Hoping for the Best is Not a Measurement Strategy
Have you ever been traveling, stop for gas, and all of a sudden your stomach growls and you grab the first thing you see – that gas station hot dog that has been sitting there for who knows how long. You don’t know if it’s fresh, been there 2 days, but you blindly eat it because it saves you time. (For our friends in New York – think of this as the last “dirty water dog” in the cart – don’t judge – we have all been there)
So what does that lonely singular gas station hot dog have to do with your learning strategy? Hopefully not much – but hang there with us for a minute. Like the lone hot dog on the rollers of the hot dog machine, you keep going along and keep churning out content, measure butts in seats, and hope and pray your learners are applying this very expensive knowledge you provided to their roles.
Like with the gas station hot dog, you are hoping for the best
For many businesses today, there is a missing component and that’s how to ensure learning leads to improved performance. #measuringyoursuccess. Now we know, because we chose to eat the hot dog – because it was the easy thing to do – and similarly, we know measurement is hard, but you have to start somewhere.
So, how do you step away from the hot dog machine and begin to build your measurement strategy?
Five Steps to Measuring Your (Learning) Success
Here are five things you can do today to help you “measure your success”.
Create a measurement and evaluation strategy. This will help you “stay the course” – and believe me you will get off track. Having a document that lists your outcomes and what you will measure against will help you focus on what’s important.
Learn about your current tech stack and what measurement tools are available to you.
Only measure what you will use. If you don’t have data analyst skills in your team, don’t have a budget to source this out, then you might want to only measure what you are able to analyze to determine what works, and what doesn’t.
Use your data for the greater good – don’t leave it collecting dust – use it – let it guide you and you’ll be amazed at what you learn.
When in doubt, find a business analyst or a data science type to help you make sense of and visualize your data.
If you are looking for simple ways to get started on measuring your success – reach out – we would love to have a conversation with you. As we say around here, together we learn.
PS – we love hot dogs and mean no disparagement to them as food.
PPS – Ketchup does not belong on a hot dog.Ever. Period. Mustard, relish, sports peppers, and celery salt #ChicagoDogsForever
