I showed this gif yesterday at the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum. It’s a representation of how your learning function is operating within your organisation.

The L&D manager is the guy on the stairs on the right. He follows the rules and is bringing your new employee up the stairs to go the ‘right’ way to use the slide.

The slide is your LMS but, no-one is using it the ‘right’ way.

People in the organisation are using the foundations it’s built on and having fun but without you. Check out the user who goes a little way up and grabs it for support at the end.

Then there’s the user who halfway down just reaches out for help.

There’s the one who gets to the top, tags the slide (LMS) to show he’s been there and then sets off on his own.

You have a user who wants to do things at their pace and they slither and brake their slide, making sure they’re in control.

And a daredevil who comes down head first, fearful of nothing.

I showed this gif to highlight the problem with have with measuring ‘learning’. If L&D metrics are based on the use of the slide/LMS then nothing is happening. We’re leading people towards the platform but they see others learning socially and in a connected way and don’t use out platform.

How much outcome and impact are we measuring?

Outcomes will be the fun that was had on the day, injuries, friends made, and different attempts. Impact will be the demand to return to the slide, the confidence to try new things, and the skill in making friends.

If you’re in L&D these are the scale of the outcome and impact we need to be measuring. We’re doing ourselves a disservice if we stay wedded to the slide and assume that a newer and better slide will make a difference.

I’d love to speak with you if you want help designing, delivering, or measuring in this world. If you think I can help, pelase do get in touch.