From the course: Your L&D Organization as a Competitive Advantage

Using analytics to monitor performance

From the course: Your L&D Organization as a Competitive Advantage

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Using analytics to monitor performance

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- One concept in the area of corporate learning efforts that can help accelerate a competitive advantage is the use of analytics to measure progress and learning within the organization. The term, analytics, refers to the concept of using mathematics, statistics, and even predictive modeling to find meaningful patterns and knowledge in data. The use of analytics for measuring learning and development efforts, means that it is possible to both answer questions about the knowledge level of employees and to help predict future learning needs within the organization. With the analytics information, you can monitor the performance of employees who take training and use that information to help improve their performance. This can allow you to monitor things like knowledge in a particular area, how many employees are certified to use a certain piece of equipment, or even percent improvement in customer service. However, just because you have a great deal of numerical information at your fingertips, that doesn't mean you automatically achieve the desired results. To ensure that you are properly monitoring the analytical information, you need to establish parameters. First, you want to establish clear analytics goals before getting started. You need to establish what you want to measure, what data points should constitute the measurement, and what actions you can take as a result of the analytical information. Establishing these goals and measurement objectives beforehand, will help keep you from drowning in data. Second, establish a baseline measurement if possible. It's difficult to see growth if you don't have a baseline to know where you started. Once you establish the goals and the elements that go into the measurement, the next step is to determine a baseline that you can use to measure improvements. Third, determine the timeframe for monitoring. Some data you'll want to review and react to on a daily basis. However, if you are constantly reacting and then re-reacting to data on a basis that's too frequent, you'll cause confusion and resentment. You need to determine when the right timeframe is for monitoring and reacting to results. Fourth, look for trends. It's easy to spot an outlier or a data point that doesn't conform to the others. However, what you really want to do is track trends. One installation technician might have made a mistake at a customer installation, but that doesn't mean every technician needs additional training, look for overall trends and react accordingly. The data should give you information to make more reflective and meaningful decisions. While analytics can be a powerful force for making informed decisions, you need to carefully consider how best to use the analytics information. Decisions need to be informed by the data, but you should not blindly follow the data. Knowing what the analytical information is telling you, and reacting accordingly, can provide you with the right data to make informed decisions.

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