Sales of the latest handheld devices have been increased 150% over the last quarter. The senior executives asked the question, “What caused it?” Employee turnover has declined 20% in the past nine months. Senior executive asked the question, “What caused it?” This simple question “What caused it?” is asked frequently in organizations around the world.

It is not an unfair question for senior executives to ask. Our ability to isolate the effects of talent development programs positions us so that we can answer this important question in a credible and reliable way. Our inability to answer this question, opens the door to let others answer it for us. Isolating the effects of the program is not about isolating talent development initiatives from other activities going on in the organization. Far from it.

In fact, by isolating the effects of your program, you’re positioning yourself as a better business partner because you can credibly explain how you know the investments in talent development initiatives are driving results; and you can help your business partners better allocate resources to the different programs, projects, and activities in which they are investing.

During this session, you will learn four techniques to isolate the effects of talent development programs. Case studies will demonstrate each technique.

Participants will calculate the improvement in business measures as described in the case studies. Don’t forget to bring a calculator.

Application on the Job: Upon completion of this session participants will be able to:

• Describe the importance of isolating the effects of the program
• Apply four techniques to isolate the effects of your program
• Determine when to use each of the four techniques covered in this session

Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of ROI Institute, Inc., a US-based consulting firm that serves for-profit, not-for-profit, government, and non-governmental organizations in 70 countries as they build capability in measurement, evaluation, and human capital analytics using the ROI Methodology®.

An internationally recognized leader in measurement and analytics, Patti is routinely invited to speak at industry conferences worldwide and contributes to the growing amount of research in human capital and human capital analytics. Her expertise is documented in over 50 books published by McGraw-Hill, Wiley, Kogan-Page, Berrett-Koehler, and other major publishing houses. Her work has been cited on CNBC, Euronews, and National Geographic and published in more than a dozen business journals. She is a thought partner to organizations such as The Conference Board, the Institute for Corporate Productivity, and Cognota. 

She is the recipient of the 2022 Association for Talent Development (ATD) Thought Leader Award and the 2019 Center for Talent Reporting Distinguished Contributor Award. In 2019, she was named among the top fifty coaches globally by the Thinkers50 organization and named a finalist for the Marshall Goldsmith Distinguished Achievement Award for Coaching. Patti serves as the vice chair and finance committee member of the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) board of trustees; chair of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) People Analytics Board; Senior Advisor for The Conference Board; board member of the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations (IFTDO), and board member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI).

Patti can be reached at patti@roiinstitute.net.

Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., chairman of ROI Institute, Inc., is a world-renowned expert on accountability, measurement, and evaluation. Phillips consults for Fortune 500 companies and major global organizations. The author or editor of more than 75 books, he conducts workshops and presents at conferences globally.

Jack has been recognized and awarded for his work by numerous professional organizations, including receiving the 2024 Thought Leader Award from The Association of Learning Providers (ISA) and the 2022 Association of Talent Development (ATD) Talent Development Thought Leader Award along with his wife and ROI Institute co-founder, Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D. SHRM presented Jack with its highest creativity award for an ROI study and awarded an ROI Institute book with a best book award. ROI Institute has been named a winner in Training Magazine Network's annual Choice Awards for five consecutive years.

Jack's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune magazine, and he has been interviewed by several television programs, including CNN.