The discussion about isolating the impact of learning is one of my favorite issues, and it came up again Wednesday in a session at the Fall Chief Learning Officer Symposium. The session was on talent development reporting principles (TDRP), which provide measures and definitions as well as recommended statements and reports for learning and development. Both the business outcome statement and the L&D summary report contain business goals (like a 10 percent increase in sales) and the impact of L&D on those goals (like a 3 percent increase in sales due to training), both from a plan or forecast point of view as well as actual results. This last measure, the forecasted impact of training on the business goal, is what led to the protracted discussion of isolation.

This issue is a potential showstopper and drives many to distraction. Here is my advice. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, jettison preconceived notions and start at the beginning. The beginning is your business discussion with the stakeholder before the learning program is even developed. This is where you talk about the business goal, the challenges of achieving it and all the factors that are expected to play a role in achieving it. For our sales example, factors might include economic growth, industry growth, new product or service introductions, plans by your competitors, price changes, changes in incentive plans for the sales force and so on. Training (broadly defined) may or may not have a role to play this next year in achieving the 10 percent growth in sales. If you and the stakeholder (senior vice president of sales) believe training will help achieve the goal, then you need to agree on the type of training, the target audience, the location, the timing and the new behaviors or knowledge you both believe will lead to an increase in sales.

Now you are ready to have the impact discussion with the stakeholder. For purposes of planning and for inclusion in the business outcome statement or the L&D summary report, all that matters really is the opinion of the stakeholder. What impact does the stakeholder believe the training will have on the business goal? In our sales example, how much can we reasonably expect the agreed-upon program, properly designed, developed, delivered and reinforced, to increase sales? Could it account for 20 percent of the 10 percent increase (that would be a 2 percent increase in sales due to training), or 30 percent, or 40 percent? It may help to rank all the factors that are expected to contribute to an increase in sales and see where training stands. If it is near the bottom, the impact of training is going to be low. If it is near the top, it will be higher. It just depends on how many factors there are and how important training will be. You need an answer from the stakeholder, and this is the planned or expected isolated impact of training.

Will it be precisely right? Of course not. Plans and forecasts never are. Your CEO and senior leaders know this. They live in a world of uncertainty and are used to forecasts. What do you think your colleagues in advertising are doing when they make their budget pitch for next year? Do you really think they can state with absolute certainty what the isolated impact of a $10 million ad campaign will be on sales or net income? Of course not. Does that stop them from making a forecast? No way. And it should not stop us. You and the stakeholder need to agree on these measures of success, including the isolated impact of training, upfront and then get on with it. If you want, you can do a follow-up study at the program’s conclusion to determine what the actual isolated impact was, but it usually will not be necessary.  This is not really as hard as it seems.