The real ROI of people development

If you want a great way to prove the ROI of learning and development, Advantage Partner Bennett Phillips says you need look no further than your organization’s most valuable asset on the balance sheet.

At next month’s HR Tennessee Conference, Phillips will lead a workshop based on a popular business simulation from our thought leader partners at 10,000 Feet called Interplay, more affectionately known by the thousands of participants who have sung its praises as “a mini MBA in a day.”

The 90-minute, interactive workshop will explore how intangible value is created in a company by focusing on what makes a company more valuable than its tangible assets minus its debt.

In other words, why is the stock of one company more valuable than that of its competitor of roughly equal size, revenue, etc.? The answer, of course, is Intangible Value (the delta between market cap and shareholders’ equity). The inevitable conclusion is that it comes down to the actions we take as managers – that’s where the delta comes from.

The choices we make and behaviors we display every day have a direct impact on the 3 primary categories of intangible value – Human Capital, Organizational Capital (systems, processes, infrastructure), and External Capital (customers, brand, reputation, etc.)

Organizational capital spans across IT, facilities, government, capital equipment, maintenance, and many other things. Customer and branding touch every part of the organization.

By extension, one could argue that the HR organization is the most valuable business unit. In many companies, intangible value represents a higher percentage of market cap than does tangible value. It is truly the only measure of a company’s performance outside of the P&L.

We in the Talent/HR space have the unique opportunity and privilege to make our companies more successful by maximizing the skills and the culture of our most important assets – people.

One Great Thing for 07.13.21 – Financial Formulas Cheat Sheet
A handy reference of financial ratios all business leaders must know
→ More great things