Double Your ROI: Exploring Return on Insight

In my last blog post on assessments, I introduced a phrase that even I hadn’t used before: Return on Insight. It was a play on the classic “ROI,” and since then I’ve been thinking more about what happens when those three letters carry two powerful meanings.

Most companies track Return on Investment—and they should. Return on Investment answers the budget questions:

• Did this program increase retention?

• Are employees ramping faster?

• Are our investments in people leading to better financial results?

This ROI matters. It’s measurable. It’s important. It’s how initiatives get funded and protected.

But consider this: The biggest returns often start long before the investment pays off.

Insight is the moment someone sees themselves a little more clearly—and chooses to act differently because of it. Return on Insight answers the human questions:

• What did this employee learn about themselves?

• What did their manager understand that changes the relationship?

• What perspective shifted that will influence how they show up tomorrow?

Return on Insight is quieter. And it’s harder to measure. But it’s often the spark that makes the measurable Return on Investment possible, especially when we are talking about investing in our employees.

In other words: Insight is the leading indicator. Investment is the lagging one.

Yes, Assessments Create Return on Insight — But They Aren’t the Only Source

In my previous post, I talked about how tools like Energy Leadership Index (ELI), MBTI and CliftonStrengths can surface meaningful insights for early-career employees. Assessments can absolutely create powerful “mirror moments.”

But limiting Return on Insight to assessments undersells the opportunity.

Insight can come from:

• A manager giving specific, timely feedback

• A debrief after a tough presentation

• A reflection question at the end of a workshop

• A misstep—paired with a supportive conversation

• Observing how peers approach the same problem differently

• A moment of vulnerability that unlocks trust

Curiosity, feedback, communication, observation and more can each offer insight.

The real developmental power comes from designing systems where insight isn’t an accident—it’s expected.

Why Insight Matters Early

Early-career employees are forming habits, identities, and narratives about who they are at work. They don’t have years of data points to pull from. They’re making sense of themselves in real time.

Insight accelerates maturation by giving them:

• Words to name their patterns

• Tools to regulate their energy

• Clarity about how others experience them

• Confidence to ask for what they need

• Awareness to course-correct early

Insight turns uncertainty into direction. It turns “I’m not sure” into “Here’s my next step.”

How Insight Becomes Action (and Then Becomes ROI)

This is the conversion path where Return on Insight fuels Return on Investment:

1. Insight

Someone identifies a mental, emotional or physical response.

2. Experimentation

They try something different.

3. Change

Behavior shifts over time.

4. Results

The measurable ROI finally appears.

If we want the measurable ROI, we need more moments that generate the human ROI first.

Return on Insight Is a Design Strategy

When early-career development is built to create insights consistently—with cohort conversations, activities, assessments, reflection prompts, coaching and in-the-moment debriefs—employees grow faster and organizations get the outcomes they’re hoping for.

Return on Insight tells the story at the beginning.
Return on Investment tells the story at the end.

If you want your early-career programs to generate both, let’s connect.