I recommend that you don’t invest in L&D for the Talent within your business (or for yourself), UNLESS you have a clear understanding of what you’re looking to achieve, with measurable objectives and key milestones that the training will deliver.
You need to start with not only ‘where’ you want you / your team to get to, but the ‘how’ you’ll measure your / their progress and success in achieving the objectives. Increased performance and productivity should not be measured by the increase in revenue alone, as this is just one of the desired end consequences.
Other measurable objectives such as Talent retention, client engagement, improved culture and increased market development will strengthen the business long into the future.
Only then will you be able to measure the true ROI of your investment in time, as well as the cost of the training, over a realistic time frame.
So, what should you be using to measure the progress and thus form the basis of the training program?
The key milestones in building sales / revenue pipeline are those that need to occur as part of the sales process and are measurable within a weekly, monthly or quarterly period.
Examples of these milestones within recruitment include client meetings, roles sourced, candidate shortlist conversion to interviews agreed, and offers accepted.
I work closely with my clients in the design and delivery of L&D programs that begin with the measurable objectives and then the key milestones that the training will deliver.
These programs are tailored specifically to their business’ workflows, where the delegates are clear on the objectives of the training and the benefits to them, as well as to the business. They are then more likely to ‘own’ the objectives and be more committed to applying the varied techniques.
The training includes Inductive learning, also known as discovery learning, which is a process where the learner discovers and develops their style and practices by interactive involvement in actual workflow situations, such as live call sessions with clients and candidates.
The tougher the market conditions the greater the importance and the successes from investment in tailored and targeted L&D.
How clear are you on what you want to achieve from your L&D programs as well as the need to accurately measure the ROI of your investment?
