Where Training Drives Real Business Impact
Published Date
Use Business Levers to Connect Learning to Results
Not every business result ties neatly to a dollar figure—and not every learner has the same sphere of influence. That’s why we focus on levers: the specific business areas where participants can make visible, meaningful changes.
These levers become the foundation of the ROI Challenge™. By aligning action to specific levers, learners move from generic insights to targeted improvements.
Core Business Levers
The ROI Challenge™ Playbook organizes opportunity areas into high-impact categories. Examples include:
- Revenue: Small adjustments in pricing, upselling, or contract structure
- Cost: Reducing waste, improving resource use, shortening timeframes
- Cash: Negotiating terms, aligning receivables/payables, accelerating collections
- Assets: Optimizing inventory, repurposing underused equipment
- Communication: Sharing insights across functions to improve decision-making
- Team Capability: Strengthening peer or team business acumen
Some levers directly affect the financials. Others improve clarity, coordination, or operational efficiency—which still drive performance over time.
Matching Action to Role
Each participant chooses a lever that fits their level and function. A frontline leader might target shift-level cost or throughput. A regional manager might focus on margin mix or asset utilization.
What matters is not how big the move is—it’s that the move makes business sense, and that the logic is visible.
This approach makes it easier for L&D and senior leaders to see how training translates to actual business impact.
Strategic Visibility for L&D
By framing outcomes around specific business levers:
- You gain clearer insight into learner focus areas
- You get a more concrete view of how the simulation influenced thinking
- You can more easily aggregate and showcase outcomes to stakeholders
It turns ROI from a vague aspiration into something practical, visible, and action-driven.
Want to see how it works?
Explore the ROI Hub for more resources and examples—or download the worksheet to start identifying levers of your own.