Loichinger Advantage

I’ve been thinking about results a lot lately.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you who have known me for any length of time.  Our consulting practice is all about doing the right development projects, aligned to the right strategic initiative, accelerating the results organizations plan to achieve, and measuring the impact of the work we collaborate on.

Having worked in the development field for more than twenty-five years, I’m used to people asking me how to measure results, and to prove that the work we perform will lead to the results we plan to achieve. 

Organizational leaders often request that we (consultants) demonstrate the effectiveness and/or impact of our work.  Kudo’s to them.  I’m glad they ask the question.

Nothing is more engaging to me than to work with an educated executive or organizational leaders.  We can demonstrate the impact of our work short- and long-term, but we need to know it at the beginning of the project.

What lessons have I learned about measuring impact over the years?

1. The more educated the client is about the process and what they expect the better.
2. If the client doesn’t ask the question at the beginning of the project, I should.

I cringe when I think about the number of times executives have challenged me to come up with results for a training program or development initiative AFTER the fact.  I relished the opportunity to have a conversation about their questions on the front-end - How will we know that this has been successful after we have spent the money and the program is over?

Maybe those of you in the development field are still struggling with this reality.  Maybe executives who are reading this still wonder how they can remain supportive of their human resource development staff, while at the same time holding them accountable for successful outcomes.  Here are 5 ways to build a successful track record.