Using Data to Enhance Employee Training Outcomes

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 In this case it was too many data breaches and too many outdated files on the server causing misinformation and inconsistent practices.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

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 📚 Creating a training program is just the beginning—measuring its effectiveness is what drives real business value. Whether you’re training employees, customers, or partners, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) ensures your efforts deliver tangible results. Here’s how to evaluate and improve your training initiatives: 1️⃣ Define Clear Training Goals 🎯 Before measuring, ask: ✅ What is the expected outcome? (Increased productivity, higher retention, reduced support tickets?) ✅ How does training align with business objectives? ✅ Who are you training, and what impact should it have on them? 2️⃣ Track Key Training Metrics 📈 ✔️ Employee Performance Improvements Are employees applying new skills? Has productivity or accuracy increased? Compare pre- and post-training performance reviews. ✔️ Customer Satisfaction & Engagement Are customers using your product more effectively? Measure support ticket volume—a drop indicates better self-sufficiency. Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) to gauge satisfaction. ✔️ Training Completion & Engagement Rates Track how many learners start and finish courses. Identify drop-off points to refine content. Analyze engagement with interactive elements (quizzes, discussions). ✔️ Retention & Revenue Impact 💰 Higher engagement often leads to lower churn rates. Measure whether trained customers renew subscriptions or buy additional products. Compare team retention rates before and after implementing training programs. 3️⃣ Use AI & Analytics for Deeper Insights 🤖 ✅ AI-driven learning platforms can track learner behavior and recommend improvements. ✅ Dashboards with real-time analytics help pinpoint what’s working (and what’s not). ✅ Personalized adaptive training keeps learners engaged based on their progress. 4️⃣ Continuously Optimize & Iterate 🔄 Regularly collect feedback through surveys and learner assessments. Conduct A/B testing on different training formats. Update content based on business and industry changes. 🚀 A data-driven approach to training leads to better learning experiences, higher engagement, and stronger business impact. 💡 How do you measure your training program’s success? Let’s discuss! #TrainingAnalytics #AI #BusinessGrowth #LupoAI #LearningandDevelopment #Innovation

The DOJ consistently says that compliance programs should be effective, data-driven, and focused on whether employees are actually learning. Yet... The standard training "data" is literally just completion data! Imagine if I asked a revenue leader how their sales team was doing and the leader said, "100% of our sales reps came to work today." I'd be furious! How can I assess effectiveness if all I have is an attendance list? Compliance leaders I chat with want to move to a data-driven approach but change management is hard, especially with clunky tech. Plus, it's tricky to know where to start– you often can't go from 0 to 60 in a quarter. In case this serves as inspiration, here are a few things Ethena customers are doing to make their compliance programs data-driven and learning-focused: 1. Employee-driven learning: One customer is asking, at the beginning of their code of conduct training, "Which topic do you want to learn more about?" and then offering a list. Employees get different training based on their selection...and no, "No training pls!" is not an option. The compliance team gets to see what issues are top of mind and then they can focus on those topics throughout the year. 2. Targeted training: Another customer is asking, "How confident are you raising bribery concerns in your team," and then analyzing the data based on department and country. They've identified the top 10 teams they are focusing their ABAC training and communications on, because prioritization is key. You don't need to move from the traditional, completion-focused model to a data-driven program all at once. But take incremental steps to layer on data that surfaces risks and lets you prioritize your efforts. And your vendor should be your thought partner, not the obstacle, in this journey! I've seen Ethena's team work magic in terms of navigating concerns like PII and LMS limitations – it can be done!

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