Learning & Development focuses on continually improving the performance of individuals and groups within an organization. This process encompasses not only formal training in a classroom setting, but informal learning that occurs through mentoring, communities of practice, access to knowledge bases and the use of performance support tools. Moreover, in the past two decades, Learning & Development has embraced the discipline of performance consulting to identify underlying root causes of performance gaps and ensure the right solution is identified to improve individual and organizational performance.

Each key process like Learning & Development contributes to the achievement of organization goals (for example, a 10% increase in sales or a 15% increase in productivity) and talent outcomes (for example, a 5 point increase in employee engagement or a 2 point increase in the retention rate). Often, talent outcomes are top-level goals of the organization on par with an increase in sales or a reduction in costs. Other times, the talent outcomes are viewed as intermediate goals in support of achieving the top-level goals. TDRp is designed to work in either case.

MEASURES
More than 100 measures are defined for Learning & Development. These measures are grouped by type of measure (effectiveness or efficiency). There are five effectiveness measures (the Kirkpatrick and Phillips five levels) and more than 95 efficiency measures which are further divided into seven subcategories. Each organization should choose the measures most appropriate to achieve their goals and manage their human capital. Learning & Development will typically support the broader organizational goals, as well as talent management focused goals. A short summary of each Learning & Development subcategory, including examples, follows.
More than 100 measures are defined for Talent Acquisition. These measures are grouped by type of measure (efficiency, effectiveness, outcome) and across six subcategories. Each organization should choose the measures most appropriate to achieve their goals and manage their human capital. Talent Acquisition will typically support the broader organizational goals, as well as talent management-focused goals. A short summary of each Talent Acquisition sub-category, including examples, follows.

Effectiveness Measures

• Level 1: Quality satisfaction or reaction
• Level 2: Knowledge transfer
• Level 3: Application
• Level 4: Impact or results
• Level 5: ROI or net benefit

Efficiency Measures

• Activity & Utilization – measures regarding the volume of training.
  • Examples: Total Participant Hours of Training, Training Hours per Learner, E-Learning License Utilization Rate, Total Number of New Training Implementations
• Career Development – measures highlighting the use of development plans.
  • Examples: Percent of Employees with Development Plans, Percent of Managers with Development Plans
• Cost – measures regarding the cost of training.
  • Examples: L&D Budget, Average Cost Per Learner Budgeted, L&D Expenditure, Total Cost of Training, Training Cost per Hour, Tuition Reimbursement Rate, L&D Investment as a Percentage of Payroll, L&D Budget Variance
• Headcount – measures related to the number of training participants.
  • Examples: Unique Participants, Total Participants, Training Penetration, Total Number of Trainees in Compliance, Total Number of Trainees Requiring Training Compliance, Percentage of Required Trainees in Compliance
• Training Effectiveness – measures related to the effectiveness of training.
  • Examples: Quality, Knowledge Transfer, Percentage of Tests Passed, Time to Competency, Scrap Learning, Manager Support of Training, Job Impact
• Cycle Time – measures related to the elapsed time to design and develop training.
  • Examples: Cycle time, design and development for ILT and vILT; Cycle time, design and development for e-learning; Cycle time, hand off to delivery; Cycle time, total
• Effort – measures related to the amount of time to design and develop training.
  • Examples: Effort to create new courses, Effort to update existing courses

In addition to being grouped by TDRp category (efficiency, effectiveness, outcome), the measures have also been grouped into Tiers, which are described below.

• Tier 1: These are typically going to be the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a given Talent Process. They are likely to vary from one organization to the next and some “Tier 2” metrics may indeed be key to one organization and “Tier 1” metrics for them, while not for others. At a minimum, “Tier 1” metrics are a list of starting-point, TDRp-suggested metrics for those looking to build measurement in a given Talent Process.
  • Learning & Development examples: Unique Participants, Total Participants, Percentage of Required Trainees in Compliance, Training Hours per Learner, Total Cost of Training, Training Cost per Hour, L&D Investment as a Percentage of Payroll
• Tier 2: These are typically going to be the supporting metrics for a given Talent Process, which one might look to in order to determine why any noticeable changes or trends in KPIs might be occurring.
  • Learning & Development examples: Training Penetration, ILT Utilization Rate, Training Implementation Cycle Time, Tuition Reimbursement Rate, L&D Budget Variance, Knowledge Transfer, Scrap Learning, Manager Support of Training, Adjusted Performance Improvement
• Tier 3: These are usually the raw data points that when used in combination with one another create the Tier 1 “KPIs” and Tier 2 “metrics.”
  • Learning & Development examples: ILT Attendance, Total Number of Trainees in Compliance, Total Number of Trainees Requiring Training Compliance, Total Number of New Training Implementations, Payroll Cost

CTR members gain access to the full electronic version of the Learning and Development Measures Library, which provides definitions, formulas, comparable measures, and complete references to source documents for a detailed discussion of each measure.

In addition to the measures described above, 19 sample statements and reports have been created for Learning and Development. These are all available in pdf format and as Excel spreadsheets for CTR members. The 19 include the following:

• High-level Outcome List (private sector, quantitative)
• High-level Outcome List (private sector, qualitative)
• High-level Outcome List (private sector, mixed, proxies)
• Detailed Outcome Statement (private sector, quantitative)
• High-level Outcome list (government, mixed, proxies)
• High-level Effectiveness List
• Detailed Effectiveness Statement
• High-level Effectiveness Graph
• High-level Efficiency List
• Detailed Efficiency Statement
• Summary Report (private sector, quantitative)
• Summary Report (private sector, mixed, proxies)
• Summary Report (private sector, qualitative)
• Summary Report (government sector)
• Program Report Simple
• Program Report Medium Complexity
• Program Report Medium Complexity
• Program Report Complex
• Operations Report

These statements and reports are provided as a starting point in your understanding and application of TDRp. We know each organization is unique and will need to select its own measures, but the templates have proven valuable to early adopters.