Do you want to measure ROI?
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.
Return on Investment (ROI) for customer-facing or coaching training programs has always been elusive.
Uncertain answers to questions such as, “Can you prove that our investment in sales training is paying off?” or, “Are people using the coaching process we taught them?” lead to a high level of dissatisfaction among senior leaders and Learning & Development (L&D) budget cuts in times of financial stress. 94% of CEOs are looking to their L&D teams to drive results, but only 8% are satisfied that they are getting what they need. The big disconnect is measurement.
We believe that measuring the skills required to have important conversations (sales – leadership – coaching – culture – diversity & inclusion – change) is the key to answering the ROI question for learning organizations and leaders who are looking for a tangible benefit from their investment in training. If leaders believe that the skills being taught are the right skills to meet ROI objectives (e.g., asking open-ended questions, stating the intention of the meeting, overcoming objections by acknowledging and empathizing, agreeing on next steps, etc.), then measuring use of those skills and the associated behavioral change after training is viable proof of ROI.
Measuring the effectiveness of conversation skills in real time is a unique challenge: observation is not enough. For example, an empathetic phrase can be interpreted in many ways, but only one interpretation counts – that of the receiver. That is why we believe the first key to measuring ROI is to have a professional Roleplayer Coach – trained to assess use of specific skills during a conversation – play the role of the customer or coachee.
Engaging in safe practice – where the experience is not a test, and the Participant can feel free to fail in order to learn – is an important tenet of Deliberate Practice.
The next requirement is to observe behavioral change over time. This is often referred to as Kirkpatrick Level 3 (more). Measuring use of a consistent set of skills across several scenarios allows our Roleplayer Coaches to observe behavioral change in different situations.
The last requirement is a Deliberate Practice methodology. Deliberate Practice requires that targeted skills be both measurable and interleaved into a practice scenario (that is, practiced in the context of a conversation, versus in isolation as part of a skill drill). After each scenario, or conversation, the Roleplayer Coach gives feedback about how it felt to be in the conversation as well as skills-based coaching around strengths and opportunities to improve. The Participant practices certain skills and can apply newfound confidence and a different approach to their next scenario, increasing their proficiency with the skill set.
The results are the capacity to measure Level 3 behavior change for the ROI calculation and, more importantly, the ability to help the participant improve.
Engaging in safe practice – where the experience is not a test, and the Participant can feel free to fail in order to learn – is an important tenet of Deliberate Practice. We believe in gathering skill data from individuals, but in releasing that data only at a cohort level: this gives our clients the kind of data that proves skill lift along with ROI.
Data from the first scenario offers an accurate current state measurement of how your sales or coaching conversations are being conducted. In courses with multiple scenarios (ranging from two to six), the last scenario provides the measurement of lift. For individual skills, we see an average of 35% improvement because of 1:1 Deliberate Practice. We recommend practice in three to five scenarios, spaced over four weeks, following a learning event.
If measuring ROI for your conversation-based training is an objective or a challenge, keep in mind these three aspects when designing your curriculum. Implement a Deliberate Practice methodology that utilizes professional Roleplayer Coaches to observer behavioral change in real time.
