Proving the Value of Soft Skills: Measuring Impact and Calculating ROI

A Step-by-Step Guide to Showing the Value of Soft Skill Programs

As organizations rise to meet the challenges of technological innovation, globalization, changing customer needs and perspectives, demographic shifts, and new work arrangements, their mastery of soft skills will likely be the defining difference between thriving and merely surviving. Yet few executives champion the expenditure of resources to develop these critical skills. Why is that and what can be done to change this thinking?

For years, managers convinced executives that soft skills could not be measured and that the value of these programs should be taken on faith. Executives no longer buy that argument but demand the same financial impact and accountability from these functions as they do from all other areas of the organization.

In Proving the Value of Soft Skills, measurement and evaluation experts Patti Phillips, Jack Phillips, and Rebecca Ray contend that efforts can and should be made to demonstrate the effect of soft skills. They also claim that a proven methodology exists to help practitioners articulate those effects so that stakeholders' hearts and minds are shifted toward securing support for future efforts.

This book reveals how to use the ROI Methodology to clearly show the impact and ROI of soft skills programs. The authors guide readers through an easy-to-apply process that includes:

• business alignment
• design evaluation
• data collection
• isolation of the program effects
• cost capture
• ROI calculations
• results communication.

Use this book to align your programs with organizational strategy, justify or enhance budgets, and build productive business partnerships. Included are job aids, sample plans, and detailed case studies.

About the Authors

Patti P. Phillips

Patti Phillips, CEO of ROI Institute, is a renowned leader in measurement and evaluation. Patti helps organizations implement the ROI Methodology in more than 70 countries around the world. Since 1997, Patti has been a driving force in the global adoption of the ROI Methodology and the use of measurement and evaluation to drive organizational change. Her work as an educator, researcher, consultant, and coach supports practitioners as they develop their own expertise to help organizations and communities thrive. Her work spans private, public, nonprofit, and nongovernmental organizations.

Patti is a member of the board of trustees of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations. She is the chair of the Institute for Corporate Productivity People Analytics Board; principal research fellow for The Conference Board; board chair of the Center for Talent Reporting (CTR); and is an Association for Talent Development (ATD) Certification Institute fellow. Patti also serves on the faculty of the UN System Staff College in Turin, Italy.

Patti has a PhD in international development and a master's degree in public and private management. Her work has been featured on CNBC and Euronews, and in more than a dozen business journals. She has authored a number of books on the subject of measurement, evaluation, analytics, and ROI. Patti Phillips can be reached at patti@roiinstitute.net.

Jack J. Phillips

Jack J. Phillips, PhD, is a world-renowned expert on accountability, measurement, and evaluation. He is also chairman of ROI Institute, through which he provides consulting services for Fortune 500 companies and workshops for major conference providers around the world. His expertise in measurement and evaluation is based on more than 27 years of corporate experience in the aerospace, textiles, metals, construction materials, and banking industries. Jack has served as a training and development manager at two Fortune 500 firms, senior HR officer at two firms, president of a regional federal savings bank, and management professor at a major state university. He has served on the boards of several private businesses, including two NASDAQ companies, and several nonprofits and associations, including the Association for Talent Development and the National Management Association.

Jack is also the author or editor of more than 100 books and more than 300 articles. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune magazine, and he has been interviewed by several television programs, including CNN. Meeting News named him one of the 25 Most Powerful People in the Meetings and Events Industry three times, based on his work on ROI. The Society for Human Resource Management honored a Phillips ROI study with its highest award for creativity, and ATD awarded Jack with the Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Development award. In 2017, Jack received the Brand Personality Award from Asia Pacific Brands Foundation for his work as an international consultant, author, teacher, and speaker. The International Society for Performance Improvement gave him the prestigious Thomas F. Gilbert Award in 2018.

Jack has undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering, physics, and mathematics; a master's degree in decision sciences from Georgia State University; and a PhD in human resource management from the University of Alabama. He can be reached at jack@roiinstitute.net.

Jack and Patti Phillips received the Distinguished Contributor Award from the Center for Talent Reporting for their contribution to the measurement and management of human capital in February 2019. In addition, the Thinkers50 organization recognized Patti and Jack as two of the initial Top 50 World Leaders in Coaching in November 2019. They were also listed as top finalists for the Marshall Goldsmith Distinguished Achievement Award in Coaching. Additionally, ROI Institute was the winner of the measurement, testing, and assessment category of the 2019 Training Magazine Network Choice Awards program.

Together, Jack and Patti contribute to a variety of journals and have authored a number of books on the subject of accountability and ROI including their most recent books, Return on Investment (ROI) Basics, 2nd edition (ATD Press 2019) and Value for Money: How to Show the Value for Money for All Types of Projects and Programs in Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations, Nonprofits, and Businesses (Wiley 2019).

Rebecca Ray

Rebecca Ray, executive vice president, human capital, is a member of the executive committee and leads the U.S. human capital center. She is responsible for member engagement and retention as well as the quality and integration of all offerings across the human capital spectrum, including research, peer learning networks (councils), conferences, webcasts, and experiential and executive events. Previously, Rebecca was an executive at several leading organizations, including three Fortune 50 companies. She has been responsible for talent acquisition, learning and leadership development, employee engagement, performance management, executive assessment, coaching, and succession management.

A contributor to Forbes, Rebecca is a frequent speaker at conferences and briefings around the world. Her research, commentary, and the accomplishments of her teams have been featured in the Financial Times, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, Chief Learning Officer, Training, Human Resources, HR People + Strategy (HRPS) and Talent Management. She was named Chief Learning Officer of the Year by Chief Learning Officer magazine and one of the Top 100 People in Leadership Development by Leadership Excellence magazine. Tapped for membership in the prestigious Marshall Goldsmith 100, Rebecca received a PhD from New York University.