Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 30) Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues BY ANTHONY A. D’AGOSTINO AND JOSEPH DANIEL MCCOOL Perceptions about the learning function may be learning professionals’ greatest frustration, but changing those perceptions is one of the most promising opportunities for impact. Moving learning to business-partner status requires an investment in yourself. ow many times have you seen the potential for a critical integrated learning solution overlooked until the deployment of a new operating process, a systems implementation or the launch of a new product or service — or worse yet, totally ignored until something goes wrong? Learning need not be forced to limp in and turn lemons into lemonade, though. It should move beyond the role of a firefighter dousing the flames of poor planning and circumstance to the more proactive role of a building inspector to help make sure the house doesn’t catch fire in the first place. To assume this role, however, learning leaders must sell the value of development programs. Selling has several connotations. If you find yourself selling learning to a line-of-business head, promoting a packaged solution that fits in your current budget or asking for precious budget dollars and finding apathy or limited excitement, you likely are too late and have missed the opportunity. Selling your solution is about selling yourself and your team’s ability to execute — to build trusting relationships based on previous initiatives’ success and indisputable data. Selling is about business partnering, not pushing your solution. This requires a continual cycle of developing the relationship and educating decision makers about learning potential and performance. This kind of selling is key to building the kind of institutional trust and relationships that will be required to win support H AT A GLANCE High-value questions for learning professionals with a sales mindset: • What are the perils and challenges between our current state and our goals? • What does success look like? • What does failure look like? • Does a performance solution need to be part of the overall solution, and why? • Which performance indicators will inform the business about its early progress? for learning’s up-front involvement in the next critical endeavor that will require collaborative initiative. It’s important to remember that relationships are earned, and if organizational perceptions about learning’s role are not taken seriously or shaped by creative and innovative solutions, they can remain a serious drag, damper and de-motivator to the entire learning enterprise. Consider the sales process: It is not your one-sizefits-all idea in a box that should be accepted by any prospective customer you pitch it to. It is determining the business issue, drivers, potential of the solution, how the solution comes together, investment in dollars, satisfaction with the executed solution and return on investment. If you have been attempting the first with limited success, let’s discuss how we get to the latter. 30 Chief Learning Officer • July 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Contents Imperatives Selling Up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership CLO Profile Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives Department of Labor Centralizes Content Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning Case Study Business Intelligence In Conclusion Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page Intro) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page Cover1) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page Cover2) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page 3) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page 4) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page 5) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page 6) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 (Page 7) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Contents (Page 8) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Contents (Page 9) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Contents (Page 10) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Contents (Page 11) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Imperatives (Page 12) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Imperatives (Page 13) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Selling Up, Selling Down (Page 14) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Selling Up, Selling Down (Page 15) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Strategies (Page 16) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Strategies (Page 17) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Take Five (Page 18) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Take Five (Page 19) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - A Customer-Driven Approach to Molding Tomorrow’s Leaders (Page 20) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership (Page 21) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership (Page 22) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership (Page 23) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership (Page 24) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Home Depot: Accelerated Leadership (Page 25) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - CLO Profile (Page 26) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - CLO Profile (Page 27) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - CLO Profile (Page 28) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - CLO Profile (Page 29) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues (Page 30) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues (Page 31) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Birth of a Salesman: Selling Learning to Solve Business Issues (Page 32) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Selling Learning’s Potential at Siemens (Page 33) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network (Page 34) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network (Page 35) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network (Page 36) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Wiki Training Increases Productivity for RMC Vanguard Mortgage (Page 37) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives (Page 38) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Lessons From the Feds: Mapping Learning to Strategic Initiatives (Page 39) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Department of Labor Centralizes Content (Page 40) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Department of Labor Centralizes Content (Page 41) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? (Page 42) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? (Page 43) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Synchronous and Asynchronous: What’s in a Name? (Page 44) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Coping With Cultural Barriers to E-Learning (Page 45) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning (Page 46) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning (Page 47) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning (Page 48) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - The Manager’s Responsibility for Employee Learning (Page 49) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Case Study (Page 50) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Case Study (Page 51) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Case Study (Page 52) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Case Study (Page 53) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Business Intelligence (Page 54) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Business Intelligence (Page 55) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Business Intelligence (Page 56) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - Business Intelligence (Page 57) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - In Conclusion (Page 58) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - In Conclusion (Page Cover3) Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - In Conclusion (Page Cover4)
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