The True Value of Learning
Yogi Berra, that paragon of word manipulation, exposition
and baseball, is often quoted as saying, “The future
ain’t what it used to be.” And, surprisingly, so it is in the
world of learning measurement. We cannot sustain our
training departments based on how well we do against
our training budgets. This only leads to the budget being
cut on a year by year basis. If we measure ourselves
as an expense, so we shall be treated like an expense.
That means we are the first to go when funds are needed
elsewhere.
Traditional learning; traditional measurement
Traditionally, learning organizations have measured
their performance in learning terms: How many
courses have been taken? How many learners completed
courses? How many students showed up? How
many scored over 70 percent on the test? While these
measurements have validity for the training department,
they mean very little to department heads and
CFOs, whose prime concern is meeting monetary and
fiscal targets.
Traditional approaches to measurement also lead to
the question, “How do I measure the use of informal
learning?” My answer to that is, “You don’t directly
measure informal learning!” First, understand that
informal learning occurs in all companies, whether it is
measured or not. Regardless of how you use informal
learning the outcomes of its use should be measured
along with any other tool you decide to use.
Informal learning is the improvised, unplanned
instructional efforts that are part of the everyday fabric
of business operations. Informal learning represents
70 percent of learning that occurs in the workplace.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Dennis Brown, Senior Director,
Market Development,
SkillSoft
