Developing Human Capital: Using Analytics to Plan and Optimize Your Learning and Development Investments

Introduction

Lew Walker

Not long ago I had the opportunity to meet with Gene Pease from his organization, Capital Analytics, Inc., now Vestrics. As our discussion was concluding, Gene left me a copy of his first book, Human Capital Analytics: How to Harness the Potential of Your Organization’s Greatest Asset. When Gene asked if I would be interested in collaborating on this book, I was excited to be given the chance to offer a perspective from the front lines. If you are like me, it’s a challenge to find time to update your skills or read a book with more than 200 pages, but as I had a few minutes here and there, I started reading. After quickly coming to the conclusion that I was not doing the book justice by only reading pieces and parts—and being very interested in the subject—I dedicated time to read it cover to cover. I found that it offers a road map to measure human capital, but more important, how to derive business value via measurement and calculation. From a practitioner’s perspective it showed a clear and comprehensible point of connection between the arcane world of measurement and statistics and the “what have you done for me lately?” mind-set that learning professionals deal with day in and day out today.

Over my professional career I have led every function within a human resources (HR) organization, and some outside it. From that vantage point, I’ve discovered that measuring the impact that training and development have on learners and organizations is the most ...