Measuring Learning in 2021
It’s safe to say we entered this decade in completely uncharted waters. Organizations are dealing with a business environment for which they were not remotely prepared. From a learning perspective, things turned upside pretty quickly when suddenly, in-person training became impossible. What’s troubling about the challenges learning faces in the pandemic is that most companies began in a difficult position; there was already ample difficulty creating agile learning strategies without much alignment with business goals.
The pandemic may have changed how we approach day-to-day learning but the foundations of an effective learning environment are unchanged. One of the main principles is the ability to measure learning’s impact. With the ways learning being delivered and experienced changing so radically, it will be that much more important to get a handle on measurement moving forward.
For some perspective on where we are starting from, we can take a look at the results of a joint study between Brandon Hall Group and Litmos. This survey found that just half of companies say their learning objectives are strongly linked to key business objectives. If that’s the case, it’s clear why so many companies cannot demonstrate learning’s impact.
One of the biggest problems the study identified is that learning is not taking a strategic enough role in setting key business objectives and identifying the talent requirements to meet those objectives. As a result, learning is left with nothing to measure except completion rates, scores, and smile sheets. The disruption that 2020 has delivered provides learning with an opportunity to turn things around and become more strategic and impactful in creating and measuring learning.
To dig deeper into this study and look at strategies for the future, please join us for a webinar, Learning Measurement 2021, on Thursday, November 5, 2020. Even if you can’t make the live event, please register anyway because all registrants will receive a link to the recording. During the live event, we will look at the results of the study, what is working and what is not, with ideas for a path forward. Learning professionals must leverage this current environment as a driver for improving measurement and not as an excuse not to do better.
