Measuring learning program impact with competency models
It’s long been the holy grail in learning to be able to measure its impact. There are many variables that impact business results and the process often seems daunting.
What if you could break it down into components that would make this easier? What would that look like?
First, you’d need to know what skills someone needs to be able to perform to be successful. A competency model describes what each person in their role needs to be able to do, specifically, in order to perform their part of corporate strategy. So let’s say you have a competency model.
Next, you need a baseline. This is where employees in a role assess themselves against the competency model the first time.
A competency model paints a picture of what it looks like to be great in their role and provides a roadmap to get there. As a result, it drives intrinsic motivation to mastery, so long as that model is actionable. That means that each person must be able to easily access and assess themselves against their own model, and be provided with targeted recommendations for action.
Therefore, the results of the assessment need to drive people to competency-based learning. Once someone knows they have a gap, they are motivated to close it. When they are presented with learning options that are specifically targeted at closing that gap, you are creating the best environment for learning transfer and impact to take place. Each person will embrace the learning opportunity because they believe it is relevant to them, their role, and their needs. Sounds like adult learning theory, right?
Once they participate in these development opportunities (which they buy into, because they selected them based on gaps they themselves identified), they will re-assess against the competency model. In a perfect world, this is quarterly, so that they are always thinking about their own development.
Assessment Data Overtime
When you look at the assessment data over time and correlate that data with business metrics, you can measure improvement in both skills and results over time. What’s more, you’ll know which skills are drivers of business results. That is if skills improve, but results do not, you may want to alter your competency model to focus on other skills that are more important to success.
This blueprint for measuring learning program impact may sound simplistic, but simplicity is what we as learning professionals need. This will make it easy to both justify the business value of what we do, and also identify what changes we should make to our programs that aren’t producing the results we expect.
