How Executives View Learning Metrics

The ROI Institute recently conducted a survey to obtain direct feedback from CEOs in large organizations. There are few if any significant data sets collected from this elusive group, though many one-on-one interviews have appeared as profiles in various media. These interviews rarely discuss specific results, however. A few surveys have attempted to target the executive level, but unfortunately, the survey is usually passed down to the CLO.

To obtain the executives’ views on learning and development, the institute sent a survey and a letter with instructions asking the CEO not to forward on the survey to the learning leader. The target audience was Fortune 500 CEOs and the top 50 privately held firms. Some 450 firms were included in the sample.

Special survey response-enhancing techniques were employed to achieve the response rate, including personal notes, assurances that survey responses would remain anonymous unless CEOs elected to provide contact data, and perhaps most importantly, the survey leaders knew someone employed at approximately 20 percent of the companies listed. In many cases, a middle manager was asked to deliver the study to the CEO directly.

Ninety-six individuals responded, representing 21.3 percent of the total survey pool. Executives chose to remain anonymous, and some did not answer particular points or provide comments. This response rate is especially significant when considering the difficult economic circumstances during which the survey was conducted. Taking a few minutes for a survey addressing learning and development is not at the top of the agenda for most executives during this time period.

Where Does the Money Go?
For one question regarding the rationale for setting learning investment levels, CEOs selected a strategy from a list. Investments in these companies range from $10 million to $640 million with an average of $138 million. Only 4 percent acknowledged that they try to avoid these investments, but based on what we have observed in our work, we suspect this number actually may be a little higher. Twenty percent state they only invest in the minimum. This may be due in part to the current economic times, where executives have had to trim activities perceived to be unnecessary. As expected, using benchmarking data was rated the highest with 39 percent. Because we asked that only one strategy be checked, we suspect many CEOs use a combination of benchmarking and other possibilities. We limited the choice to only one in the survey to determine the dominant approach for setting learning investment levels.