{"id":89375,"date":"2026-07-14T20:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/degreed.com\/experience\/?p=89375"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:03:20","slug":"modern-learning-from-completions-to-business-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/degreed.com\/experience\/es-419\/blog\/modern-learning-from-completions-to-business-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring Modern Learning: Going From Completions to Business Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Business leaders have long been asking L&D to prove its value. To justify the cost. For a long time, the best option was a report of learning completions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the truth is, standard learning activity metrics (completions, time spent, satisfaction scores) don\u2019t answer the right question. They never have. The only question they answer is whether learning content was delivered to employees and completed by them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question leaders have always needed to answer is more consequential: Did the workforce get better at something that matters to the business?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With agentic AI on the rise, the speed at which a workforce can adapt is everything. Your business can only move as fast as your workforce can learn. Yet, according to ATD<\/a>, less than one third (30%) of organizations are good at using learning program data to make business decisions, probably because that data is hardly connected to the business in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s starting to change. New technical capabilities and a growing body of skill intelligence are finally making it possible to connect learning to business outcomes that leaders care about. Industry leaders gathered at Degreed Focus London 2026 to discuss these changes, how they\u2019re playing out in real organizations today, and what\u2019s next for personalized activity metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem with Measuring Learning Activity in L&D<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learning activity is easy to generate and measure. What’s difficult is connecting that activity to business-critical workforce capability outcomes. At Focus London, Lori Niles-Hofmann, Co-Founder of 8levers, said that L&D teams can string these metrics together to paint a<\/em> bigger picture. But that doesn\u2019t always mean it\u2019s the<\/em> bigger picture. The standard metrics are usually flimsy support for a meaningful conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could look at data-driven learning design and aggregate measurement to where we could start saying, \u2018Maybe X plus Y equals Z,\u2019 and we can put things together but it was sketchy,\u201d said Niles-Hofmann. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She proposed something better: closed-loop reporting, or the ability to \u201cmicro-isolate different types of learning interventions\u201d to identify their impact in real time. For example, if an employee was preparing for a sales conversation, the learning system should capture and assess that conversation\u2019s outcome as a direct result of the learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some businesses, like Capgemini, are already piloting this kind of skill proficiency assessment as a more accurate representation of business value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Capgemini Connected Skill Progression to Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m spending this amount of money on learning. Tell me what it’s delivering at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what Estelle Maione, Global Head of Learning at Capgemini, was consistently hearing from executives. With over 300,000 employees and a company identity built around skills-based careers, Capgemini couldn’t just assume there was a link between learning and business performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Since day one, we said that, as a company, we want to turn what we do with our skills into business impact,” Maione said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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