Issue 39 - July 2010

Greetings from abdi
abdi ltd has a depth of experience unique in the UK, in impact measurement and ROI within L&D. We teach the tools to effectively plan, measure and evaluate all business activity. To discover how abdi can help you and your organisation, visit our website at www.abdi.eu.com

• Editorial
  
• Working with Barclays; an Interview with Jonathan Eighteen, Programme Director for Group Learning
  
• Abdi's new office
  
• Thinking of running an in-house course?
  
• Certificates awarded
• Public Course dates 
  

Editorial

Is outsourcing of learning and development services on the increase or decrease? The published data seems to suggest a slight decrease in the use of outsource L&D providers since 2008 but some attribute this to the economic downturn and ironically, a view that in this climate, in-house can provide what's needed at lower cost! Here in the UK, the impression is of consolidation into a handful of big players with a lot of pressure on price.

The challenge for the client side is to avoid the trap of only thinking about cost. Stripping out fixed cost may look highly attractive as an immediate benefit together with the prospect of getting a flexible quality resource to service a variety of L&D needs without having to manage multiple providers. My experience however, is that it's rare for a single tier one supplier to provide all the expertise and specialist knowledge needed. Not only is it well nigh impossible for one organisation to have world class expertise across a breadth of topics and sectors but it is also difficult to sustain that leading edge expertise over the lifetime of a contract (often up to 5-6 years).

One real issue today is that a number of these big outsource firms derive substantial revenues from public sector contracts and recent government proposed and actual cuts in public expenditure has put several of these business under pressure. This means margins on existing client business are being squeezed and there is no likelihood of investment in quality and staying ahead in knowledge and skills. 

Some outsource suppliers do provide services through managed second tier and specialist suppliers which is one way of meeting the challenge of providing a full service. But again, pressure to maintain their margins may end up putting a squeeze on specialist second tier suppliers. Given the general impact of the economic conditions of the last couple of years in the supply side, sub contractors dependent on these tier one providers may experience the same kind of vulnerability that has impacted so heavily over the last couple of decades on local food suppliers supplying to retail multiples.

My sense is that clients are beginning to wonder whether the benefits of fixed cost reduction from outsourcing may be undermined by a decline in real value and benefit due to these economic pressures as large outsource providers adjust to changed market conditions. As always, it's a case of buyer beware. Return on investment has two components, cost and benefit.  Reducing cost may also reduce benefit - the question is 'are you (not your outsource 'partner') tracking and monitoring the benefits from your training investment’ - and if not, why not?

If you'd like to know more about the services we provide to clients managing outsource supplier contracts and reporting requirements, please contact us at info@abdi.eu.com or call 01223 360240.


Working with Barclays; an Interview with Jonathan Eighteen, Programme Director for Group Learning

Since the start of this calendar year, we've been working with a team at Barclays led by Jonathan Eighteen, Programme Director for Group Learning. The team made the decision last year that they really needed to apply much greater rigour in measuring business impact and proving value from L&D investments. The vision is to provide multi level evaluation and ROI on relevant major programmes, in the short term across the UK Retail Bank and then rolling out across other L&D teams across the Group globally. 'This will allow us to fully align learning needs to business objectives, whether the objective is an uplift in capability to meet new business opportunities or to address specific business performance improvements. We want to make sure we focus on real business outcomes and track results at all levels from employee engagement through learning, performance change and business impact and report value for our investment through rigorously measured ROI results.'

This will help managers in global retail banking gain a data driven perspective on what drives results from people and the aim is to use ROI forecasting to help make better investment decisions. 'Our aim is to ensure all L&D investment decisions start with understanding the business results we want to achieve. Using data collected at all levels; we can then determine whether the solution is the correct one, as effective and efficient as possible and real value for money.'
 
'For our L&D practioners, we hope this will enable them to engage in even more professional business focused conversations with key stakeholders using robust data. This can only help to build trust and confidence in L&D as a measurable contributor to Barclays' growth, profitability and customer service' added Jonathan.

It's great to be working with Jonathan and the team at Barclays, knowing that there is a real commitment across the L&D leadership all levels to become an exemplar in delivering business results and value from L&D investment. We look forward to supporting the teams there as they build up their capability in planning, measuring and reporting business impact and ROI on all major investments. If you'd like to know how you can join the growing group of practitioners of the ROI Methodology, the global industry standard for planning, measurement and reporting for L&D and other human capital investments, please contact us at info@abdi.eu.com 

Thinking of running an in-house course?

If you require any information about project or programme evaluation and consultancy services or would like to discuss the possibility of running one of our in-house courses to build the competency of your HR and L&D teams, contact us at  info@abdi.eu.com


Certificates awarded

We would like to say well done to the following candidates who have all passed and will receive their Edexcel ROI Foundation Award certificates.

Mandy Scott: Training Manger for CPCT, Sheffield Teaching Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust.
Beccy McGeehan: Releasing Time to Care Coordinator, Sheffield Teaching Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust.
Stephen Trafford: Moving and Handling Advisor, Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Paul Griffiths: Inter-Professional Patient Record Project Lead, Sheffield Teaching Hospital.

We would also like to say well done to the following candidate who has passed and will receive her Edexcel ROI Evaluator Award certificate.

Gillian M Swan


Public Course dates

ROI is a key tool for managing L&D and HR objectives and budgets.

Make yourself one of the smart practitioners who can bring Gold Standard impact planning and evaluation to your organisation - reserve your place on one of our 2010 courses now

ROI Foundation Certificate courses
20-21 September
15-16 November

ROI Evaluator Certificate courses
17-19 November

To talk about bringing our courses in-house to you and your colleagues, or to discuss hosting a course for your sector, distribution network or key stakeholders, place call (01223) 360240 or email us at info@abdi.eu.com for further information and course booking.

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