Proving ROI in L&D: Using Science-Based Methods to Communicate Value

“Value is not measured with training metrics. Value is measured with business metrics or performance metrics because that's what we're trying to improve.” Megan Torrance , CEO and founder at Torrance Learning, knows a thing or two about tangible, lasting ROI. With over 20 years of experience in consulting, HR, and learning and development, Megan’s expertise lies at the intersection of people, processes, and technology. Having taught courses on L&D at Cornell and Penn State University, she offers a unique perspective on how L&D professionals today can prove ROI and become strategic partners to the business.

Taking an Empirical Approach to ROI

“Pure ROI in the traditional [sense] is [...] a hard metric,” Megan says, voicing the challenge every L&D professional faces when they’re under pressure to illustrate the value of their function. It can be incredibly hard to link a specific instance of training directly to changed behavior or improved performance. “It’s super hard to pin any one course to what somebody does six, eight, or twelve months in the future. But if we, as learning designers, come with a value-focused mindset—a business-focused mindset—and we design and run good, valid experiments, we can get really, really close.”

Taking a rigorous scientific approach to proving value is always a good idea. Megan explains that learning pros can reap a lot of benefits by letting themselves be inspired by researchers in other fields and relying on methods like survey research or control groups. When L&D teams have clarity about success metrics, they can decide upfront to measure learners against a control group that didn’t learn the same information. “[They] can measure differences and that’s really, really powerful,” she says, explaining that this kind of methodical approach to proving value is surprisingly rare since L&D pros have so much on their plates. “[It’s] an ethos that is not widespread in learning and development.” 

How L&D Teams Can Prove ROI—In an Evidence-Based Way

Megan recommends starting with the following steps:

• Analyze business goals. Understanding business objectives will help align the rest of the process.
• Come up with a specific hypothesis related to a business goal, for example: “I think that teaching people this particular tool will improve performance.”
• Write the null hypothesis for that prediction, for example: “Teaching people this particular tool will not improve performance.”
• Once you have these two distinct hypotheses, you can begin collecting data to compare them and determine which is the strongest.

Setting Yourself Up for Data-Driven Success

It’s crucial to “get really, really specific about what the data points are that [you’re] measuring,” Megan cautions. “Get super, super granular,” she says. “What data points or pieces of software are [you] going to use to measure improvement and performance?”

Ask yourself at the outset of any new initiative how the learning experience will be designed to collect the metrics you need so you can compare hypotheses and null hypotheses. Megan urges learning pros to think about how the data they need will be spread across teams and how it will be accessed. Ask yourself: “Is that data in my LMS? Is that in my learning courses? Is that in my performance support? Is that in the learning experience? How do I measure the work experience? Is that work captured in a system where there’s data for it and that I can grab? Or do I have to somehow measure that work performance via a survey or an observation rubric?” Collaborating with stakeholders in other departments—such as HR and IT—at the outset ensures that you’ll have the information you need when the time comes.

Once this data is cleaned up, the fun begins. “Work on presenting it and telling the story,” Megan says. She also counsels that ROI should be approached as a conversation, not a once-and-done monthly report. Sharing your findings with stakeholders “ideally leads to new questions, like all good academic research,” she says.

"If we don’t show up with the data and the reporting to say ‘this is what we’ve done and where we can improve and what we’ve already improved and look how great it is,’ then we’re really setting ourselves up for failure. If we want to be at that table, we have to bring that data, and the LMS is where all that data starts."

Getting L&D a Seat at the Table With an LMS

“Learning is a force multiplier for the rest of the business,” Megan says. Every function in the organization can see return on investment when strategic upskilling initiatives are implemented.

When it comes to impact, the tools and technology you use to bring your strategy to life couldn’t be more important. “As much as L&D is a force multiplier for the organization, the learning management system is the force multiplier for L&D,” Megan says. “An LMS provides this common place for us to jump off from,” she continues, explaining that the LMS can function as a front page for everything the company wants employees to know. This can help employees stay motivated and aligned. “If you want to succeed, you want to know what the company thinks you ought to be able to know and do,” she says.

She also values the time-saving and streamlining benefits LMSs offer. “At the back end, it relieves us from a horribly manual, error-prone environment.” Learning pros who still rely on spreadsheets will be all too familiar with the struggle manual data entry can cause. “If we’re living in a spreadsheet world, at any given time, it’s very difficult to say who has done what, when, [and] whether they’re due for something more.”

An LMS also matters greatly for communicating ROI to stakeholders. Without one, L&D “can’t present to the business any kind of formal metrics about what it is we’re doing and who is doing it,” Megan says. Lacking these insights can really harm how the L&D function is viewed within the organization. “If we don’t show up with the data and the reporting to say ‘this is what we’ve done and where we can improve and what we’ve already improved and look how great it is,’ then we’re really setting ourselves up for failure. If we want to be at that table, we have to bring that data, and the LMS is where all that data starts,” she explains.

At Bridge, we know that proving ROI starts with visibility. That’s why we designed the platform to give you all the analytical tools you need to connect learning outcomes directly to performance. With structured goal tracking and continuous feedback, every skill-building activity is easily linked to measurable growth. With Bridge, progress isn’t hidden in spreadsheets—it’s visible, shareable, and aligned to business results. Don’t hesitate to get in touch here on LinkedIn if you want to learn more and stay tuned to Skills at Work for more chats with today’s most acclaimed learning pros.