I think learning is important. Strike that—I knowlearning is important. I’m pretty sure you agree with me. After all, you’rereading this article in an online magazine about workplace learning solutions.But does everyone value learning like we do? What about the people you supportat work? Do they recognize what learning can do for the organization, or do youhave to sell the importance of learning to your internal “clients” over andover again?
Learning is a lot like health. Common sense says that it’ssuper important, but for some reason, it’s still not a top priority all thetime. It follows suit that “learn something new” was the eighth most popular New Year’s resolution in2015. And we all know how resolutions tend to go as the year progresses …unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg.
In a perfect world, everyone would be as geeky aboutlearning as we are. But, in real life, most people just don’t focus on learningin their day-to-day lives. This is especially true at work, where outcomes arethe only real currency. In a marketplace rife with disruption, the ability tosolve problems and deliver value nowis essential. This is why stakeholders tend to want either quick trainingsolutions or zero L&D involvement until called upon.
It’s important that we recognize this reality and—rather than fight it—leverage it to inform our strategies. There’s plenty of data outthere that validates the value of workplace learning, but how do we help ourpartners see the promise of our learning strategies when all they care about(rightfully) is results?
Here are five ideas that have always worked for me:
1. Get to know your business
Why should your partners value your work if you don’tunderstand theirs? L&D pros must demonstrate a fundamental understanding ofthe business they support. Start by spending as much time in the operation aspossible. At Disney, I always made time for “costume shifts” in the operation,sometimes coming in on my day off. This not only kept me familiar with theday-to-day, but also earned me considerable respect from cast members.
It’s also helpful to go to meetings that have nothing to dowith learning and everything to do with improving your understanding of thebusiness. If you still can’t quite get it or you’ve transitioned to a newindustry, ask your partners for help and demonstrate your interest in thebusiness. They’ll be more likely to reciprocate that interest and value yoursupport efforts.
2. Put their context ahead of your strategy
Learning strategy must fit into the context of the work, notthe other way around. Are you being told constantly that employees “don’t havetime to learn”? Then imagine how it looks when you suggest strategies thatrequire considerable employee time and effort. You must understand theday-to-day lives of the people you support and provide resources that fit.
Performance support is a great example. Focus on helpingpeople solve problems now beforeworking on more complex, long-term strategies. At Kaplan, we started everyproject by assessing the available reference information. We made sureemployees could find answers in the moment of need before building additionallearning solutions.
3. Relate your solutions to real-world experiences
Most people don’t know anything about learning theory. Whatthey do understand is how they use popular resources to solve problems in theireveryday lives. Adjust your communication strategy to limit use of “learninglanguage” in favor of comparisons to familiar real-world experiences.
Using video to support learning? How does your strategyrelate to the way people use YouTube? I’ve been using the “how do you fix abroken pipe at home” comparison for years, and it always resonates.Incorporating gamification into a solution? How is this idea similar to the waypopular apps or loyalty programs leverage game mechanics? We know that peoplemore readily accept new information that builds upon existing knowledge. Wemust take advantage of this principle to help partners understand the learningexperiences we design.
4. Share success stories
Your company hired you because you are a learning expert,but not everyone you work with thinks about that. Whenever possible, you haveto provide additional info to back up your learning strategies and justify whythey’ll work. The best way to relate your ideas to tangible outcomes is toshare success stories in which other organizations benefited from an approachsimilar to the one you’re proposing.
Find case studies that demonstrate the way a learningsolution solved a business problem. Invite peers from outside the organizationto share their experience and perspective with your partners. I always leveragerecent external research to justify my internal suggestions. If I had a nickelfor every time a Jane Hart quote or diagramappeared in my proposals …
It’s up to you to figure out which types of stories resonatewithin your organization and validate your strategic approach. Show yourpartners that your expertise transcends your organization and will deliver theresults desired.
5. Make an effort to measure results
No, I don’t believe you can really ever prove theoverarching ROI of everything L&D does to support an organization. However,we have to get better at linking our work to business results. We can’t alwaystry to get by with a “right thing to do” justification. In my brief time with Axonify, I’ve been amazed by how much ourpresentations stand out because we can communicate success in terms of costsavings, revenue, and speed to competence.
Start small and pick a project that has a simple measurableoutcome. Design a strategy that will link your solution to that outcome. Put inthe effort necessary to measure results and share your findings—even if they don’t match up with your initialtarget. Use these results to inform your next project and grow your measurementstrategy to include more and more of your work. Take advantage of tangiblemoments of success to both validate similar projects and justify efforts thatcannot be measured as easily.
Imagine how much simpler and more effective L&D could beif everyone valued learning as the legitimate solution to business problems thatwe know it is. It’s up to us to help our partners understand the value of oursolutions in the context of our workplace. This will benefit everyone in thelong term, especially when we can spend less time hunting for buy-in and moretime providing resources that help people do their jobs better.
