Report

How to Measure the Business Impact of Executive Development - A practical guide

As demand for executive education soars, a new IMD report argues that calculating the return on investment is critical to justifying the spend in time and costs.
40 pages
January 2025

“At IMD, real learning and real impact is what we stand for and who we are as a world-class business school and trusted learning partner.”

Misiek Piskorski, Dean of Executive Education

The executive education market is set to double in the next five years, reaching an estimated value of more than $96bn by 2030. Yet evidence remains relatively scant about the measurable impact that programs deliver. As more and more CEOs start to prioritize impact measurement, with almost 75% looking for clear proof of return on investment, there is a growing imperative for learning partners to capture the quantitative as well as qualitative impact their offerings seek to deliver.

A new report by IMD sheds light on the need for greater accountability in executive education and showcases our own measurement framework: an approach predicated on the industry standard ROI Methodology® that captures data at critical inflection points to pinpoint impact on learning and quantifiable business goals and outcomes.

 

How to measure the business impact of executive development also shares a set of clear and actionable recommendations for human resource, talent and learning leaders who want to:

  • Assess the real business impact of executive education programs.
  • Leverage the data to adjust and improve successive learning programs.
  • Share key data with sponsors and decision-makers.
  • Demonstrate the value of executive education programs in terms of business impact and ROI.

 

Measuring ROI defines what we do at IMD. Our motto is “Real Learning, Real Impact.” Defining the impact needed, calibrating the learning journey to deliver that impact, and systematically capturing the value created is at the core of what we offer through our programs for executives and organizations.

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