Times Ascent: Cognizant Academy’s Global Head Writes About the Significance and Ways of Measuring Learning Effectiveness

“In a knowledge economy, it is the expertise and ability of the employees to consistently deliver outstanding work that drives the growth of enterprises. Enterprises must therefore facilitate continuous learning, so as to enable their employees to become more effective and efficient, and be better prepared to take on bigger roles,” writes Hariraj Vijayakumar.

“While there is absolute unanimity on the need for learning interventions, measuring their effectiveness and accountability continues to be largely in the domain of rhetoric,” he notes. “As a result, it is often a challenge for learning leaders to present a compelling business case for learning activities and most leaders end up viewing training as an expense. However, there is little excuse for not measuring learning effectiveness.”

According to Vijayakumar, working with the sponsors of training initiatives, arriving at a consensus on the expected impact of those initiatives, and deciding on the roles and responsibilities of all involved parties in tracking, achieving and measuring the desired impact are instrumental in devising a viable measurement strategy. “At the heart of a measurement strategy are linking gaps in individual or business performance and their related behavioral or job performance outcomes to the objectives of the training program,” he writes.

“High-performing companies are the ones that can demonstrate and sustain behavioral changes, and measure their effects on business results,” Vijayakumar observes. “This is because they align learning with specific business outcomes and treat learning as an ongoing process instead of a one-off event. Measuring learning effectiveness plays a significant part throughout this endeavor and it is eminently possible to make it a definitive and productive exercise.”

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