The Persistent Dilemmas

Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer ROI Institute, Inc.
Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI Institute, Inc.

Paula Ketter, editor of TD magazine, made this point in an article celebrating 70 years of the magazine. “As we examined magazine issues published in the 1940s, we saw some of the same topics discussed then that are as relevant today. Proving training’s worth has been a constant pain point for industry professionals.”¹ For the past 30 or 40 years, many things have changed, except perhaps one area. There has been a persistent and often nagging issue about the value of learning. We’ve made some progress and there is good promise that more is to come, but we have this issue of not being able to connect major learning programs to the business.

More specifically, some serious dilemmas stand out:

DILEMMA 1: Over 50 percent of learning and development is wasted.

DILEMMA 2: What senior executives want from learning and development is rarely measured. One study found that 96 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs want to see the business connection, yet only 8 percent see it. And 74 percent want to see ROI, yet only 4 percent see it.

DILEMMA 3: Very few learning and development professionals have data to show top executives that their programs make a difference to the company’s bottom line.

DILEMMA 4: Most executives perceive learning and development to be a cost, rather than an investment. Thus, in times of economic anxiety, it’s the first budget to cut—when, really, it should be enhanced.

DILEMMA 5: Hard skills are widely perceived as being far more valuable than soft skills— although data shows the payoff of soft skills is higher. Yet these skills require a major learning investment that CEOs may be reluctant to continue to provide funds.

How do we correct this nagging and persistent problem? Design thinking is the answer, as explained in the next blog post.

Reference:

1. Ketter, Paula. “Celebrating 70 years of TD Magazine,” TD magazine, July 1, 2016.