Evaluation of whether your investment in people management and learning and development is effective depends on working out how these activities contribute to objectives in your business plan. You will need to establish how success will be judged, and what your approach will be for gathering feedback and measuring impact.

Linking lessons learnt to continuous improvement will drive increases in positive staff perceptions of the organisation. People should start to feel that the organisation improves their career development, and partly as a result of their feedback, that it’s also a great place to work.

When evaluating the return, consider:

• Developing a balanced scorecard - establish a number of measures of business performance which you can monitor over time.
• Publishing performance to staff and stakeholders - treat staff as partners in your business – their feedback may provide solutions, and they will be more receptive and understanding if change is needed.
• Following up on development activities - measuring feedback at the end of a training course often only tells you about the course itself, not the impact it has had on participants. Conduct a follow up once people have had a chance to put their new skills into practice, to explore how their perceptions have changed and whether they can point to tangible improvements in their performance.

For more information on how Investors in People can help you to evaluate the return in your organisation, register for Interactive here.

Interactive is a free online advice tool which features a simple diagnostic, plus a wide range of case studies, good practice downloads and hints and tips.