality: Most training fails not because of poor content. It fails because of poor application. Your operators know what to do. They just don't do what they know. The question isn't: "What should we learn next?" The question is: "What have we learned that we're not using yet?" That podcast on lean you listened to last week? Apply one concept today. That Six Sigma training from last month? Start a small improvement project tomorrow. Because untapped knowledge isn't potential. It's waste. What's one thing your team learned recently that they haven't applied yet?

*** SPOILER *** Some early data from our 2025 LEADx Leadership Development Benchmark Report that I’m too eager to hold back: MOST leadership development professionals DO NOT MEASURE LEVELS 3&4 of the Kirkpatrick model (behavior change & impact). 41% measure level 3 (behavior change) 24% measure level 4 (impact) Meanwhile, 92% measure learner reaction. I mean, I know learner reaction is easier to measure. But if I have to choose ONE level to devote my time, energy, and budget to… And ONE level to share with senior leaders… I’m at LEAST choosing behavior change! I can’t help but think: If you don’t measure it, good luck delivering on it. 🤷♂️ This is why I always advocate to FLIP the Kirkpatrick Model. Before you even begin training, think about the impact you want to have and the behaviors you’ll need to change to get there. FIRST, set up a plan to MEASURE baseline, progress, and change. THEN, start training. Begin with the end in mind! ___ P.S. If you can’t find the time or budget to measure at least level 3, you probably want to rethink your program. There might be a simple, creative solution. Or, you might need to change vendors. ___ P.P.S EXAMPLE SIMPLE WAY TO MEASURE LEVELS 3&4 Here’s a simple, data-informed example: You want to boost team engagement because it’s linked to your org’s goals to: - improve retention - improve productivity You follow a five-step process: 1. Measure team engagement and manager effectiveness (i.e., a CAT Scan 180 assessment). 2. Locate top areas for improvement (i.e., “effective one-on-one meetings” and “psychological safety”). 3. Train leaders on the top three behaviors holding back team engagement. 4. Pull learning through with exercises, job aids, monthly power hours to discuss with peers and an expert coach. 5. Re-measure team engagement and manager effectiveness. You should see measurable improvement, and your new focus areas for next year. We do the above with clients every year... ___ P.P.S. I find it funny that I took a lot of heat for suggesting we flip the Kirkpatrick model, only to find that most people don’t even measure levels 3&4…😂

Did you know that 92% of learning leaders struggle to demonstrate the business impact of their training programs? After a decade of understanding learning analytics solutions at Continu, I've discovered a concerning pattern: Most organizations are investing millions in L&D while measuring almost nothing that matters to executive leadership. The problem isn't a lack of data. Most modern LMSs capture thousands of data points from every learning interaction. The real challenge is transforming that data into meaningful business insights. Completion rates and satisfaction scores might look good in quarterly reports, but they fail to answer the fundamental question: "How did this learning program impact our business outcomes?" Effective measurement requires establishing a clear line of sight between learning activities and business metrics that matter. Start by defining your desired business outcomes before designing your learning program. Is it reducing customer churn? Increasing sales conversion? Decreasing safety incidents? Then build measurement frameworks that track progress against these specific objectives. The most successful organizations we work with have combined traditional learning metrics with business impact metrics. They measure reduced time-to-proficiency in dollar amounts. They quantify the relationship between training completions and error reduction. They correlate leadership development with retention improvements. Modern learning platforms with robust analytics capabilities make this possible at scale. With advanced BI integrations and AI-powered analysis, you can now automatically detect correlations between learning activities and performance outcomes that would have taken months to uncover manually. What business metric would most powerfully demonstrate your learning program's value to your executive team? And what's stopping you from measuring it today? #LearningAnalytics #BusinessImpact #TrainingROI #DataDrivenLearning

Most leadership programs end with feedback forms. If your CEO asked for the 💰 money slide, Would you have anything to show? Here’s the reality: attendance isn’t impact. Smiles and surveys don’t prove ROI. Here’s where ROI starts: ☑️ Start with business strategy, not just learning objectives. ↳ Programs should be designed to accelerate organizational priorities, not just learning hours. ☑️ Embed development into the work itself so growth shows up in real time. ↳ Impact should be measured in project delivery, cost savings, quality of execution, and leaders’ ability to grow and guide their teams. ☑️ Prepare leaders for responsibilities beyond their current role. ↳ Growth is proven when leaders step up successfully into bigger challenges, not when they sit in classrooms. ☑️ Measure outcomes with real metrics, not fluff. ↳ Track improvements in retention, promotion readiness, decision speed, or customer satisfaction. ↳ If you can’t measure it, you can’t prove ROI. ☑️ Reinforce learning through coaching and accountability until new habits stick. ↳ Sustained behavior change is the only way leadership investments translate into long-term ROI. This is when the impact becomes clear. You see sharper judgment, stronger execution, ready successors, and market-ready teams. That’s the money slide boards and executives are looking for. As the article pointed out, too many organizations still approach leadership development with yesterday’s playbook. In business, the “money slide” is the single slide in a presentation that proves value, the ROI that executives are really looking for. Too often, instead of proving value, organizations fall back on the old playbook: 📚 more courses, 🕒 more hours, 📊 more frameworks. But impact doesn’t come from volume. It comes from alignment, design, and outcomes. Here’s my take: the future of leadership development won’t be judged by how much training content is delivered. It will be judged by how much capability is created and how quickly that capability moves the business forward. That’s the shift executives are hungry to see. ♻️ Repost if you’re investing in people, not just tech. Follow Janet Perez for Real Talk on AI + Future of Work