Talent Development Reporting: An Evolving Standard for L&D

David Vance - 6/14/12

Leaders in the learning industry have joined forces to create Talent Development Reporting Principles that will help standardize and define consistent measures for workforce development.

Practitioners and thought leaders are working together to implement reporting standards in L&D and, ultimately, all facets of talent development. The inspiration for this work is the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that have provided accountants with standard definitions and statements such as the income statement and balance sheet since 1939.

Like the accounting profession, L&D should have its own reporting principles, standards and defined measures to provide consistent guidance to practitioners and allow for meaningful comparisons among organizations.

Kent Barnett, CEO and founder of KnowledgeAdvisors, and Tamar Elkeles, vice president of Qualcomm’s Corporate Learning Center, launched this effort in fall 2010. They established an executive council composed of leading practitioners and recruited the author of this article to help with the effort. Barnett and Elkeles also established an advisory group of thought leaders in the field, including: Jac Fitz-enz, CEO, Human Capital Source; Rob Brinkerhoff, professor emeritus, Western Michigan University; Jack Phillips, chairman, ROI Institute; Josh Bersin, CEO and president, Bersin & Associates; Frank Anderson, president, Strategic Public Sector Solutions LLC; and Laurie Bassi, CEO of McBassi & Co. ASTD and several accounting firms have endorsed the multi-phase work.

Phase 1 focused on reporting for L&D in the private sector and was completed in March 2011 with the endorsement of the executive council and advisory board. Phase 2 expanded the scope to the government sector, refined the principles and reports from Phase 1 and defined more than 100 measures. It was completed in March 2012. Phase 3 focused on all talent processes — not just L&D — and devised an approach to use in Phase 4 to extend the work of Phase 2 to other talent development processes such as leadership development, talent acquisition and performance management. Phase 3 was completed in April with the launch of Phase 4, which is projected to be completed by December.

Phase 1 and 2 recommendations, created by a small working group under the guidance of the executive council and advisory board, include the following:
• Adopt a set of eight guiding principles.
• Adopt standard measures and definitions.
• Adopt three foundational statements.
• Adopt three executive reports.