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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Predictive Evaluation

Measuring the Leadership Impact of Soft Skills

Leadership programs often promise stronger communication, better judgment, healthier team dynamics, and greater accountability. These outcomes are valuable, yet they can seem difficult to quantify because they emerge through daily interactions rather than a single test score.

A reliable measurement approach connects behavioral change with operational results. Instead of treating confidence or empathy as the final outcome, organizations can track how those capabilities influence retention, productivity, collaboration, customer experience, and execution speed.

The goal is to measure the soft skills return on leadership programs with evidence that is credible to participants, managers, executives, and finance teams. That requires clear outcomes, multiple data sources, and a measurement timeline that extends beyond the final workshop.

Define The Business Outcomes

Start by translating broad leadership goals into observable business outcomes. “Improve communication” is too vague to measure consistently. “Reduce decision delays between product and sales teams” or “increase the percentage of employees receiving monthly coaching conversations” gives the program a practical direction.

The desired outcome should have a baseline, an owner, and a timeframe. If the leadership initiative addresses employee engagement, establish current engagement scores and identify the teams or locations included in the intervention. If it targets manager effectiveness, document indicators such as regrettable turnover, internal promotions, absenteeism, or performance-cycle completion.

This step prevents soft skills evaluation from becoming a popularity survey. Participants may enjoy a program without changing their behavior, while a demanding program may produce meaningful improvements that appear gradually in team performance.

Map Skills To Observable Behavior

Soft skills become measurable when they are described as actions. Emotional intelligence may appear as active listening, appropriate responses to conflict, or recognition of employee concerns. Strategic thinking may appear through clearer priorities, better risk discussions, and decisions that account for long-term consequences.

Behavioral indicators should be specific enough for managers and peers to recognize. For example, a coaching skill can be measured by the frequency and quality of development conversations, while inclusive leadership can be assessed through participation patterns, meeting practices, and access to high-visibility assignments.

Expert perspectives can strengthen the design of these indicators. Terry Barber’s perspective can help organizations connect inspiration and leadership presence with behaviors that employees can see and report.

Match Metrics To Leadership Outcomes

A balanced scorecard combines learning, behavior, and business measures. Learning data shows whether participants acquired knowledge, behavioral data shows whether they applied it, and business data shows whether the application produced meaningful effects.

Use comparison groups when practical. A pilot group can be compared with similar teams that have not yet participated, or results can be compared with a historical baseline. The design does not need to be statistically perfect to be useful, but it should make assumptions visible and account for major factors such as reorganizations, new technology, or changes in market conditions.

Leadership outcome Observable behavior Useful measures Business signal
Better coaching Regular, focused development conversations Manager logs, employee pulse surveys, 360 feedback Improved engagement, stronger internal mobility
Greater collaboration Earlier escalation and clearer cross-functional agreements Network analysis, project reviews, peer ratings Fewer delays, lower rework, faster delivery
Stronger emotional intelligence Active listening and constructive conflict responses Scenario assessments, observations, 360 feedback Lower regrettable turnover, improved team climate
More inclusive leadership Balanced participation and equitable access to opportunities Meeting audits, promotion data, employee surveys Higher retention and broader talent contribution
Better decision-making Explicit criteria, timely choices, documented trade-offs Decision-cycle tracking, stakeholder feedback Faster execution and reduced escalation

Measure Behavior Over Time

A single post-program questionnaire cannot establish return on investment. Use a sequence of checkpoints: before training, immediately afterward, 30 to 60 days later, and again at six or twelve months. Each stage answers a different question about readiness, application, persistence, and business impact.

The manager plays a central role in this process. Managers can validate whether new behaviors appear in real work, while participants can report obstacles such as workload, unclear authority, or conflicting incentives. Short learning bursts, reminders, peer practice, and job aids can reinforce application between formal sessions.

Qualitative evidence adds meaning to the numbers. Brief interviews, critical-incident stories, and examples from team meetings can explain why a metric moved or failed to move. A combination of survey trends and credible workplace stories produces a stronger case than either source by itself.

Connect Emotional Intelligence To Results

Emotional intelligence is frequently included in leadership curricula, yet it should be evaluated through workplace consequences rather than general self-awareness scores. Look for changes in conflict resolution, listening quality, psychological safety, and the ability to adapt communication to different employees.

A 360-degree assessment can establish a baseline and identify shifts in perceived behavior. Follow-up interviews or pulse checks can reveal whether employees experience greater clarity, respect, and trust. Emotional intelligence expertise can support a more precise interpretation of these changes and their relevance to leadership effectiveness.

Link these findings to organizational indicators carefully. Improved trust may contribute to retention or faster problem reporting, but it may not be the sole cause. Use contribution language, triangulate evidence, and document other initiatives that could have influenced the result.

Forecast Adoption And Financial Value

Predictive Evaluation provides a practical way to estimate likely adoption, impact, and return before a program is fully deployed. By examining participant readiness, manager support, workplace conditions, and the relevance of the content, organizations can identify where transfer is likely to fail.

Financial value can be estimated by converting measurable improvements into conservative monetary benefits. For example, reduced turnover can be calculated from avoided replacement costs, while shorter decision cycles can be connected to recovered productive time. Subtract program costs, including design, delivery, participant time, reinforcement, and evaluation.

Use ranges rather than false precision. A low, expected, and high scenario communicates uncertainty while giving leaders a basis for investment decisions. The evaluation should also identify leading indicators, such as practice frequency and manager follow-up, so corrective action can occur before annual business results are available.

Build A Practical Measurement Routine

A measurement system works when it fits normal business processes. Assign ownership to learning leaders, HR partners, managers, and business sponsors instead of leaving evaluation with the training team alone. Review a small dashboard regularly and retire measures that do not influence decisions.

  • Define two or three business outcomes before selecting learning metrics.
  • Establish behavioral indicators that can be observed in ordinary work.
  • Combine surveys, interviews, assessments, operational data, and comparison groups.
  • Schedule follow-up measurement at 30, 60, and 90 days, with a later impact review.
  • Report financial value with transparent assumptions and conservative scenarios.

Leadership development gains credibility when measurement shows how human behavior affects business performance. Dave Basarab Consulting can help organizations design the strategy, learning experience, reinforcement, and Predictive Evaluation process needed to demonstrate that connection. Engage the consultancy to turn leadership capability goals into evidence-based outcomes and a defensible return calculation.

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.

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