Stop Measuring Activity And Start Proving Impact

You’re in a leadership review meeting. Slides are up. KPIs are flying. Finance, Ops, and Sales are each showing movement on critical numbers. Then it’s L&D’s turn. You say: “We had a 92% completion rate on our onboarding course this quarter.” A pause. A polite nod. Then the room moves on. This is a familiar moment for many L&D teams and a deeply frustrating one. You know the work was good. You know people engaged. But you also know: you’re not speaking the same language as the rest of the table. And it shows.

From Learning Metrics To Business Outcomes

Despite the explosion of dashboards and analytics tools, many L&D teams are still reporting data that tells us how much was delivered, not what changed. Completions, clicks, time-on-platform, and learner satisfaction scores are all easy to track. But they rarely correlate with performance, productivity, or risk reduction. To be taken seriously as a strategic partner, L&D must move beyond metrics that only describe activity. We must measure whether our work is solving business problems. That means shifting from learning-centered metrics to business-centered outcomes. Take a look at the metrics below.

1. 1. 85% course completion rate
   2. 22% drop in customer complaints
   3. 4.7/5 learner satisfaction

• Business-centered metrics

1. 1. 15% faster time to competence for new hires
   2. 1200 logins this quarter
   3. $500k saved from operational errors

Only one of these sets of data tells a leadership team what they need to know: did this initiative improve the business?

Why We Default To The Wrong Data

It’s easy to criticize L&D teams for using weak metrics but the issue is deeper than poor analytics. It’s about safety. Easy metrics feel objective. They’re quantifiable, universally available, and often automated by the platforms we use. They allow us to “show impact” quickly even when we know the story is incomplete. In a culture that often demands fast evidence of ROI, these shallow stats act like armor. But the truth is, this armor is paper-thin. And as pressure mounts to demonstrate real value, it won’t hold.

And it’s hard when the world is set up for vanity metrics. L&D vendors often don’t report what we need them to. Legacy systems are built to track completions, not outcomes. We have disconnected data between L&D tools and business systems and cultural silos that prevent cross-functional measurement planning The result: L&D shows up to strategy conversations with numbers that no one else finds meaningful and loses influence as a result.

The Hidden Risk Of Misleading Metrics

Relying on weak metrics doesn’t just damage L&D’s reputation; it leads to bad business decisions. When we measure learning by delivery alone:

1. We overestimate the impact of programs that were completed but not applied.
2. We miss underlying behavior issues that content alone can’t solve.
3. We justify renewals for content libraries that aren’t moving the dial.

Worst of all, we give leaders a false sense of security; that people are “trained” when in fact they may be underprepared for the realities of the job.

This is not a minor issue. In sectors like logistics, healthcare, finance, and customer service, capability gaps lead directly to compliance breaches, safety incidents, reputational harm, and lost revenue.

What Should We Be Measuring Instead?

We need to start with the end in mind. Before a single slide is designed or a course is commissioned, we should be asking:

1. What does success look like in the business, not in the LMS?
2. What decisions, behaviors, or outcomes do we want to influence?
3. How will we measure whether that change has occurred?

Examples of meaningful metrics:

1. Sales reps reaching quota 20% faster after a scenario-based coaching rollout.
2. 35% reduction in safety incidents post-simulation deployment.
3. Time-to-autonomy in frontline roles reduced by three weeks.
4. Reduction in rework rates, call escalations, or customer churn.

These aren’t generic stats. They’re performance stories.

Making the Shift: From L&D Reporting To Performance Partner

Moving away from shallow metrics doesn’t mean ignoring data. It means elevating our expectations. Here’s how learning teams can start to reposition themselves:

1. Design backwards
   Start from the business goal, not the learning objective.
2. Co-own metrics with stakeholders
   Don’t report to them. Build the measurement model with them.
3. Triangulate data
   Mix learning system stats, observational feedback, and operational KPIs.
4. Use fewer, stronger signals
   Avoid dashboard overload instead focus on what really proves impact.
5. Tell outcome-driven stories
   Use data to narrate a before-and-after arc, not just activity summaries.

This is what earns trust…and investment.

Let’s Remember

Learning is not the outcome. It’s the enabler. Until we connect the dots between development and real-world results, L&D will remain an afterthought in the business strategy conversation. But if we can show that learning reduces cost, lowers risk, and improves performance, not just engagement, then we stop being a cost center. We become a driver of competitive advantage. And that’s the kind of L&D data reporting that keeps you in the room.

Totem Learning

Partner with Totem to drive higher engagement, deeper learning and better retention through premium digital experiences | simulations | serious games | gamification | virtual and augmented reality | behavioural science