The Real Reason We Measure
Jess Almlie
Learning & Performance Strategist. I help learning/talent leaders and teams stop taking orders and start working more strategically, intentionally, and with measurable impact.
For over 25 years, I have worked in people development - human resources, learning and development, volunteer development, training, higher ed. student affairs, and leadership development.
I've noticed a trend in the way those of us in these areas think about measurement and I think we've got it all wrong.
We tend to see measurement as a necessary evil. We didn't go into this profession to run numbers and most of us aren't particularly good at it. But demands from executives and those who hold the checkbooks started to necessitate we measure and report. So, we started approaching measurement with a "we must PROVE our worth" reasoning and attitude.
I understand where this comes from. People development is often seen as a "cost center" because it isn't easily or obviously tied to revenue. That can make those of us doing the work feel like we are expendable. Of course, we see the value in the work we do, but it isn't as simple as measuring call times or sales dollars. So we get stuck trying to prove our impact. This is where we are wrong. "Prove it" energy usually produces more panic than productivity.
Should we be able to show our impact on the business? Definitely, yes.
Should we be able to note how many people are participating in programs? Sure.
Should we know how much our programs and time cost vs. the ROI? You bet.
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But none of these are the CORE REASON we need to measure our work.
Instead we need to measure for the same reason every other part of the business needs to measure, cost center or not.
We need to measure what we do so that we can MAKE INFORMED BUSINESS DECISIONS.
This was a revolutionary thought for me earlier in my career. It was incredibly freeing and logical all in one breath. It made measurement easier and more effective.
Our data should inform our practice and how we work with the rest of the business. It should inform us on what changes need to be made moving forward. Do we need to iterate? Have we spent too much time and energy in the wrong places? Are we meeting the needs of our stakeholders? Are there trends in participation that show some times of year are better than others to engage with the business? Are there certain assets (e-learning, help articles, etc.) that are clicked on more than others to tell us what people need? etc.
When we reframe measurement from something we have to do in order to prove our worth to something we need to do in order to make decisions about our work, it sheds an entirely new, and much more positive light on the subject. Asking, "What data do I need in order to make decisions about how best to serve the business, run my team, and be our best?" is so much different than, "What data do I need to prove that I'm worth the expense?"
If you focus on data for decision making, proving your worth will no longer be needed, it will be obvious.
Founder & CEO, Group 8 Security Solutions Inc. DBA Machine Learning Intelligence
9 个月Much thanks for your post!
Business transformation strategist known for thought leadership, innovation, creativity◆Builder of successful consulting practices◆Inspirational team leader, coach and mentor◆Coaching in Consultative Sales Methodology
1 年Jess—The need to “take a more strategic approach and move beyond being an order-taker” has been a theme in your recent communications.? This takes me back to a lesson learned early in my career. I was a Business Analyst-Programmer in the early days of IT.? The lesson learned came in advice from one senior manager who told us that we had a marketing problem. What he told us was “You guys think you are in the IT business—you need to recognize that you are in the power generation business, and you need to show how whatever you are offering adds value to that business.”? With the passing of time, IT has now become one of the strategic capabilities of any organization. Drawing a parallel with L&D—The need to have the right Talent has now become a core strategic capability for the success of any organization. The need is to shift the perception of business beyond “these are the guys who do training” and for L&D to assume the mantle of “These are the folks responsible for having the talent that we need.”
Inspiring people to live joyfully in the moment. Ongoing drug trial lung cancer patient, solution thinker, and grateful gritty soul. Life is too short to waste time with chasing things you don’t need.
1 年Interesting debate in our field and how we get budgeted in most businesses.
BA(Hons) CMgr-MCMI Manufacturing Training Manager at Bentley Motors 5Di Accredited ?? Passionate about driving excellence in manufacturing through strategic and operational training initiatives.
1 年Great post Jess Almlie! It is so easy to fall into the trap of measuring performance against numbers trained or coached. The stand out point for me in the article is the need for stakeholder sponsorship, and conversations around understanding what the ‘gap’ is. Decision making and alignment to strategy is key for me at Bentley Motors, as is ensuring the needs of the learners are met. As L&D professionals we should have the confidence to push back on the desire to measure impact by attendance, and the more we share that information the easier it will be. Thanks for an interesting read.
Leadership Development Professional
1 年Thank you for raising this topic Jess Almlie, I believe it's an area of opportunity for L&D, especially in the realm of Leadership Development (LD) which is the topic of this comment. I tend to focus on the perspective of the student/leader - but I also appreciate Pat Michaels identification of other stakeholder groups. In LD, I think all too often we are "pushing" content on leaders to be thorough and create scalable training. This is great for new leaders but I think misses the mark for existing leaders. I start with surveying the leader's team. Current state surveys create a baseline while also revealing gaps. Then support of leader's growth is targeted toward reducing gaps/growing capability. This aligns curriculum with improved team experiences with their leader enabling better team performance. I believe that when we focus on the needs of the customer, this drives outcomes.