Beyond the Numbers: Making Your Learning Metrics Actually Mean Something

Introduction

Dashboards glow with completions, sign-ups and smile-sheet scores. They look like progress—until someone in finance asks the quiet question that decides whether L&D keeps its seat at the table: So what?

If you can’t show how a learning number moves revenue, cost, risk or customer experience, it is probably vanity. This post gives you two fast lenses for turning activity data into evidence executives understand. So how do we go about making your learning metrics actually mean something?

The two lenses

Pick whichever lens fits your situation and ignore the other for now.

Lens 1 – Impact Test · ask “So what?” until you hit a KPI

Steps

1. Write the metric.
2. Ask “So what?”—what happened next?
3. Ask again until you reach a result a CFO would list on a board slide.
4. If you can’t get there, track a better number.

Lens 2 – Outcome Pathway · start with the goal and walk backwards

Steps

1. Write the business result.
2. Ask “Now how?”—what must people do differently?
3. Ask “Now how?” again—what learning or support makes that behaviour easy?
4. Set a leading metric to verify the behaviour is happening.

Two quick examples

Feature-launch enablement

• Outcome first → design walkthrough, contextual tips, usage tracking.
• Metric first → tour completion → so what? feature adoption → so what? upsell revenue arrives on schedule.

Partner onboarding

• Outcome first → partners close first deal in 90 days.
• Metric first → quiz pass rate → so what? sandbox practice → so what? time to first deal drops by 20 days.

Vanity-metric watch-list

If a metric can’t survive two rounds of “So what?” replace it or pair it with one that can.

When leadership asks for a vanity number

1. Acknowledge – “We delivered 3 500 training hours last quarter.”
2. Add context – “Those hours cut time-to-competency for new hires by 15 %.”
3. Invite focus – “Would you like to see the productivity impact rather than just volume?”
4. Offer a better metric – “We can track time-to-quota as a leading indicator.”

Your Reality Check

1. List three metrics you report today.
2. Run the Impact Test on each—ask “So what?” twice.
3. If you can’t reach a KPI, switch to the Outcome Pathway and design a better leading metric.
4. Share one insight with your team this week.

Can’t we do this with AI?

Now you might ask “Can’t AI do this for me?” and the answer is of course it can help. Once you have practiced doing it manually you can use ChatGPT/Gemini/etc. to help you with the the heavy lifting. I have created a coaching prompt that you can use to understand the flow better, and to get your objectives and solutions framed properly. Let me know how you get on with it. Just copy and paste into your AI tool of choice.

You are an AI coach who helps me translate learning metrics into business impact.

Context
- I lead Learning & Development for a SaaS company.
- I must show how learning drives revenue, cuts cost or risk, or lifts customer experience.
- Two thinking tools guide us:
  1. Impact Test  → ask “So what?” until we land on a business KPI.
  2. Outcome Pathway → start with a business outcome, ask “Now how?” until we define learning actions and leading metrics.

Your coaching style
- Curious, encouraging, and challenging—like a good sparring partner.
- Use short, open questions; avoid long lectures.
- Offer examples only when I am stuck.
- Celebrate progress when we reach a meaningful KPI or solution.
- End each exchange with a quick reflection prompt (e.g., “Does this feel like the right KPI?”).

Process
1. Begin by asking: “Would you like to start with a metric (Impact Test) or a business goal (Outcome Pathway)?”
2. If the answer is “metric”:
   • Ask: “What learning metric are you tracking?”
   • After each reply, answer with *So what?* plus 1-2 probing questions to help me drill deeper.
   • If I stall, suggest a stronger or alternative metric and explain why.
3. If the answer is “goal”:
   • Ask: “What business outcome do you need to influence?”
   • After each reply, answer with *Now how?* plus 1-2 probing questions that push toward behaviours, learning assets, and leading metrics.
4. When we arrive at a clear business KPI (Impact Test) or a concrete learning plan with leading metric (Outcome Pathway), provide:
   • A one-sentence impact statement in plain business language.
   • A bullet list showing the reasoning chain.
   • A brief next-step suggestion (e.g., “Who will you share this KPI with first?”).
5. Ask whether I’d like to analyse another metric or outcome, or reflect on implementation steps.

Begin now.

Final thought

Numbers are never the goal. The goal is the story they tell about how learning drives the business forward. Use the Impact Test when you already have data; use the Outcome Pathway when you start with a goal. Either way, you replace vanity with value and keep your seat at the table.

Ready to get started? Take a look at our Services or Reach out to us at The Learning Stack to discuss how we can help you build and scale your customer education program.