Recent studies are encouraging regarding the evaluation of talent development at the impact and ROI levels. For example, a major study showed that 43% of learning managers report that their business goals and learning goals are very aligned (that's impact). Also, 46% indicate that they are successful at comparing the costs and benefits of a learning program (that's ROI). Other trends indicate the improvement in measurement, pushing it beyond traditional measurement of reaction, learning, and sometimes application. While the driver for ROI is still the C-suite, more organizations are being proactive and getting ahead of the request. In the midst of all the positive news, there is still the nagging issue that evaluation at the impact and ROI levels appears to be difficult and time-consuming. 

This session will examine seven important trends that are developing and explore how to step up to the challenge of connecting programs to the business and evaluating at the impact and even ROI level, with not so much effort. 

One of the trends is that soft skills are typically a target for requests at the impact and ROI levels. In this session, we'll take an example of a soft skills request and present an easy way to connect soft skills to impact and ROI with very little effort on the part of the L&D team. Bring an open mind and your key questions to this high-content-based session. 

Objectives

After attending this session, participants should be able to:

1. Articulate the five levels of outcomes that are present in all learning and talent development programs.
2. Describe how to get participants more involved in evaluating programs at the impact and ROI levels. 
3. Explain a simple ROI evaluation showing how it was planned and how data are collected, analyzed, reported, and leveraged. 
4. Plan next steps for bringing more accountability to learning.

Jack has been recognized and awarded for his work by numerous professional organizations. He, along with his business partner and wife, Patti Phillips, received the 2024 Thought Leader Award from the Association of Learning Providers (ISA), the 2022 Association for Talent Development (ATD) Thought Leader Award, and the 2019 Center for Talent Reporting Distinguished Contributor Award. In 2019, he was named among the top fifty coaches globally by the Thinkers50 organization and named a finalist for the Marshall Goldsmith Distinguished Achievement Award for Coaching. SHRM presented Jack with its highest creativity award for an ROI study and awarded an ROI Institute book with a best book award. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune magazine, and he has been interviewed by several television programs, including CNN.