Hi ,
I want to make a bet with you.
I bet your learning dashboards are full of impressive numbers that ultimately leave you (and maybe your leadership) wondering about their real impact on the business? You’re not alone. Many L&D teams diligently track metrics that, on closer inspection, don’t truly reflect our contribution to organisational goals.
Think about it: how often do we report on things like total training hours delivered, the number of courses in our catalog, or even the percentage of employees who clicked “complete” on an e-learning module?
While these numbers might seem like indicators of activity, they often lack the crucial link to tangible business outcomes. They are, in many cases, vanity metrics - they look good on the surface but don’t tell the real story of learning’s impact.
This week, we’re cutting through the noise. Instead of getting bogged down in these often misleading figures, let’s focus on what truly moves the needle. The key lies in understanding how to answer one critical question - or better yet, how to build your strategy to avoid it: So what?
Here are two powerful yet simple lenses to help you connect your learning activities directly to tangible business outcomes:
1. The Impact Test: Asking “So What?” to Find Real Value
This lens helps you take an existing learning metric and determine its business relevance. The process is simple: keep asking “So what?” until you connect the metric to a core business KPI.
Example:
- Metric: 90% of employees completed the cybersecurity awareness module.
- So what? Fewer successful phishing attacks.
- So what? Reduced financial losses due to fraud.
- Reaches a real KPI? Yes, cost reduction and risk mitigation.
If you can’t reach a business KPI, it’s time to rethink the metric!
2. The Outcome Pathway: Starting with Impact and Working Backwards
This lens flips the script. You start with a desired business outcome and then work backwards to identify the learning activities that will contribute to it.
Example:
- Outcome: Increase customer retention by 15%.
- Now how? Customer service reps effectively resolve complex issues on the first call (desired behaviour).
- Now how? Comprehensive training on product knowledge and problem-solving (learning solution).
- Leading Metric: First-call resolution rate increases by 10%.
By starting with the outcome, you ensure your learning efforts are directly aligned with business goals.
Want to dive deeper and learn how to apply these frameworks to your own metrics?
I’ve put together a detailed blog post that expands on these two lenses with more in-depth examples, practical steps for implementation, strategies for dealing with requests for vanity metrics, and a “Vanity-Metric Reality Check” exercise. I also included a coaching prompt for your AI tool of choice that you can use to help you work through the process
Click here to read the full blog post
In the blog post, you’ll find:
- More detailed examples of applying the “So what?” test and building “Outcome Pathways.”
- Practical strategies for navigating leadership requests for vanity numbers.
- A more extensive list of common L&D vanity metrics and how to reframe them.
- The “Vanity-Metric Reality Check” exercise to help you evaluate your current reporting.
Don’t let your hard work get lost in translation. Understand your impact and start speaking the language of business results today.
I would love to hear from you if you try out the prompt - let me know if it was useful or not.
Best regards,
Mark
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