Your Chief Virtual Learning Architect

Learning to Performance

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Custom Design & Delivery

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Predictive Evaluation

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Enterprise Learning Strategy

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Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

Predictive Evaluation

A practical way to measure training’s business return

Training ROI becomes useful when it explains a business decision, rather than serving as a percentage on a report. A single program can be evaluated by connecting its full cost to measurable changes such as faster productivity, fewer errors, higher sales, lower turnover, or reduced compliance risk.

The basic calculation is straightforward, but the evidence behind it requires care. You need a defined evaluation period, a credible estimate of the program’s effect, and a disciplined method for converting operational improvements into financial value.

A sound analysis also distinguishes training outcomes from unrelated business changes. That makes the result more credible to finance leaders and more useful when deciding whether to expand, redesign, or retire the program.

Set the decision frame

Begin by stating what the training is expected to change. A leadership course might aim to reduce regrettable turnover, while a process program could target faster time to competence or fewer rework hours. The intended business outcome determines what data to collect.

Define the learner population, launch date, measurement period, and baseline. For example, compare average error rates for the three months before training with the three months afterward. If seasonality, staffing changes, or a technology rollout could affect results, record those factors before interpreting the numbers.

The question behind the analysis is practical: did the program create enough value to justify its investment? That framing prevents the evaluation from drifting toward easy-to-count activity measures such as attendance or completion.

Count the complete investment

Training cost is broader than the invoice from a vendor. Include design and development, facilitator fees, learning technology, materials, travel, administration, manager support, and evaluation. Add the value of employee time spent in training, especially when sessions remove people from productive work.

For a custom program, allocate one-time development costs sensibly. If the content will be used for several cohorts, either evaluate the first cohort with the full investment or spread development costs across the expected delivery volume. State the method clearly so stakeholders can reproduce the result.

Content format also affects cost and adoption. Practical guidance on microlearning design can help teams avoid producing short content that is inexpensive to make but difficult to apply.

Convert performance gains into value

List the measurable benefits created during the evaluation period. A call-center program may reduce average handling time; a sales program may improve conversion; a safety course may prevent incidents. Use operational data wherever possible, then assign a defensible monetary value to each improvement.

For example, if 1,000 employees save six minutes per week and the loaded labor rate is $35 per hour, the annual productivity value is approximately $18,200, assuming 52 working weeks. Avoid claiming the entire value as training-related unless the evidence supports that assumption.

Time to competence can be especially valuable for new processes. Approaches such as learning bursts for new processes may shorten the period between rollout and reliable performance, creating a benefit that can be estimated through reduced supervision, fewer delays, or earlier revenue generation.

Use a consistent calculation

The central formula is:

ROI (%) = (Monetary benefits − Total training costs) ÷ Total training costs × 100

Suppose a program costs $80,000 and produces $140,000 in verified monetary benefits. Net benefits equal $60,000, so ROI is 75%. In plain terms, the organization gained $0.75 in net value for every dollar invested.

Keep ROI separate from benefit-cost ratio. The benefit-cost ratio in this example is $140,000 divided by $80,000, or 1.75:1. Both measures are valid, but they answer different questions and should not be presented as interchangeable.

Evaluation item	Example value	How it is used
Total training cost	$80,000	Includes delivery, development, labor time, and administration
Verified gross benefit	$140,000	Monetized productivity and performance gains
Net benefit	$60,000	Gross benefit minus total cost
ROI	75%	Net benefit divided by total cost
Benefit-cost ratio	1.75:1	Gross benefit divided by total cost

Estimate the training contribution

The most difficult step is attribution. Performance may improve because of training, better tools, stronger management, market demand, or process changes. A simple before-and-after comparison is useful, but it can overstate the program’s effect.

Use a comparison group when practical. Compare trained employees with a similar group that has not yet participated, or compare locations receiving the program at different times. Expert estimates, participant confidence data, manager observations, and trend analysis can supplement that evidence, but they should be documented rather than hidden.

A structured impact evaluation model helps connect adoption, performance change, and business impact. Forecasting these relationships before launch also clarifies which measures must be collected after delivery.

Test the assumptions before reporting

Every ROI result rests on assumptions. Write down the expected duration of the benefit, the labor or revenue rate used for monetization, the percentage attributed to training, and any excluded costs. Then test how the result changes under conservative and optimistic scenarios.

If the calculated ROI is 75% when training receives full credit, but 20% when only half the improvement is attributed to training, report both figures. This range is more informative than presenting false precision and gives executives a clearer view of risk.

Practices that strengthen the analysis

Agree on success measures with business owners before delivery.
Capture baseline performance before learners begin the program.
Include participant time and manager support in the cost calculation.
Separate direct financial benefits from strategic or intangible outcomes.
Recheck results after the initial measurement period to test whether gains persist.

Make the result useful for decisions

A single program ROI report should explain what happened, why it happened, and what management should do next. Pair the percentage with participation, application, performance, and business-impact evidence so leaders can see the chain from learning activity to financial result.

A low ROI does not automatically mean the training failed. Weak adoption, poor reinforcement, an inaccurate audience definition, or an operational barrier may be limiting value. Conversely, a high result may depend on unusual market conditions and may not be repeatable at scale.

Use the findings to refine the learning strategy, improve manager reinforcement, target the next cohort, or redirect investment. When financial measures and learning evidence are designed together, training becomes easier to manage as a business intervention.

Build a defensible ROI case for your next program by defining its outcomes, costs, and evidence requirements before launch. Dave Basarab Consulting can help connect evaluation methodology with learning design, adoption, and measurable business results.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.