As a workplace learning professional assuming the role of a learning leader, there have been some significant realizations of the necessity for building strategic and sustaining relationships with business leaders and executive teams. One of the great challenges I’ve noticed for myself personally, and amongst peers, has been in translating theories of learning (or why we are doing what we are doing) into terms which business leaders can relate to and embrace. Certainly, the role of metrics and tools for evaluating learning results are critical to these relationships, but here, I'd like to focus on how to support business leaders truly have a sense of connection, engagement, and value for the learning function.
In my experience there are three critical phases in building strategic partnerships and alliances with business leaders. These are iteration, experience, and ownership.
Iteration
I'm not sure there is magic potion in getting business leaders to agree to a learning initiative on the first presentation or pitch. I've found that it is an iterative process - a sustained dialogue on intentions, actions, and outcomes. My positive working relationship with my executive team often resembles a back and forth dialogue, where I keep planting seeds on how to address business needs to improve performance, while they remain focused on the fiscal performance of the business. This enables critical questions to be asked of me and the strategies and methodologies behind particular learning initiatives, as well as, provide my business leaders a chance to reflect and develop their individual 'leadership signatures' for programs I propose. The phrase "You don't know what you don't know" rings true here. Think how often we might need to listen to a colleague explain a business concept or market strategy before we can fully comprehend the richness of the idea. Why would we think that conversations on strategic learning would be any different? As I establish myself amongst the executive team and understand the nature of the business more intimately, and business leaders, come to understand the impact and 'Value of Learning' (VOL) that a vibrant learning function brings in the way of improved business performance, and effective retention of talent, our conversations are becoming sharper and more succinct.
Moving from the What to the Why
We can love the theories behind our learning strategies, but business leaders are first going to love what the results are going to look like. I've learned to practice framing my conversation in simple terms. I was guilty on focusing first on the 'What', and secondly on the 'Why'. In my initial conversations on a major learning initiative I was proposing, I focused too heavily on the what of the learning strategy: what the content and design of the program was going to be, who was going to be involved, how the assessments were aligned with work roles and processes, and how it was going to be rolled out. From a learning perspective it was an innovative and bold move for our organizational culture. But I couldn't get it off the ground. My business leaders looked confused, disinterested and provided little input. Finally, after several attempts of proposing the initiative a key leader said that he had, "heard a lot about what I was attempting to do, but very little on why I was doing it." That was a breakthrough for me, as I thought 'the why' was implicit in the design and methodology of the program. It was obvious to me, what I was trying to achieve for our organization, but it wasn't for him. I got distracted by the things that appealed to me about the value of the learning initiative, rather than why I was doing it in the first place - to improve our market position and business growth.
This iterative process of moving back and forth is a substantive process. It has enabled me to further embed and align learning processes to strategic business activities. It has also provided a 'conversational space' for business leaders, through ongoing dialogue, to feel a stronger sense of ownership, understanding, and value for what I am trying to achieve in the learning function. This has deepened my working relationships across the executive team and it has established a sense of relational trust for me in my role. A significant outcome through these iterative conversations was convincing my President of the necessity of his role in being present in 'kicking off' learning activities and events, and envisioning his role as a 'Leader as Teacher.' Through these iterative conversations I was able to 'thicken' his and the management team's perceptions of workplace learning. In convincing my President of the value of his commitment and participation in learning, I was able to establish a safe, positive context for him to begin building a stronger identity to learning and to positively experience it.
Experience
In these first six months in the role I have found the majority of my interaction with my executive team to be in presenting budgets, proposing programs, and reporting evaluational data. This has been an important time in establishing myself, delivering quick wins and achievements, and building trusting relationship with key internal stakeholders. Having increasingly gained their confidence in my work, I have focused on creating ways to support business leaders have positive experiences with learning and development initiatives. In moving forward from conversations to actions I needed the leadership group to be proactive to ensure the success and quality of L&D deliverables.
A significant turning point came with my President, when after licensing an online elearning agreement with Harvard, came to launch the event in front of a group of high performers being developed as part of a ‘Leaders as Teachers’ cohort. Convincing the executive team and getting buy in on the investment and partnership with Harvard Business Publishing was challenging. The President's participation through the launch and kick off phase not only broadened his understanding of the power and possibilities within this initiative, but provided a positive experience in seeing employees engaged, collaborating, and sharpening their competencies and skill sets. It was an enriching experience that enabled him to develop a deeper awareness of the program and be able to more richly describe and convey in his own words to his peers, and across the organization, the value of what was occurring. From that juncture point, my working relationship with the President and the Management team shifted significantly. Based upon their personal experiences, new attitudes to the value of learning were generated.
As learning leaders we are architects of experience. We must continually build and design opportunities for business leaders to experience and expand their understanding of what the learning function provides and delivers. Continuous engagement and positive experiences of learning and development contribute to enriching and evolving business leaders’ perceptions of the opportunities workplace learning and performance improvement offer to the bottom line.
Ownership
These first two phases are integral to the success of the learning function. However, without business leaders assuming a sense of ownership to the learning function, its ongoing sustainability and scope of programming may not be sustainable, particularly in times where a bearish market and sluggish economy forces business leaders to reexamine their investments and strategies. The first signal that a sense of ownership was emerging over the learning function was at a recent executive meeting discussing budget cuts given current market conditions. The only budget left untouched was the learning and development budget. Where the President announced he didn't want to touch the learning and development budget stating that now was the time "to ensure our focus on retention, employee morale, succession planning, and skills development." Words I didn't think I'd ever hear starting out in this position six months ago.
Conclusion
Through our actions and conversations as learning leaders we build and sustain on-going narratives about the future directions of our business. As storytellers of learning and performance, we must create 'sticky stories' which resonate and compel our business leaders to provide the necessary resources for turning our ideas and initiatives into successes. Being mindful of these three phases of cultivating conversations, engaging experiences, and building shared ownership, we move closer to having the impact as learning leaders we all strive to have.
