Myname: Marianne Carlson
Mycompany: Medline Industries
Mytitle: Vice President, Sales Training
Mylocation: Northfield, Illinois
Bestbusiness advice I ever received: At the midpoint of mycareer I was eager to continue to learn and grow within my company. I receivedadvice from our general manager that in order to gain new opportunities youhave to be exceptional at the job you were hired to do, and then ask formore. I still live by this today. You must thoroughly understand your rolein the organization, the impact you have on others, and bring forward theabsolute best solutions. Then ask to do even more, and start that whole processover again. This has opened the doors to countless opportunities, whilealso giving me the chance to continue to learn and grow both professionally andpersonally.
Mostdaring personal career move: I spent the first 12 yearsof my career in marketing and was good at what I did. I was offered anopportunity to move into a role in sales effectiveness, assisting with salescommunications and program adoption. This was a fundamental shift in all I knewand was way outside my comfort zone. My first thought was: Not a chance. ButI took time to think through the opportunity and the work I would be doing. Irecognized that I was no longer challenged in the role I had, and I was notclose enough to the customer to understand what drove our business or why acustomer would choose us over someone else. It was the best careerdecision I ever made, and today I never pass up an opportunity to push myselfand try something new.
WhatI’m most proud of: I have been fortunate to work with dynamic andthought-leading individuals throughout my career, and have been part of severalgreat projects that have transformed businesses. This has and continues toprovide a great deal of personal reward, but I believe what I am most proud ofis the team I work with. I am the first to admit I do not know everything,and buildinga team of individuals that are strong where I am weak has producedsome phenomenal results. Empowering the members of the team to do theirjobs and make decisions based on their expertise has allowed our organizationto transform the way we teach and accelerate learningretention.
Currentworkplace challenge: We have recently transitioned our onboarding programto a truly blendedapproach with online, classroom, and field-based learning.Delivering this program quickly to meet the needs of the business is drivingspeed to learning for the new sales reps and cost savings for the business, butbeyond this it’s been difficultto measure. We continue to see double-digit sales growth, whichconfirms we have done no harm in the changes we have made. However, thisorganic growth makes measuring training effectiveness difficult as we supportmultiple sales organizations, serving established and expansion territoriesacross the continuum of healthcare. The variability in each market, the needsof our customers, and the needs of our sales reps is ever-changing, andmeasuring training effectiveness is difficult.
Somethingpeople don’t know about me: Something that I avoiddiscussing, especially with my children, is that I was not a good student andnot necessarily a rule-follower. I barely made it through high school anddid enough to graduate college, but did that just to not disappoint mymother. What I have learned since then is that what you have done, or inmy case not done, in the past does not matter. It’s all about what you have yetto achieve.
Editor’s note
Marianne Carlson will be participating in The eLearningGuild’s second annual ExecutiveForum on October 23, 2018. This special one-day experience, whichtakes place prior to the Guild’s DevLearn2018 Conference & Expo, is designed for senior learning anddevelopment leaders who want to collaborate with peers and industry experts oncutting-edge strategies that address the key challenges of the modern learningorganization. Join Marianne and other senior executives at this exclusive event.
