Instructional designers and talent development professionals often instinctively approach the design of training programs with the goal of helping people learn. Their formal education around learning theory and how people learn often underscores this natural tendency. It is only in recent years that the need to justify the value of developing and implementing training (and not cutting such training programs) is forcing TD professionals to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of programs in terms of costs, revenue savings, and growth. TD professionals often see themselves in the people profession and not as much in the money profession. The reality is that they are in both and they need to see themselves in this context.

To ensure they can help employees learn, improve employee retention, reduce employee error, achieve employee compliance, and improve customer satisfaction, instructional designers and TD leaders need to prove that these efforts help the bottom-line and send the message to business leaders. Business leaders speak the language of money fluently. It’s time for TD professionals to speak that language as well. 

This is the first ever book of its kind. Not an M&E textbook, this book is written by a successful business strategist and HR executive who understands the mindset of an instructional designer and talent development professional and can help them adopt an approach, through the use of M&E, that will help them help themselves and their organizations.

Whether instructional designer or TD leader, this book teaches TD professionals to:

• Make the case for the TD function as a strategy for achieving business goals.
• Ensure TD programs are aligned to the company’s strategic objectives.
•  Design and develop effective TD programs.
• Demonstrate to business leaders measurable added value in revenue and in employee success.

This book also supports the growing need for TD professionals to better understand organization development and the larger goals and structure of the greater organization. 

Kris Newbauer is the chief human resource officer (CHRO) and head of global people and talent at Rotary International. ATD will be working with him to promote this book through his network.

Evaluation-oriented instructional design that delivers business results.

Rethink how to design training instruction to meet bottom-line business goals. With his eight-step framework for measurement and evaluation-focused instructional design, Kristopher Newbauer offers a straightforward process for helping instructional designers and talent development (TD) leaders demonstrate and actualize their value while also transforming their attitude toward an often-dreaded practice.

With Aligning Instructional Design With Business Goals, improve your business acumen by adopting the language of your business leaders. Enhance the partnership among measurement and evaluation specialists, instructional designers, and business leaders to improve the TD function. Uncover the root cause of performance gaps to design more meaningful instruction—and thus increase ROI.

With case studies and examples to illustrate, learn to:

• Promote your TD function as a strategy for achieving business goals.
• Ensure TD programs are aligned to the company’s strategic objectives.
• Design and develop effective TD programs.
• Demonstrate to business leaders measurable added value in revenue and employee success.