Telling a Story of Impact: How L&D Can Prove Its Value

Measurement expert Jim Irvine has experienced firsthand what it takes to make the case for leadership development. Now heading up ROI and measurement at Blanchard, Irvine shares a pivotal story. 

“Earlier in my career I headed up global L&D efforts at Nissan, where we had a strong L&D team. We were running dozens of courses in 18 languages across 80 countries. We had waitlists for most of our offerings. 

“Shortly after I started, leadership changed. My boss resigned and the new VP of HR came from legal. His right-hand person was an engineer. They were pragmatic and analytical—and within weeks, they froze all our budgets. A memo went out: ‘No funding unless you can prove the value of your programs to the organisation.’

“I thought ‘No problem, we have waiting lists; that should count for something.’ But when I asked my team to show me the data—on impact, on behaviour change, on results—there wasn’t any. That was my wake-up call.”

Why L&D Teams Need to Think Like Businesspeople

“My team, like many others in the L&D space, relied on soft measures such as participant satisfaction, anecdotes, maybe a client story here or there. But our stakeholders—especially those in finance, operations, and executive leadership—weren’t thinking that way. They were wired to make decisions based on business outcomes: cost savings, productivity gains, and retention metrics.

“We can't just say ‘Trust us, it works.’ We need to show how our programs connect directly to what our stakeholders care about. That’s where the idea of telling a story of impact comes in.

“The biggest mistake I see is people starting their measurement story in the wrong place. They start with the content: ‘We ran a coaching course. It covered active listening, feedback, empathy.’ That’s not what senior leaders want to hear.

“We need to flip that. Start with the business challenge. For example: ‘Our employee engagement survey revealed a trust deficit between frontline managers and their teams.’ Next, connect that to the intervention. Then show the behavioural shift. Finally, show the business impact.

“That’s a story executives can follow. You’re not just presenting data; you’re making a case. You’re telling a story of impact.”

Breaking Down the Measurement Process

Irvine explains that at Blanchard, the process builds on the five-level model first proposed by Kirkpatrick and Phillips. It gives a structure for how to build your case.

• Level 1: Reaction – Did they like it? Was it engaging?
• Level 2: Learning – Did they learn anything new?
• Level 3: Behaviour Change – Are they applying what they learned?
• Level 4: Business Impact – Is there measurable change in business outcomes?
• Level 5: ROI – Can we monetise the impact?

The Blanchard approach also uses pre/post retrospectives. 

Irvine explains: “Traditional pre-post has limitations. It requires two rounds of data collection, which lowers response rates. Also, people don’t know what they don’t know—so their pre-ratings are often inflated due to the Dunning-Kruger Effect.”

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a specific area tend to overestimate their competence, while those with high ability tend to underestimate theirs.

“Instead, we use a pre/post retrospective. At the end of the course, we ask participants to rate themselves both before and after training, based on what they know now. It’s more accurate and easier to administer. We’ve used it on tens of thousands of data points.

“It also reinforces learning. When participants see how much they’ve grown, they’re more motivated and confident to apply what they’ve learned.”

Making the Case with Simple, Elegant Data

According to Irvine, a lot of people in the HR and L&D space think measurement means massive Excel spreadsheets and complicated dashboards. It doesn’t have to be that way.

“We focus on what I call ‘executive-friendly slides.’ One page, one story. Here’s what we taught, here’s the behaviour shift, here’s the impact. We use mostly four-point or binary scales, simple language, and clean visuals. You want your audience nodding along, not reaching for a calculator.

“For example, one of our slides might read: 

• 98% of participants would recommend this course. 
• 93% said they applied the concepts. 
• Their direct reports reported a 76% increase in engagement and a 23% increase in performance.

“That’s compelling. And it’s not bragging; it’s evidence.

“When you can make the business case, everything changes. You’re no longer seen as a cost centre; you’re a strategic partner. You start getting invited to planning meetings, not just training delivery. Budgets get approved faster. You gain credibility.”

Irvine shares a success story.

“One of our clients did this with a leadership program: When budget cuts came, the CFO said ‘We can’t cut that one. We’ve seen the data. That program’s driving performance and retention.’ That’s the power of telling a story of impact.”

Creating a Measurement Culture

To truly succeed, organisations need to move measurement from being a project to being a mindset, says Irvine. “You don’t need to measure everything. But you do need to measure what matters most to your senior leaders.

“We’ve built a measurement toolkit at Blanchard to make this easy. For every core program, we provide:

• End-of-course evaluations (combining Levels 1 & 2)
• Post-training surveys (for Levels 3 & 4)
• Post-training sustainability communications
• Templates and guides to build slides
• Automated survey delivery (or DIY, if preferred)

“We also offer coaching and a one- or two-day training course on measurement to help teams get started. We want to demystify measurement and make it a routine part of how L&D delivers value.”

For L&D professionals just getting started with measurement, Irvine recommends a few first steps.

“Pick one program—ideally one that aligns closely with a business goal. Use the pre/post retrospective method. Ask about behavioural confidence and application. Follow up 90 days later to see if they applied the skills and saw results.

“When you gather that data, tell the story in three parts:

1. What business problem were we solving?
2. What behaviour did we change?
3. What impact did that behaviour change have on the business problem?

“It doesn’t need to be complex. Just be clear, be consistent, and be bold. And remember—this is a journey. You don’t have to reach ROI on day one. Just start telling better stories, and you’ll be amazed at how your influence grows.”