The Program Results Map: A Better Way to Measure the Impact of Learning

Every learning leader eventually faces the same question: what did this program actually achieve? Showing that a leader development or learning program changed behavior and improved performance is notoriously difficult.

Overcoming the challenges of measuring learning

It is hard to show that a single learning event caused a change in performance. Many other factors are at work: the organization’s culture, external social or market conditions, other sources of learning, and how much learners retain after the event.

Traditional measures of learning don’t solve this problem. Most are event-focused. They capture learner reactions and rely on narrowly defined testing and point measures to decide whether skills were acquired, performance changed, or financial targets were met.

What is the Program Results Map?

The Program Results Map (PRM) is a structure for identifying and documenting the qualitative and quantitative indicators that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a learning initiative.

The PRM is an adaptation of the EvaluLEAD model, developed in 2005 as part of the Sustainable Leadership Initiative, a project of the Public Health Institute (Oakland, California), with generous support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The model’s primary authors were John T. Grove, Barry M. Kibel, and Taylor Haas.

How the PRM is different: making measurement systemic, integrated, and meaningful

The Program Results Map achieves the same measurement objectives as traditional methods, but adds context. It looks at learning’s impact in the immediate, mid-term, and long term; its impact on the organization and its systems; and its connection to the organization’s strategy and mission.

In other words, the PRM provides a structure for measuring learning that is integrated with the organization and its objectives.

Three levels of PRM measurement

• Strategic level: What do we want our learning initiatives to accomplish for individuals, our organization, our society, and/or our community?
• Operational level: Which programs do we offer to achieve our strategic goals?
• Tactical level: How effective are individual programs in achieving our strategic goals?

Working through the three levels keeps each program connected to a strategic purpose, and each measure connected to a question that matters to leadership.

The PRM dashboard

Because the PRM is built through strategic consultation with organizational leadership, it can be presented as a PRM dashboard. The dashboard lets all stakeholders quickly understand the current state of learning and leader development initiatives, and how each one contributes to agreed objectives.