One of the most frequent challenges I hear from peers in talent development is how difficult it is to build metrics for assessing soft skill development. This challenge is actually not as significant as it appears at first glance.
Is the problem that we in talent development don’t know how to capture the business impact of our work? Business unit leaders or HR departments already have ways to measure productivity. Let’s ask those partners to share the data they already have.
What if the problem is that we don’t know how to measure qualitative data? This is a solved problem. Ask any English teacher how you can measure writing skill, and they can show you a rubric that is both a precise and accurate measure of writing ability across their students. There are whole graduate level courses devoted to qualitative research techniques in the social sciences. And business researchers from Tom Peters to Jim Collins have successfully applied qualitative techniques to corporate performance. We should learn from fields and experts that have already found workable solutions to these challenges.
Finally, what if the problem is data collection? The reality is that generating data is no longer a technical challenge. It simply requires the discipline to follow through. And if the goal is to provide business insights, it doesn’t take a ton of data to draw some reasonable conclusions. Sampling and spot checks can minimize the burden to where it should not be a barrier (especially for a strategic issue).
There are plenty of role models to learn from. It’s time for talent development to upskill our own abilities so we’re not rehashing the same challenges over and over again.