The first element of a learning strategy has to do with setting business goals and metrics
Let's start by talking about the basics of setting the goals and metrics you want your learning strategy to impact. The most common type of learning metrics that businesses use today are completion metrics + learner satisfaction metrics - think 5-scale Likert surveys sent after a class or eLearning. These are foundational because if no one completes your learning and if you know nothing about their thoughts on the experience, you’re missing key information. But for the purposes of this article we want to look at metric design through the lens of simulations and practice because launching an immersive learning program provides a window of time during which you can set more aspirational goals and learn more about the impact of your work than you ever have before.
Because practice works! Every learner in the world can outperform the version of themselves that didn’t practice and that means if we are practicing the right habits and skills, we can move business metrics in a much more direct way than if we are simply gaining knowledge.
Completion metrics tell you THAT something happened. There can definitely be SOME improvement in business performance correlated with completion. Satisfaction metrics tell you IF learners liked it and our experience is there’s very little correlation between business performance and learner satisfaction. In fact some of the best programs in the world got moderate satisfaction scores because they pushed learners out of their comfort zones. However, immersive learning metrics tell you WHAT level of proficiency a learner has. It’s a predictive view of what is likely to happen when they face those same scenarios in the real world. This type of data does not’ exist in most organizations today.
You should feel emboldened by this and also feel a greater motivation to figure out what to practice. The Before and After of introducing - not just a few - but a meaningful amount of simulations will tell you both if and how much training is making a difference. So when you set your learning strategy our recommendation is to segment your metrics in three parts.
- Cost: the reality is that for most companies learning is treated like a cost center. Without going too much into the details, this means they view it as a necessary expense to get a certain level of outputs. If they can get the same outputs for less and become more efficient, most businesses love that. As a starting point, the factor most in your control tends to be cost.
- Outputs: simply put, your success metrics for learning should be the same metrics that your operations partners use. For example, net promoter score, quality, handle times, error rates, conversions, etc. As a learning professional, you should be hyper aware of your company’s current state performance.
- Completion + Satisfaction: the final set of learning strategy metrics can cover the more traditional metrics. In many corporations, learning is mandatory at some level. In those settings, completion is useful to a point, but if you're running a program where participation is voluntary or optional, then of course measuring completion or adoption will take on a much more important weight.
For satisfaction metrics, most companies utilize this information to identify continuous improvement opportunities. If there’s a portion of an experience that’s problematic or frustrating, it’s good to know so you can address it. We’ve attached a link to our favorite satisfaction survey design resource to this simulation. Our recommendation is that you use satisfaction data lightly. Leaders will love to hear that learners are happy - and testimonials can reinforce the story we tell about program success from the other metrics, but we encourage you to spend more of your time trying to explore and understand the true business impact of your L&D efforts.