Training & Learning
Beyond Activity Metrics: Kevin Yates’ Framework for Proving L&D’s Performance Impact
Measuring Learning and Development’s true impact has long been a core challenge for the profession. Most teams suffer from a lack of useful metrics and struggle to show the link between their hard work and top-line business performance.
We’ve been measuring impact wrong, and it’s holding us back.
I recently spoke to “the L&D Detective®” Kevin Yates to discuss why it’s time to move beyond activity measures and embrace a new way of working.
Kevin shares how his updated L&D Detective Kit helps teams investigate performance impact, diagnose business needs, and prove value through collective contributions across the performance ecosystem. From redefining training requests to adopting the mindset of an “impact investigator,” this conversation offers a roadmap for L&D professionals ready to demonstrate real business outcomes.
Here are five key takeaways from our conversation. You can listen to the full episode here:
Measuring impact requires a “village mindset”
For Kevin, the way we measure L&D’s value needs a fundamental shift. Instead of trying to isolate the impact of training alone, performance must be understood as the result of many interconnected factors across the organization.
“Do we measure the impact of eggs or flour in a cake by themselves? No, because it takes all of those ingredients to bake a cake. Similarly, it takes a village to impact workplace performance.
“I’m looking to measure collective contributions in the workplace performance ecosystem. Including Training and Development and L&D, but not limited to that.”
To be seen as real business partners, L&D teams must move away from isolated metrics and instead focus on proving how collective contributions drive real business outcomes.
“Do we really want to measure the impact of eggs or flour in a cake by themselves? No, because it takes all of those ingredients to bake a cake.”
Activity metrics don’t prove impact
LMS systems provide plenty of measurements that may be useful on their face: completions, hours logged, and satisfaction scores, for example. These are easy to gather and monitor, but they don’t necessarily capture whether learning is actually driving performance.
“We’ve spent years reporting on activity, on attendance, completion, hours, and satisfaction,” says Kevin. “But if we want to measure impact, we need to capture how training, learning and L&D is contributing to business and human performance.”
This means moving beyond convenience metrics and embracing the more complex task of linking learning to outcomes. For L&D to gain credibility, success must be judged by performance signals, not participation numbers.
This is Kevin’s core mission as “the L&D Detective®,” and he provides some insights for how the rest of us can work towards it.
“If we want to measure impact, we need to capture how training, learning and L&D is contributing to business performance and human performance.”
Define “impact” clearly before trying to measure it
A common pitfall in L&D measurement is jumping straight to solutions without first clarifying what success actually looks like. We’re so eager to show our value to the organization that we rush to the end of the process.
“One of the biggest challenges,” argues Kevin, “is we haven’t proactively defined [impact] before we try to measure it. How difficult is it to measure something if you don’t know what it is you’re trying to measure? We go straight to solutions.
“How do we want to influence business performance? How do we want to influence human performance? We need to answer those questions first.”
Defining impact first transforms measurement from guesswork into a deliberate practice. By identifying desired effects on business and human performance upfront, L&D teams can align solutions with outcomes and ensure that measurement is targeted and meaningful.
“One of the biggest challenges is we haven’t proactively defined [impact] before we try to measure it. How difficult is it to measure something if you don’t know what it is you’re trying to measure? We go straight to solutions.”
Kevin’s 12-question framework to respond to training requests
L&D teams are constantly met with requests for new courses and training materials. Of course, new training isn’t always the right answer. But when we’re stuck in order-taking mode, it’s hard to push back and provide a better course of action.
To help, Kevin introduces the Workplace Performance Investigation Framework:
“There are 12 questions: six about business performance, and six about human performance. But none of them are about training. They’re narrowly focused on uncovering business needs.
“When we get the answers to those questions, we’re empowered to make the best possible recommendation for when training and learning is the right solution, and for when it isn’t. So we’re narrowly and purposefully focused on performance as an outcome of training and development and learning.”
Using this framework, L&D can uncover what the business really needs before deciding whether training is even the right response. This structured approach not only elevates the role of L&D but also ensures that learning initiatives are tightly linked to organizational goals.
L&D teams must become “impact investigators”
Kevin closes with a call to action for L&D practitioners: embrace the identity of “impact investigators.” This means adopting a performance consulting mindset and using tools like the Impact Blueprint to plan for outcomes from the start.
“Being an impact investigator means having a performance consulting mindset. We’re focused on business performance, human performance, and how L&D contributes to the workplace performance ecosystem.
“We're working differently, we're engaging differently. We're using different kinds of language. Impact investigators use L&D tools and solutions to help people be the best they can be in their roles. By providing experiences in which we’re all coming together to help the business achieve goals.
This mindset shift moves L&D from simply delivering training to playing a proactive role in diagnosing challenges, shaping solutions, and proving value.
For the future of the profession, Kevin argues, becoming an impact investigator is essential.
About Kevin M. Yates
Kevin M. Yates is known as “the L&D Detective®,” investigating the impact of training and learning on workplace performance. With over 25 years of experience across major brands like McDonald’s, Meta, and Grant Thornton, Kevin brings a practical, data-driven approach to measuring learning’s contribution to business results. His work empowers L&D teams to go beyond activity metrics and uncover real evidence of performance impact.
Kevin is also the founder of Meals in the Meantime, a nonprofit tackling food insecurity with the same focus on measurable outcomes.
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