How to Measure and Report on the Impact of Your L&D Programs

Read Time: 3 minutes

Learning & Development programs are not a ‘nice to have’. They’re essential for your business’ success!

As we covered in our blog post, ‘Why Businesses Must Protect L&D Budgets to Continue Growth’, executives worldwide are delaying projects, cutting budgets, and reducing staff because of the expected recession. And, too often, Learning & Development budgets are the first to take the hit.

But this is bad news for business. In times of economic uncertainty, empowering your people to embrace new challenges and make the most of existing resources is actually more critical than ever.

If you want your people to feel willing and able to take on extra responsibilities, then you need to give them those skills. It’s the only way to protect your business’s bottom line. And the only way to retain your people.

So, how can you protect your L&D budget?

First, ensure you align your L&D programs to business goals and make learning engaging through video. We covered how you can do that in our recent blog post on ‘How to Increase the Value and Reduce the Cost of Your L&D Programs with Video.’ Once you’re confident that your training programs are effective and engaging, it’s time to test and measure their performance.

To convince executives how vital your work is as an L&D leader, you must show them how your training programs have improved employee knowledge, skills, and behavior. And how this leads to improved business outcomes with increased productivity, sales, and customer satisfaction.

Let’s explore the types of training impact to measure, how to measure them, and how to report on L&D impact:

Types of Learning Impact to Measure

You should measure several types of impact to assess the effectiveness of your L&D programs. Here are three of the most important:

Business impact = Changes in business outcomes due to your L&D programs (such as increased revenue, more deals closed, and lower churn rates).
Behavioral impact = Changes in employee behavior.
Learning impact = Changes in employee knowledge and skills.

How to Measure Impact

There are two keys ways to measure the impact of your L&D programs:

Speak to employees directly to gauge changes in learning and behavior.
Measure learning and behavior impact by organizing regular employee check-ins, surveys, and assessments. The best way to track learning results is to hear feedback directly from the learner!
Ask managers in your company to track and pass on key performance metrics.
Performance metrics, which measure changes in business outcomes such as productivity, sales, and customer satisfaction, help you gauge the business impact of your L&D programs. It’s a great sign you’re doing something right when you see significant improvements in areas where you’ve been providing extra training.

How to Communicate and Report on Impact:

It’s essential to use data and metrics to support your findings when reporting on the impact of your L&D programs. Use video to create clear and visually appealing reports (check out this exciting Powtoon reporting template!), and always tailor your message to your audience so it’s more impactful and persuasive.

Use case studies and success stories highlighting high-performing L&D programs to show how effective your programs are. And bring these success stories to life through video!

Start Sharing The Impact of Your Training Programs

We hope you feel well-equipped to start measuring and reporting on your L&D strategy. And proud of the fantastic results your training programs achieved!

Remember that measuring the impact of your L&D programs is part of a continuous learning process. It also helps identify areas where your training and messages aren’t connecting with employees – so you can work to improve them.

Find Out More About Protecting Your L&D Budget

Download our latest guide – “How to Make Your L&D Strategy Recession-Proof” – to learn how to test, protect, and improve the value of your L&D programs during uncertain times.

And if you’re looking for some extra help, schedule some time to talk with one of our Powtoon solutions experts.

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Esther Lowde

As Powtoon’s Content Marketing Manager, Esther is passionate about creating engaging written content that helps Powtoon customers derive real value from the platform. Outside of work, she loves travelling, baking and staying active. She’s also a Londoner who loves exploring the city with friends!