The Association for Talent Development's new research found that only 43 percent of talent development professionals say their business and learning goals are aligned.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- New research by the Association for Talent Development (ATD) revealed that only 30 percent of organizations are good at using learning program data to make business decisions.
"Aligning learning goals with business goals is crucial" according to ATD's The Future of Evaluating Learning and Measuring Impact: Improving Skills and Addressing Challenges research report, sponsored by Zensai. "Doing so positions the TD function as a full business partner and ensures that employees are receiving training that supports the overall success of the organization."
While most organizations collect participant satisfaction data (93 percent) and evaluation data from different sources (average of three), a top barrier to training evaluation is a lack of staff and time to conduct evaluations, learning evaluation is not a priority in organizations, and staff does not have access to the necessary data to conduct high-level evaluations.
Key findings from the report include:
- For the 29 percent of respondents who do not measure and evaluate their learning programs, the greatest challenge is isolating the impact of training on results, with more than half considering it a major challenge.
- While 90 percent of respondents indicated that the difficulty in isolating a training program's impact on results is a challenge, only 15 percent are ready to address it.
- Almost three-quarters of respondents said that AI will have a positive impact on measurement and evaluation in the next two years, with 28 percent believing the impact will be extremely positive.
Less than half (45 percent) of organizations have a dedicated staffer responsible for evaluating learning programs. "Involve the whole team in the measurement strategy, even if it's a small piece. Measurement needs to be part of what we do, not an add on, so everybody should understand it and be contributing to it," advocates Jess Almlie, a contributor to the report.
ATD surveyed 277 talent development professionals to discover how an organization's evaluation efforts support its learning goals, the data sources and methods involved in evaluating learning, and how measurement and evaluation efforts might evolve in the next two years.
ATD is hosting a [free webinar about the report on May 8 at 2 p.m. ET.
About ATD
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world's largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
ATD's members come from more than 100 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports TD professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led US chapters and international member networks and with international strategic partners.
For more information, visit td.org.
Media Contact
Paula Ketter, Association for Talent Development, 7036838100, [email protected], td.org
SOURCE Association for Talent Development
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