Chief Learning Officer - July 2008 - (Page 31)

Rolling Up Learning’s Sleeves Given the demands on our time these days, it’s easy for any learning professional to get mired in an unceasing cycle of process meetings in the learning organization. But this unfortunately comes at the expense of not moving our learning organizations forward to become better business partners — easily said, but not easily achieved. Relationships with line of business leaders are never static. They either are gaining momentum and moving forward, or they’re moving backward. If a business leader does not know your group, then you do not know your customer. That’s why knowing your business, building critical relationships, understanding how decisions are made and why they are made are so important. If you bring creative solutions and new ideas to shape the overall business, you can reshape perceptions about learning and add value to your organization. In sales, there are “high-value questions.” In the learning leader’s situation, some of these may include: • 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? • Which piece(s) of the implementation plan might require us to stay closely connected moving forward? OK, so you have asked the questions. Now what? From here, it becomes similar to a learning analysis. You understand the problem, but do you understand the gap, the challenge? Would the decision maker agree with you? How does your approach distinctly map to the needs and fulﬁll the gaps? Can it be demonstrated? Is it logical and simple, or convoluted? Can you explain it in less than a minute? And the big question: Can you prove that you can execute the solution? Once key decision makers understand the big-picture impact of the learning enterprise, they’re far more likely to forge a relationship through which they can discuss the tools or capabilities the learning organization can bring to help solve the issue or increase the business’ overall chances of attaining its desired objective. Practical Advice on What Works Sonserae Toles, director of the U.S.-based Learning Campus for Siemens, a global leader in industry, energy and health care, said there are two things any learning leader can do to help advance effective corporate learning. First is to look at where your key clients reside structurally within the organization and to become well-versed in their speciﬁc body of knowledge to establish credibility and increase the chances of a more meaningful engagement. Learning professionals who already have expertise on a particular business line usually have a much greater chance of being perceived as a trusted partner than those who do not. A second, albeit underutilized tactic is to reach out Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • July 2008 • www.clomedia.com 31 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

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