Category: Business Value
In the previous step we calculated that the annual impact from business acumen training was $312,275. Is $312,275 attractive to key decision makers? How much will it cost to produce this impact? What is the return for this investment? Should we invest our scarce resources on training, or would the funds be better spent somewhere else?
Predicting via the Impact Matrix: The Impact Matrix is a rectangular array of Intention goals & beliefs, Adoptive behavior examples, business results, and external contribution factors that, when combined using certain rules, predict the Impact from training.
It’s usually created by a Steering Committee of subject matter experts and key decision makers, drawing a direct link from training to business impact.
As soon as you have adequate information to describe the course, establish a Steering Committee of eight to twelve people to develop the predictions. Ideally, this group is made up of individuals from the learning function along with subject matter experts from business units and functional units; it may also include external consultants. Ideally, they are people who represent their function or business unit and have the expertise to provide valuable insight during the prediction process.
One of the key elements in my Predictive Evaluation (PE) model is the activity to Predict Training’s Value. A few weeks ago I had the honor to present PE to the ASTD chapter in New York City and the chapter president, Patrick Dial, suggested that I create a blog series to show how to do this. It is a wonderful idea. So, for the next few months I will post the steps and techniques for Predict Training’s Value – I hope you enjoy them.
The steps to Predict Training’s Value
In Predictive Evaluation (PE), I share my evaluation findings with stakeholders using the dashboard concept. The dashboard is a report to senior management providing an at-a-glance perspective on the current status of a course in the context of predetermined (predicted) metrics for that program (Intention, Adoption, or Impact). PE dashboards are simple, short, and do not require interpretation. Click here for a sample of these types of
Predictive Evalution
dashboards.
Recently, some of my clients have needed year-end reports that share evaluation findings ( Intention , Adoption , and Impact ) in a single dashboard. I thought that sharing this new year-end dashboard with you was an excellent topic for my final blog of 2011. When designing the new dashboard I set the following requirements:
Those of us in business have been asking this question for decades. For publically traded firms the answer is return on shareholder value – in it’s simplest form this usually means increase in stock price or earning per share over a period of time. I believe most business leaders would agree with me. The age old questions that senior executive wrestle with is how do you that? What are the traits of a firm that consistently produces shareholder value? Can we do that at our firm?