Why Vanity Metrics Are Killing Your L&D Strategy

L&D has a vanity problem. 

I’m talking, of course, about vanity metrics.

For L&D, these metrics include the standardised stuff your LMS or learning content tool will churn out. 

But what if I told you that only utilising these metrics is hurting your internal L&D brand. This blog will dive into the biggest vanity metrics in L&D, why they might be killing your strategy and how you can start tracking metrics that matter. 

What are vanity metrics, and why are they so tempting?

Vanity metrics are defined by Tableau as: "metrics that make you look good to others, but do not help you understand your own performance in a way that informs future strategies. These metrics are exciting to point to if you want to appear to be improving, but they often aren’t actionable and aren’t related to anything you can control or repeat in a meaningful way.”

A few examples of vanity metrics for L&D include:

• Course completions
• Views
• Single survey responses
• Training attendance

One thing you will notice about these metrics is that they are very easily measurable. 

Your LMS will have boilerplate dashboards that report on these things, and they’re usually quite easy to control by publishing more content, or starting an internal email campaign.

This ease of use and ease of control is what sucks you in, but there’s a darker side to this over-reliance on ease…

The real cost: How vanity metrics derail strategy

The issue with focusing on vanity metrics is the separation between positive business outcomes and the metrics you are measuring.

Let me give you an example.

Say you want to increase safety on your worksite. 

You put together a training, and email everyone in the company to complete it.

You measure how many people complete it.

But that doesn’t actually make people safer on the worksite. 

It’s part of the whole picture, for sure, but it’s not the actual core driver of success.

And, similarly to marketing, there are two massive issues with focusing on these surface level metrics.

The first is reputational damage. 

If what you are measuring and the core business success drivers are significantly separated, then when significant KPIs for the business slide but you’re reporting WoW and QoQ increases in your metrics, you’re going to start to be seen as a cost center rather than a value driver.

The second big risk is that by measuring the wrong things, you can make poor decisions that drive up your vanity metrics, but don’t have the bottom of funnel effects you want your training to have. 

For example, you’ll make courses shorter to increase completion, but maybe this actually makes it less effective and causes more real-world issues (such as more workplace incidents) that L&D is supposed to be tackling. 

What You Should Be Measuring L&D On Instead

Instead of measuring course completions and metrics your LMS spits out as a base level, there is a framework for measuring metrics that matter.

These are:

• Proof of Knowledge: Did they learn it?
• Proof of Skill: Can they do it?
• Proof of Performance: Are they doing it at work?

Proof of Knowledge

This is your foundation. It answers the question: Did they learn the information?

You're looking for evidence that learners understood and retained the core content. This could be measured through short assessments, knowledge checks, or reflective exercises built into the experience. 

But be careful not to fall into the vanity metric trap again - this isn’t about high quiz scores for the sake of reporting. 

It’s about verifying comprehension that’s essential for the next step.

Proof of Skill

Next, move from knowing to doing. 

Proof of skill answers: Can they apply what they learned?

This often requires scenario-based assessments, simulations, or practical tasks where learners demonstrate the skill in a realistic context. 

It's where theory meets practice, and it’s a crucial step in making sure learning transfers beyond the learning environment. 

Peer assessments, manager observations, or skill demonstrations can all support this.

Proof of Performance

This is the gold standard, and where every L&D department should be focused on getting to. 

It tells you: Are they using the skill effectively in their real-world role?

This might mean changes in sales figures, reduced error rates, faster onboarding times - whatever KPIs reflect the business problem the learning was designed to solve. 

To measure this, you need to collaborate with the business. 

Integrate performance metrics, gather ongoing feedback, and track real outcomes over time.

Per my earlier point, this is exactly how you shift the perception of L&D from a cost center to a value driver. 

If you can confidently walk into meetings alongside traditional value driving departments like sales and marketing, and point to specific initiatives that have benefited specific business-wide KPIs, you’re going to find budget freeing up, and L&D finally being given the respect it deserves.

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Making the shift: From outputs to outcomes in L&D

The way to get started is a full review of exactly what you are tracking right now, and mapping those to whether they provide Proof of Knowledge, Skill or Performance.

If they are just activity-based, then you know you need to probe a bit deeper.

The second step is getting a very solid understanding and grasp of core business metrics. 

Is it your opportunity-to-close rate? Accident reduction? Time to response? Once you have this understanding, you can start building in ways that your L&D team can contribute.

The third and final step is to start building iterative feedback loops that take in both quantitative and qualitative feedback from different stakeholders around the business. 

Are your metrics that measure Skill, Knowledge and Performance increasing? 

Are you getting positive comments from other departments? 

Are you receiving ways to improve? 

All of these are incredibly important to be able to turn your L&D strategy from set-and-forget to a living, breathing and adapting training strategy. 

Conclusion

Vanity metrics might offer a comforting sense of progress - but they’re just noise if they can’t tell you what’s actually working to improve business outcomes. 

If you’re still reporting on course completions and attendance alone, you’re not just missing the point - you’re missing the opportunity to prove the real value of the things L&D do day-in and day-out.

Your L&D strategy (and you) deserves better than surface-level success. 

By shifting your focus to meaningful measures like proof of knowledge, skill, and performance, you’ll start to uncover the real business impact of your work - and elevate the role of learning from service provider to strategic driver.

Let go of what’s easy to count. Start tracking what actually counts.

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