Traditional approaches to training evaluation advocate a series of levels to assess the effects of individual learning and training activities. These levels take into account learners’ reaction to the learning experience, the learning achievements of participants, changes in their job behaviour and the organisational effect of specific learning interventions. There is abundant evidence, however, that applying traditional evaluation approaches to strategic learning processes may be problematic.
The developing role of the learning, training and development professional and the requirement for a more strategic contribution requires a new approach to value and evaluation. Accordingly the CIPD commissioned the University of Portsmouth to undertake a review of evaluation practice.
The research identified two important trends. First, measures of performance against key performance indicators and benchmarks are frequently used to assess the strategic value of learning. Instead, return on expectation measures, which make use of both ‘hard’ numerical and ‘soft’ qualitative information, are more effective. It is this second trend, the move from return on investment to return on expectation, which offers the most exciting opportunity for the learning, training and development professionals of the future to demonstrate their value to the organisation.
The main report from the work The Value of Learning: From return on investment to return on expectation was published in November 2007.
An interim report, published in April 2007, is available to download.
The research also provided useful insights on how learning can be strategically aligned with business objectives. We published a discussion paper and a factsheet on this issue.
In addition, the following tools are available (for members only):