L&D is Connected to Emotion
If you’re a manager who’s approved a learning budget based on “gut,” you’re not alone. But you may be in danger.
For decades, the industry has relied on the ultimate oxymoron: the training happiness sheet. We’ve been told that if the staff enjoyed the “training session,” the coffee was hot, and the lunch was the right meal for everyone in attendance, the investment was a success. But satisfaction is not a business metric.
In fact, relying on vanity metrics is a clear sign that your organization is simply managing budget costs rather than a Business Operations Plan.
So, what are they you what are you doing Are you using a tuition-only budget?
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Movies, Math, and L&D
Although training happiness sheets are useful to some extent, they are not the result. They are a feeling.
To understand the difference, let me give a short analogy from the real world Croat (yes, it has been around since the 7th century, look it up).
I believe that art is to evoke a reaction, love, emotion. A work of art makes a real impact, stays with you for days, and inspires you to think about it. For the sake of the analogy, let’s agree on these terms.
Recently, homegrown, best-selling comics have come out of Croatia. It’s a really big deal in a country with a film industry at least 50 times that of the US. For the sake of comparison: The most successful Croatian film ever represents less than 0.5% of what a major US blockbuster earns at home. Croatia’s annual box office ($20–26 million total everything films) is less than what a single Hollywood blockbuster does in its opening weekend in the US market.
Oh, and this particular movie is the most successful yet. Ha!
Nevertheless, it is the most successful Croatian box-office movie of all time. PR does not expire: epic, amazingthe sequel is already foreseen. I went to see it with my friend, and when we were in, we left. My happy sheet would be zero. I didn’t find the narrative compelling, and the humor never came through.
But that is not the effect of the film.
The result is box-office figures. The result is disapproval from the church, because it finds the film offensive to the Catholic and Orthodox religions. The result reveals the hypocrisy of society behind the film. That conflict created greater visibility, drove more people to theaters and increased the value of the film significantly.
And it’s not something that can be directly measured. Nevertheless, the movie had a systemic impact on the market, regardless of whether individual viewers “enjoyed” the experience.
So, I think L&D would like to have that kind of impact, make that dynamic. We need to stop worrying about whether the audience enjoyed the session, and start measuring the results of our training. Does the program move the needle on revenue? Does it show inefficiency? Does it drive business forward?
The Myth of L&D Performance Measurement: Beyond Measurement
If learning is expected to deliver results, alignment and ownership must be defined in advance. However, this does not mean that everything should be measured at any cost. As Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch noted, a persistent problem in L&D is the assumption that if we can’t measure it, learning hasn’t happened.
In fact, significant improvement occurs by observing: listening to a leader, witnessing work ethics, or connecting with successful peers. Learning happens everywhere. The goal we strive for is not just “matching,” but aligning your strategies with your specific business goals. As Gonsalves-Fersch continues, the industry tends to measure readings by what is “attended and eaten,” which is seen as a point of system failure.
If alignment between learning and goals is something you want to achieve, you need to step back and look at the bigger picture, not just one aspect of learning (be it your feelings, or someone else’s). By using a structured framework, leadership can dominate the broader workplace rather than reacting to individual training events. In such a case, the learning will be memorable, seamless, and measurable in its measurable part.
The Intangible Essence
Certain skills are the cornerstones of a high-performance environment, yet they overlook simple measurement. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top five skills are human in nature:
- 69% analytical thinking
- 67% endurance, flexibility, and agility
- 61% leadership and social impact
- 57% creative thinking
- 52% motivation and self-awareness (World Economic Forum)
A typical course rarely translates directly to increased self-awareness or creativity. However, these skills determine the success of the organization. This fact means that learning strategies cannot be copied; what works for one organization will not work for another.
All this means that L&D roles are plastic. What is important is to acknowledge that while some aspects of growth are at the right level, a controlled study program and performance must be built into the component is something quantifiable – one that is at its core relevant to the business. One is not more important than the other, but only one provides the necessary predictive leadership.
You don’t need to measure occupancy, or collect satisfaction surveys. All you have to do is develop a plan that allows you to connect learning and training to business results.
The Dystopia of 2020
Of course that is. The data suggests we are stuck in a loop. ATD reports that 70% of organizations in 2024 will still use employee satisfaction as their primary performance metric. By 2023 this was 67%. (ATD: 44) Furthermore, 75% of organizations still use learning hours to define success. (ATD: 51) These vanity metrics show that happiness sheets and seat time are still being mistaken for strategic impact.
How you plan all of this is important, and check out the article “Spending Money or Making Money: What’s Your Learning Strategy Doing?” for more statistics on the state of the industry.
Measurement Myth from another source: 40% of companies still rely on training happiness sheets to judge success in 2025, while only 8% use ROI metrics. (Voxy: 18) We must accept that although part of human growth cannot be measured, the investment itself must be controlled.
Fortunately, there are frameworks available that allow C-level teams to finally see how learning drives the bottom line.
If you are tired of financing happy sheets and ready to seek predictable results, there is a better way. Contact eWyse to develop a system where learning is managed, measured, and managed at a high level.
References:
Association for Talent Development (ATD). 2025 Industry Status. May 2025.
Cardoz, Josh, and Pasterfield, Kate, host. “IL&D as a value creation center – with Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch. Part I” The Unforgettable Learning Podcast, episode 18, Sponge, 5 September 2024,
Cardoz, Josh, and Pasterfield, Kate, host. “IL&D as a value creation center – with Dr. Serena Gonsalves-Fersch. Part I” The Unforgettable Learning Podcast, episode 19, Sponge, 12 September 2024,
Voxy. 2025 Global L&D Benchmark Survey. January 2025.
World Economic Forum. The Future of Jobs 2025 Report. 7 January 2025. URL: Accessed 9 February 2026.
in Wyse
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