How to Keep the Use of ROI from Being Overwhelming

Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D.

There is no doubt that with economic uncertainty, more executives are asking for the value of projects and programs. Sometimes this request includes the ROI calculation. Unfortunately, the perception of ROI is that it’s too complex, time-consuming, and will get the staff completely bogged down in details. Also, there is the fear of the outcome; the results may not be where we want them to be. How can we minimize this? Five specific actions will help:

1. Be selective in the use of ROI. Select only projects and programs that are very expensive, strategic, consume many resources, or attract a lot of executive attention. This is usually about 5 to 10 percent of your programs each year.
2. Share the tasks. Conducting an ROI study is not just the effort of the evaluation team, but every stakeholder has a part in helping collect the data, driving the results of the program, and participating in the process.
3. Design for the outcomes. In the beginning, if you take steps to start with why with business measures, select the right solution to improve the business measures, expect success, and use that expectation in the form of objectives to design for the results, then you won’t have disappointing results at the end.
4. Be proactive, don’t wait for the request. Tackle evaluation as a challenge. Drive the evaluation initiative and don’t let executives drive it. When an executive requests ROI unexpectedly, the timeframe for results will be short, you are on the defensive, and ROI will be on the executive agenda. You want to keep the evaluation on your agenda so you can control the process.
5. Use shortcuts. There are a lot of shortcuts in the ROI Methodology process with tools, templates, and even technology that can help you get there. It is possible to do conduct a successful ROI evaluation on almost any budget.

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