EFMD Corporate Services introduces LIFT – Learning Impact for Today and Tomorrow, the first learning impact certification. LIFT allows learning functions to engage their stakeholders in analysing how learning delivers impact to them in a spirit of continuous improvement.

Demonstrating impact has been a focus for Learning Functions for quite some time. And yet, in most organizations, a gap exists between what learning functions currently measure and what business executives would like to see reported.

In addition, after massive mobilisation during the pandemic to transform face-to-face into virtual learning, learning functions are now working through how to find a new balance. This, combined with the emergence of new ways of working as well as continued advances in technology and artificial intelligence, means that the learning function is designing interventions in totally new ways whose impact is still being tested.

With all these challenges, it is more important than ever to ensure the impact of learning solutions can be measured in order to demonstrate the results learning delivers to the business, the participants and even society at large.

Within this context, EFMD Corporate Services has designed the first learning impact certification called LIFT – Learning Impact for Today and Tomorrow. Its goal is to allow learning functions to examine their approach to impact throughout the learning value chain and engage them in a continuous improvement process to ensure the business and learners grasp the intended value.

LIFT is peer driven, academically grounded, practitioner centric and focused on supporting learning functions in positioning themselves as strategic partners. It draws on the EFMD’s extensive accreditation experience using a design thinking approach to engage over 30 recognized learning functions and world renowned business schools.  It has been successfully piloted across 3 learning functions in 2023 and is now being launched more widely.  LIFT is open to all learning functions irrespective of their EFMD membership, and the certification is valid for a 3-year period.

Through the lenses of the organisation, learners, society at large and the learning team itself, LIFT is focused on 4 criteria:

1. The comprehensiveness of a learning function’s impact frameworks
2. Their application of those frameworks
3. The involvement of stakeholders in the learning functions approach to impact
4. The learning function’s current reporting on impact as well as their stakeholders’ acknowledgement of it

Through a 6-step process, LIFT provides a learning function with a dashboard and report that underlines the its maturity based on industry standards and best practices.  It underlines their strengths and provides them insights on how to further mature their approach – enabling them to benchmark themselves and engage in a process of continuous improvement.

Over the coming weeks, additional blog posts will be made to explore further LIFT’s criteria.

For more information on LIFT, consult the website or contact Shanshan Ge or Steven Smith.