In this post, David Rosenfeld of athenahealth shares how he used “Reporting Out Loud” to encourage a behavior change within an L&D team so learning analytics isn’t just icing on the cake, but rather, it’s baked into their strategy and programs.

After combining the data from annual learning measurement surveys with L&D practitioner stories shared during Insights Summits, we’ve noticed a growing shift in the way both L&D professionals and the organization as a whole view learning analytics. That is, L&D doesn’t just want to measure learning's impact, the broader organization is actually prioritizing it. In this post, we’ll discuss the meaning behind these trends and how L&D departments can continue to develop their measurement practices.

A few years ago, we explored why L&D should use data and analytics in data storytelling. Since then, we've seen practitioners go from concept and ideas to storytelling in practice. Over the next several posts, we’ll dive into how real organizations view learning analytics and how they are using their data narratives to gain buy-in, effect change, and showcase improvement across L&D initiatives.

We’re taking a quick detour from our Data Storytelling series for a bonus lesson on how to get to the data that will become the star of your story. In this post, we’ll tell you why visualizing a data ecosystem for your organization is important and how you can build your own. It all comes down to maps—the most visual way to represent where you are and where you can go. Similarly, before you can use data, you have to know where to find it and where to send it.

Up to this point in our Data Storytelling series we’ve not only covered the importance of telling stories with data, but also how to structure stories using the Hero’s Journey. But like any great writer, you need to consider two critical aspects before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Specifically, you need to know your audience and your goal for telling them your story—otherwise, you risk wasting a lot of time and losing the interest of key stakeholders.

So far in this blog series, we’ve discussed the importance of data storytelling and covered how to use the STAR model to share your achievements as you might during a job interview. Now, we’ll explore how to draw from Hollywood’s version of storytelling—using the Hero’s Journey framework (departure, initiation, return)—to create an engrossing, transformative story.

As an L&D practitioner, you collect learning data, build reports, and create analytics infrastructure to make better-informed decisions. But if no one is listening to you, then what’s the point? In this post, we'll explore the basics of crafting an interesting, compelling story with your L&D data.

Once you’ve collected, measured, and evaluated your learning data—what’s next? How do you use that information to promote L&D and show off the value and impact of your learning programs? Knowing how to craft engaging and interesting stories that directly relate to various areas, teams, and departments across your organization takes careful planning and execution.