Think of program evaluation as a flashlight. Most learning and development (L&D) teams use it like a laser pointer—bright, focused, and pointed at one small spot. That can be helpful, but it can also leave the rest of the room in the dark. In a recent webinar, we explored what happens when organizations rely too heavily on program evaluation as their primary way to “measure learning,” and why a broader measurement approach can help L&D teams operate with more credibility, agility, and business impact.
Peggy Parskey, President of Parskey Consulting, and Dave Vance, President of Manage Learning, shared a practical framework for expanding how we think about measurement—without turning it into an overwhelming data exercise.
Program evaluation is measurement, but measurement isn’t just program evaluation.
Learning teams often gravitate toward program evaluation because it feels like the “official” way to demonstrate value. It’s understandable because it’s familiar, documented, and frequently tied to well-known measurement models like Kirkpatrick and Phillips.
But here’s an unpopular (but glaringly true) opinion: evaluation and measurement are not interchangeable. Evaluation is one reason to measure, but it’s just that: one reason. When organizations treat it as the whole story, they end up shining that flashlight only on training events and miss the operational and system-level signals that determine whether learning can actually scale and perform.
Make this your new mantra: all evaluation is measurement, but not all measurement is evaluation. L&D has far more to measure than course feedback forms and post-tests.
The four reasons to measure: a more complete picture.
#1) Inform. This is where measurement often starts: counts, volumes, trends, and descriptive insights. Questions like how many courses, how many participants, and what’s being used are often asked. Informing doesn’t require judgment. This is about visibility.
#2) Monitor. Monitoring adds a threshold. Instead of simply reporting that a course received a 90% favorable rating, monitoring asks: Is this above or below what we consider acceptable based on history? It’s quality control and early-warning detection.
#3) Evaluate. This is the familiar territory that determines the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of programs. It answers the question, “Was this worth doing?” and includes levels of evaluation many teams already know.
#4) Manage. Managing is the most strategic and complex use of measurement. It sets an intentional target above historical performance and then uses a plan, tracking, and governance to move the needle. Monitoring is essentially maintaining performance, while managing is improving it.
When you look at the four reasons to measure together, evaluation becomes one quadrant of a larger room.
The flashlight becomes a floodlight.
Measure the whole L&D system, not just the course lifecycle.
Measurement should be applied across the entire L&D function, not just formal programs. Proper measurement should include functional viewpoints that many teams don’t routinely consider:
This broader view helps address a reality many teams feel: you can deliver great programs and still struggle as a function if the operational engine isn’t running smoothly.
Why operational measurement changes the conversation with the business.
Operational measures can feel monotonous, but they’re actually critical, especially for leaders reporting to the CEO or CFO. When L&D can show how resources are being used, how efficiently work is delivered, and how consistently operations perform, it positions the function as a disciplined business unit—not a collection of training activities.
To quantify the risk of imbalance, consider these four measurement equations:
In other words, the best learning strategy can still fail if the operational foundation can’t support it.
Practical measures that go beyond program evaluation.
To help teams align their measurement efforts to business needs—without attempting to boil the ocean—here are a few examples of measures that matter to most leaders:
Organization-wide learning activity and reach.
Operational efficiency and LearnOps-style measures.
Informal learning measurement.
Informal learning seems to be growing faster than formal learning, but it’s under-measured. It’s a good idea to incorporate periodic surveys (semi-annual or annual), along with qualitative methods such as focus groups, to capture usage, satisfaction, findability, and perceived results, without overwhelming learners with constant pop-up evaluations.
An applied example: measuring an AI-assisted design initiative.
Here’s a handy application exercise: measure an AI tool designed to accelerate program design and development. Participants can map measures across three lenses:
Efficiency (speed, cost, effort)
Effectiveness (quality and usability)
Impact (credible downstream outcomes)
Don’t forget to emphasize baselines. Without baseline data, it’s hard to credibly demonstrate improvement, even when improvement clearly happened.
Here’s where ELB Learning® can help.
If your team is ready to stop aiming the flashlight at only one corner of the room, ELB Learning can help you build a practical, business-aligned measurement approach that goes beyond course evaluations. Through our learning strategy services, we partner with organizations to define success, select a focused set of meaningful measures (without creating reporting overload), establish baselines, and build a measurement rhythm that supports better decisions across the entire learning function, not just at the program level.
Watch the webinar below to explore the four reasons to measure and gather ideas you can apply immediately to your own measurement strategy. And if you want a measurement approach that improves both operational performance and learning impact, learn more about ELB Learning’s learning strategy services here.
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Disclaimer: The ideas, perspectives, and strategies shared in this article reflect the expertise of our featured speakers, Peggy Parskey and Dave Vance. Be sure to follow them on LinkedIn to explore more of their insights.