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.
