Stop measuring activity and start proof of impact
You are participating in a Leadership Review Meeting. The slide is up. The KPI is flying. Finance, OPS and sales each show significant numbers movements. Then it’s the L&D turn. “We had a 92% completion rate on our onboarding courses this quarter.” Pause. A polite nod. The room will then move. This is a familiar moment for many L&D teams and is a very frustrating team. You know the job was good. You know people are engaged. But you know too: you are not speaking the same language as the rest of the table. And that shows.
From learning metrics to business outcomes
Despite the explosion of dashboards and analytics tools, many L&D teams still report data showing how much money was delivered, not what has changed. Finish, clicks, platform times, and learner satisfaction scores are all easily tracked. However, it rarely correlates with performance, productivity, or risk reduction. To take it seriously as a strategic partner, L&D must move beyond metrics that describe only activities. You need to measure whether our work is solving business problems. That means moving from learning-centric metrics to business-centric outcomes. See the metrics below.
85% Course Completion Rate 22% Down in Customer Complaints 4.7/5 Learner Satisfaction Business-centric Metric 15% New Recruitment Capacity 15% Fast Time 1200 Login This Quarter $500K Saves from Operational Errors
Only one of these datasets will tell your leadership team what you need to know. Has this initiative improved your business?
Why default data is the default?
It’s easy to criticize L&D teams for using weak metrics, but the problem is deeper than bad analysis. It’s about safety. Simple metrics feel objectively. They are quantifiable, universally available, and are often automated by the platform used. Even if we know that the story is incomplete, we can quickly “show a shock.” In cultures that often require rapid evidence of ROI, these shallow statistics act like armor. But the truth is that this armor is thin. And when pressure is applied to show actual value, it is not held.
And it’s hard to see the world set for vanity metrics. L&D vendors often don’t report what they need. Legacy systems are built to track completion rather than results. Data was cut between L&D tools and business systems and cultural silos. This hinders measurement planning beyond occupational scope. L&D appears in strategic conversations with numbers that no one else feels meaningful and loses influence as a result.
The hidden risks of misleading metrics
Relying on weak indicators does not only damage the reputation of L&D. That leads to bad business decisions. When measuring learning with just streaming:
Overestimate the impact of completed but not applied programs. You miss out on fundamental behavioral issues that cannot be solved with content alone. Justifies updates to content libraries that do not move the dial.
Worst of all, we give our leaders a false sense of security. In fact, people are “trained” when they may be prepared for the realities of their work.
This is not a small problem. In sectors such as logistics, healthcare, finance and customer service, capacity gaps directly lead to non-compliance, safety accidents, reputational harm and loss of revenue.
What should I measure instead?
You should start with the last thing in mind. Before a single slide is designed or a course is commissioned, you should ask:
What does success look like in business, not LMS? What decisions, actions, or outcomes do you want to influence? How do you measure whether that change has occurred?
Examples of meaningful indicators:
After a scenario-based coaching rollout, salespeople reach quotas 20% faster. Reduction of post-simulation safety incidents by 35%. The time to autonomy for the frontline role has been reduced by three weeks. Reduced rework rate, call escalation, or customer termination.
These are not general statistics. They are performance stories.
Create Shifts: From L&D Reports to Performance Partners
Leaving away from shallow metrics does not mean ignoring data. That means raising our expectations. Here’s how your learning team begins to rearrange themselves:
Designed at the rear
Start with business goals, not learning goals. Indicators of joint ownership with stakeholders
Don’t report it to them. Building measurement models with them. Triangulate data
Mix the statistics, observational feedback, and operational KPIs of the learning system. Use fewer, stronger signals
Dashboard overloads should not focus on real impact. Tell the story that led the outcome
Use the data to narrate the activity overview as well as the arcs before and after.
This is what gains trust…and investment.
Please remember
Learning is not a result. It’s an enabler. Until you connect the dots between development and real-world outcomes, L&D remains an afterthought in business strategy conversations. But if learning can show that it reduces costs, reduces risk, and improves performance as well as engagement, then you will stop becoming a cost center. We become a driver of a competitive advantage. And it’s a type of L&D data report that keeps you in the room.
Totem Learning
Partner with Totem to promote higher engagement, deeper learning and better retention through premium digital experiences | Simulation | Serious Games | Gamification | Virtual and Augmented Reality | Behavioral Science
