Why do organizations struggle with measuring the impact of their soft skills training? We know that improved communications skills make our colleagues better sales professionals, HR professionals, customer service professionals, etc. But getting to actual proof of this “knowledge” isn’t always easy. What You’ll Learn: Common soft skills training and development challenges How content should be delivered to achieve maximum benefit How to build a framework for measurement of business benefits of soft skills

2. Presenting Today
Follow along on Twitter: #BizWebinar @BizLibrary
Erin Boettge
Content Marketing Manager,
BizLibrary
eboettge@bizlibrary.com
Krista Brubaker
Marketing Coordinator
BizLibrary
kbrubaker@bizlibrary.com

3. BizLibrary helps organizations succeed by improving the way
employees learn.
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4. Poll Question:
What is the single biggest
obstacle you face proving the
business value of your soft
skills training program?

5. Soft skills aren’t optional.
75%
of long-term job success
depends on soft skills
SOURCE: Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie
Melon Foundation

6. 6.8%
of total economy per
year in gross value
added
Soft Skills
Soft Skills are important in
every sector.
especially…
Business services
Retail
Public services
23%
2020
44%
2025
Contribution to
the economy is
expected to
grow…
SOURCE: January
2015 McDonald’s
report on the
economic value of
soft skills

7. 7
Gender equality and
diversity
Rise of the
millennials
Strategic Business Challenges of 2015
Leads to need to
truly innovate
Desire to
update
cultures
Where does my
company fit in this
new market reality?
Rebranding
for customer
engagement, sales,
marketing and more!
Mobile /online
channels
Outbound sales
doesn’t work
anymore, inbound
must be embraced
B2B sales
/marketing

8. Great! But…back-end
struggles
Front-end
innovation
Strategic Business Challenges of 2015
Leads to need to
truly innovate
Desire to
update
cultures
Survival in healthcare
(and likely other
industries, too)
Adaptability
Outbound sales
doesn’t work
anymore, inbound
must be embraced
B2B sales
/marketing
How can we meet these
challenges?

9. What are soft skills?
Sometimes, easier to say what they are not . . . .

10. Methods, processes
or disciplines
Occupational skills
Knowledge

11. What are soft skills?
Work Ethic
Attitude
Communication Skills
Emotional Intelligence
Collaboration
…

12. 100% of the very most sought after and hardest to
find skills in the market today are
soft skills. . . .

13. The Top 5
Skills for 2015
1. Leadership Skills
2. Ability to Work in a Team
3. Written Communication Skills
4. Problem-Solving Skills
5. Strong Work Ethic
SOURCES: Job Outlook: The Candidate Skills/Qualities
Employers Want, the Influence of Attributes, National
Association of Colleges and Employers

14. The one differentiator between high performing
employees and others . . . a soft skill…
emotional intelligence

15. Average IQ people outperform high IQ people
70% of them time…
90% of top performers
are also high in emotional
intelligence
People with high EQ
make more money.
$29,000 more per year
than people with a low
degree of EQ.
EQ is an important workplace skill and predictor of success in all types of jobs.
SOURCE: Travis Bradberry, Emotional Intelligence – EQ, Forbes, January 2014.

16. Trust
Anger Management
Stress Tolerance
Time Management
Empathy
Decision Making
Change Tolerance
Communication
Customer Service
Flexibility
Assertiveness
Teamwork
Accountability
Social Skills
Presentation Skills
Emotional intelligence is the foundation for critical skills.

17. Emotional Intelligence EQ
Can be learned and unlearned
The connection and
interaction of the
emotional and
rational parts of our
brain
Strategies to adopt
and improve
Attitudes, choices
and behaviors

18. WHAT I SEE WHAT I DO
PERSONAL COMPETENCE
SOCIAL COMPETENCE
Self-Awareness
Social Awareness
Self - Management
Relationship
Management
SOURCE: Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves

19. …Agility is demonstrated by the ability to quickly solve day-to-day business
problems, to identify new processes and frameworks for speed of delivery,
to cross global and functional lines without faltering, and to accept, respond,
and initiate change.
Employees who can identify opportunities, adapt,
and thrive in the reality of change have a propensity
to be high performers. Given the right resources and
investment in learning, these traits are achievable
across the entire organization.”
John Ambrose, Sr. Vice
President Strategy,
Skillsoft

20. 11
minutes

21. Why short video…
actually works?

22. 50% 70%
100
ms
Of the brain is used for visual
processing
Of the sensory receptors are in
the eyes
To get a sense of the visual scene
Visually Wired Brain

23. Most human behavior is learned observationally through
modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of
how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions
this coded information serves as a guide for action.”
SOURCE: Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

24. LEARNER
EXPECTATIONS
• Easy to use - intuitive
• Learning experience fits to delivery
mode
• Content is accessible no matter
what device I’m using
• Content is accessible in any location
or work environment
• Easy to find and easy to share
• Engaging
CONTENT
CHARACTERISTICS
• Delivery looks familiar to me and
there is video to watch
• Content is personalized to fit my
needs
• Mobile – must have, it’s not an
option
• I choose when and how to access
content
• Social – shareable with friends and
colleagues and I can comment
• Short, relevant video

25. How do I measure the impact
of soft skills?

26. LEVEL 1
Reaction
LEVEL 2
Learning
LEVEL 3
Behavior
LEVEL 4
Results
Participant
satisfaction
Knowledge, skills
and attitudes
Application and on-
the-job learning
Business impact
LEVEL 5
Return on
investment
Kirkpatrick – Phillips Model

27. It's not the 95% that's right that makes
something work; it's the 5% that's wrong that
messes everything up.
Source: Measuring, Managing and
Maximizing Performance, Will Kaydos

28. SYSTEM/PROCEDURE
CHANGES
INCENTIVE/MOTIVATION
MANAGER
SUPPORT/ATTENTION
EXTERNAL FACTORS
EFFECT OF
LEARNING ON
IMPROVEMENT
TOTAL
IMPROVEMENT
AFTER
PROGRAM
Isolation Techniques

29. What, if anything, did
this person learn that
was new?
How, if at all, did this
person use the new
learning in some sort of
job-specific behavior?
Did the usage of the learning help to produce
any sort of worthwhile outcome?
1 2
3
SOURCE: Telling Training’s Story by Robert O. Brinkerhoff
Success Case Method

30. 1
2
4
3
Focus on what you’re
evaluating
Create an impact
model that defines
potential results and
benefits.
Survey and select
success versus
non-success rates.
Formulate
conclusions and
recommendations,
value, and return-
on-investment.
CREATE A MEASUREMENT PLAN

31. Identify
Performance
Areas
Engage Key
Stakeholders
Clarify and Define
Training
Establish Key
Performance
Indicators and Metrics
1. Focus and Plan the Evaluation

32. 2. Create a Model for Success
Business Unit
Goals
Skills and
Knowledge Behaviors
and Actions

33. WHICH STATEMENT BELOW BEST DESCRIBES YOUR EXPERIENCE SINCE PARTICIPATING
IN THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TRAINING?
a. I learned something new, I have used it, and it has led to some very worthwhile results.
b. I learned and tried some new things but can’t point to any very worthwhile results yet.
c. While I may have learned something new, I have not been able to use it yet.
d. I already knew about and was doing the things this training taught.
e. I don’t think I can really use what I learned in the training.
3. Success vs. Non-success Rates
SOURCE: Telling Training’s Story by Robert O. Brinkerhoff

34. Unsuccessful Successful
Positive influences:
On-demand access to resources
Opportunity to apply learning
Peer support
Senior leader involvement
Manager support

35. Areas of increased
performance
The value of
this increase
The costs to
deliver value
Recommended
improvements
to increase
value
4. Recommendations, Value and ROI

36. Delegation Skills
TRAINING COSTS IMPACT
Human Resources: $1,000
Stakeholders: $720
Total = $1,720
• Newly promoted managers take an average of 16
weeks to gain full productivity
• Goal is to reach 100% productivity in 8 weeks at a
value of $72,000 for 12 managers.
• Teams are less productive per employee as
managers gain skills, and secondary goal is to
increase productivity per employee.

37. Delegation Skills
VALUE ADDED
TOTAL VALUE
GAINED
• Costs per manager are $60.00 each by using online delivery of
content.
• Managers reached full productivity by learning to effectively
delegate tasks and assume manager’s role in 8 weeks.
• Gain in value of salary was $72,000.
• Additionally, each team saw a .25% gain in per employee
production of $18,000 total across the six impacted teams.
$100,000 on
a $1,720
program

38. Problem Solving Skills
TRAINING COSTS IMPACT
Human Resources: $90,000
Managers & Reps: $250,000
Total = $340,000
• Customer service satisfaction ratings
of 3 or below during trials result in
zero sales
• Ratings of 4.5 or better result in won
business 85% of the time
• Goal is to reach 4.5 ratings or better
in 85% of the surveys returned.

39. Problem Solving Skills
VALUE ADDED TOTAL VALUE GAINED
• Complex training program lasted a full year.
• In the 12 months after the training program
really began to show modifications in
behaviors as proven by reaching 4.5
customer satisfaction scores 85% of the time
• 24 additional deals were won on the same
number of total trials.
$1,200,000 on a
$340,000 program

40. Key Take-aways
Raising your organization’s mastery of soft skills is important
regardless of industry or size.
We should approach the development of soft skills by focusing
on the key behaviors aimed at supporting organizational
objectives.
Learning content should be delivered the way employee’s work
and live – short form video.
Measuring the impact is an important step in the training and
development process.
The success case methodology focuses on amplifying the
effects of training, not isolating.

41. Training Payback vs. ROI
1. Training Management
2. Research
3. Content Development
4. Training Delivery

42. 9 Lesson Course
1. Feedback: Feedback Basics
2. Feedback: Focus Groups
3. Feedback: Interviews
4. Feedback: Advisory Panels
5. Feedback: Management by Walking
Around
6. Feedback: Mystery Shopper
7. Feedback: Question of the Week
8. Feedback: Report Cards and Phone
Calls
9. Feedback: Ways to Get Feedback
Getting Good at Surveys and
Analysis

43. Try out these video lessons
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