5-Step L&D Engagement Framework That Moves the Revenue Needle

Is your L&D engagement strategy focused on who showed up or through course completions in your LMS?

It's time to think bigger. Basic metrics often fail to show the real impact learning is having or not having on your business. In our recent IDIODC episode, Becky Willis, a learning strategist with Tractus highlighted how true engagement drives employee growth, builds critical skills, and delivers measurable business outcomes.

In this article we explore how L&D leaders can shift their focus from tracking less impactful activity to fostering strategic engagement that makes a difference to a business's bottom line.

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Redefining Engagement: Beyond Clicks and Completions

The most common measurements of Learning and Development 'effectiveness' are completions and attendance. As Becky points out, this provides minimal insight into your learners' actual engagement with the content and its application to their work.

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At one point in her career at HP, Ms. Willis noted that only 8% of employees were using a major content library they had deployed. It wasn't until further investigation that they discovered one of the core reasons was that their learners simply felt overwhelmed with choices. They were not engaging at almost any level because they couldn't easily find what they needed and didn’t have any directed assistance in choosing the content that best fit their needs.

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To begin capturing meaningful engagement in your organization, Becky argues that you need to change not only what you are measuring but also how you are approaching learning. Some of these changes include:

• Active Participation
  ‍As a rule, in your design phase, you should provide content that enables learners to actively interact, practice, apply knowledge, and develop their skills. In other words, you want them truly engaged in the learning experience.

• Self Regulation
  ‍With adult learners, enabling them to manage their own learning process through activities such goal-setting, monitoring, and adapting strategies has a positive impact on effectiveness.

• Social Connection
  ‍While many focus on instructor led or self paced content, creating blended learning experiences where your learners get a chance to collaborate and connect with others to apply their skills can be a crucial element in increasing engagement. This can be done in a blended environment or by adding collaborative and competitive elements to self paced experiences.

• Skill Development
  ‍Ultimately, we need to remember why our learners are taking training. They are seeking to improve their skills and advance their careers. When creating training to provide, be sure to tie it back to the specific skills that will keep them growing and increase their value to your organization.

• Business Relevance
  ‍Hand in hand with employee skill development are business problems. Learning activities need to be clearly tied to solving business problems and achieving organizational goals.

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As you begin to implement these types of changes, you will want to make sure you have or seek out a modern learning platform that can enable the capturing and reporting of multiple measure points so you can begin to tap into these changes and assess their level of impact.

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The Business Case for Improving Learner Engagement

Why does the shift away from vanity metrics matter? Because disengaged employees are costly. Ensuring that your workforce is properly engaged delivers tangible, long-term business benefits:

Retention & Skills Gaps

Most organizations worry about retention. The 2025 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report (PDF) shows 90% of employees would stay longer if companies invested in their skills. This addresses the critical priority of upskilling.

Performance & Productivity

Engaged learners acquire and apply skills faster, boosting job performance, quality, and productivity. Measuring the long-term impact often shows significant ROI. Meanwhile, disengagement leads to errors and slower ramp-up times.

Adaptability & Innovation

With rapid AI evolution and adoption, workforce adaptability is key. The LinkedIn report notes adapting to AI/automation is a top L&D focus. Engaged learners are better equipped for change. In today's landscape, humans with AI will replace those without.

Ignoring more meaningful engagement means missing these benefits, failing on skills gaps, and losing talent.

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Speaking the C-Suite's Language

Despite clear benefits, L&D often struggles for executive buy-in. Becky highlighted a startling statistic: 51% of executives don't believe learning is worth the money or time.

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Why the disconnect? L&D often talks about activities (courses, completions), while executives care about outcomes (revenue, costs, efficiency). To bridge this gap:

• Speak their language by linking initiatives to tangible business results and KPIs

• Always ask "What business problem are we solving?"

• Frame solutions around metric impact rather than learning activities

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Moving Beyond Basic L&D: The 5 Es Framework for Strategic Engagement

Focusing on business outcomes is central to advancing L&D's maturity. Becky referenced a Learning Maturity Model by David James, which outlines five levels from reactive compliance-focused order-taking to transformative strategic partnership.

The sobering reality? Two-thirds of companies are stuck at levels 1 (Unconscious Learning Delivery) or 2 (Conscious Learning Delivery) - either in reactive mode or running underutilized content libraries. Moving up requires a strategic mindset, executive buy-in, modern technology, and a comprehensive approach.

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To systematically build strategic engagement and advance organizational learning maturity, Becky and Tractus Learning advocate the 5 Es of Learning Engagement framework:

1. Executive Buy-In: Gaining top-level sponsorship

2. Experience Technology: Leveraging platforms for seamless experiences

3. Excited Learners: Marketing learning and creating relevance

4. Engaged Champions: Utilizing internal experts

5. Empowered Employees: Fostering learner ownership

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E #1. Secure Executive Buy-In: The View from the Top

Without leadership support, resources and cultural change are nearly impossible. Executives set the tone, and visible participation signals that learning is valued organization wide.

Key strategies:

• Align learning initiatives with business goals through executive meetings

• Secure visible endorsements via videos and leadership messages

• Encourage executive participation in learning activities

• Provide regular needs and skills assessments to leadership

• Partner with communications teams to amplify learning messages

Track success through executive sponsor numbers, leadership participation frequency, and engagement rates in teams with visible leadership support.

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E #2. Elevate the Experience: Technology That Connects

Outdated technology kills motivation. Modern platforms enable personalization, social learning, skills development, and robust analytics needed to advance beyond basic L&D maturity.

Essential actions:

• Evaluate and select modern platforms (LXP, integrated LMS/LXP, AI-powered systems)

• Add interactive elements: virtual labs, interactive self-paced experiences, collaboration tools, skills integrations

• Utilize multimedia content that engages the learners with more try and check back exercises as well as social elements

• Ensure cross-device accessibility and standards compliance so you reach your entire audience equally

• Market platform benefits internally to drive adoption

If budget constraints exist, consider adding an LXP layer or focusing on curation and SME involvement within existing systems. Modern platforms inherently support diverse learning styles and self-regulated learning more effectively.

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E #3. Excite Your Audience: Marketing for Mindshare

Learning competes for attention. Effective marketing answers, "What's in it for me?" and connects learning opportunities to personal and professional goals.

Key strategies:

• Create learner personas and targeted communications for different groups

• Use teasers and trailers for upcoming programs and content

• Implement thoughtful gamification based on real motivation, not just points

• Offer meaningful rewards and recognition

• Share success stories from learners and content creators

Develop monthly learning calendars, align topics with business strategy, and partner with communications and HR teams. Ensure gamification is tied to genuine motivation rather than superficial point systems.

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E #4. Engage Your Champions: Amplifying Expertise

Internal subject matter experts and influencers bring credibility and relevance that external content often lacks. They can curate materials, share insights, answer questions, and foster team collaboration.

Key approaches:

• Identify potential champions through leader recommendations and platform data

• Develop clear criteria targeting critical skill areas

• Train champions in curation, platform tools, and peer coaching

• Run "Curate-a-thons" to quickly build skills and generate content

• Leverage their influence through sharing and regular check-ins

• Reward and recognize contributions publicly

Make participation easy, respect time constraints, and clearly demonstrate the value of their contributions.

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E #5. Empower Your People: Fostering Learner Ownership

Sustainable engagement comes from learners taking ownership of their development. Autonomy and relevance drive adult learning and foster the self-regulation skills needed for lifelong learning.

Key empowerment strategies:

• Ensure easy content discovery through effective search and tagging

• Develop personalized learning paths and plans

• Provide self-assessment and progress tracking tools

• Establish feedback loops through surveys and focus groups

• Support managers in career and development conversations

• Communicate regularly about learning updates and opportunities

Provide the right tools, clear pathways, manager support, and consistent communication about career development and internal mobility.

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Becoming a Business Growth Partner

Viewed strategically, learner engagement is a business imperative, not just an L&D task. We must elevate the conversation beyond completions to focus on building skills, retaining talent, and driving measurable results.

By adopting frameworks like the 5 Es, securing executive buy-in, leveraging modern technology, and consistently communicating value, L&D can transform from a perceived cost center into a vital engine for organizational growth.

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How dominKnow | ONE Supports Your Engagement Journey

Implementing the 5 Es framework requires the right authoring technology, collaborative and operational workflows. dominKnow | ONE is designed to support your learner engagement transformation across all five areas:

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Executive Buy-In: Align with business objectives by partnering with leaders. Create compelling, interactive prototypes and demos that showcase business outcomes.

Experience Technology: Streamline your learning tech. Replace multiple tools with ONE powerful platform to create, manage, and scale engaging learning content — fast. Deliver a seamless, consistent experience across any device — within or without an LMS.

Excited Learners: Create buzz with targeted marketing. Showcase your personalized, multimedia-rich, and engaging learning experiences — tailored to each audience. Share real success stories to build trust and excitement.

Engaged Champions: Empower your experts to lead. Let SMEs, influencers, and leaders contribute on-the-fly through seamless collaborative workflows, real-time reviews, and effortless content updates — no tech skills required.

Empowered Employees: Drive career growth with smart content. Deliver personalized, role-specific learning and performance support — accessible anytime, on any device your learners choose.

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Our learning content management system streamlines the entire development lifecycle — so you can iterate fast, align with business needs, and boost learner engagement at scale.

‍Discover how dominKnow | ONE can supercharge your learning transformation.