Learn to show them the money!
- Watch the Show Me the Money: Developing ROI in People, Projects, and Programs webinar presented for Capella University.
- Read Patti Phillips’ books; three are reviewed here: The Value of Learning: How Organizations Capture Value and ROI; Beyond Learning Objectives: Develop Measurable Objectives that Link to the Bottom Line, and Show Me the Money: How to Determine ROI in People, Projects, and Programs. See the ROI Institute Web site for ordering information.
The Value of Learning: How Organizations Capture Value and ROI begins with a description of the ever-intensifying reasons for measuring and evaluating learning of all kinds in organizations. Twelve challenges to doing so are listed; they point to complex theories and overly complicated statistical models, and the mistaken idea that evaluation occurs post-program.
The authors suggest a five-step “chain of impact” and describe ways to collect data at each stage. According to this model, learning participants begin by simply reacting to the program, then learn to use materials and build confidence in new ideas, apply and implement ideas, create impact with the use of content and, finally, show benefits from the program to justify its cost. This chain of impact is, in essence, the conceptual framework for the book. Book chapters provide in-depth explanation of each stage, with clear examples and sample templates. It is easy to see how this book could become a go-to desk reference, full of sticky notes and highlighted passages.
While The Value of Learning covers a comprehensive ROI data collection and analysis process, Beyond Learning Objectives focuses specifically on ways to articulate learning objectives. The authors show how to develop objectives that describe desired outcomes at each level of the chain of impact and generate usable evaluation data.
The third book, Show Me the Money, takes a broader view, applying the ROI methodology in projects and programs beyond training and performance improvement. The authors use their ROI model as the basis for measuring and evaluating success in technology and IT, public relations, project management, meetings and events, or social and charitable projects.
The Value of Learning and Beyond Learning Objectives are excellent references for people in HR, training and development, or other performance-improvement professions (and for educators who teach these topics!). Show Me the Money will appeal to a broader pool of managers and leaders in all areas of the organization. In this era when value is judged by price tags, we all need to know how to gather and present the information that demonstrates the real value of the people and programs we believe are essential.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 8:17 am and is filed under Current Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
