Where does the L & D function fit within your organisation? The importance of this cultural fit cannot be underestimated when leading a L & D function. In my experience, too many L & D functions have existed to deliver training \u2013 that is what they have been seen to do, and that is what they have done \u2013 and this approach gives them little credence with operational managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I once had concerns about the impressions that my unit was giving to the remainder of the business. At a managers\u2019 meeting I took the opportunity to ask a few (what I thought to be) fundamental questions to see whether they were espousing my stated aims for the unit. They all managed trainers, so firstly I asked what they saw to be the overall role of the trainer. The first answer was, \u201cTo deliver training\u201d. This was closely followed by answers indicating that they needed to be able to write lesson plans and that they should be able to explain points clearly to delegates. Two more responses followed in a similar vein. The sixth response was, \u201cThey need to get the delegates to be more effective\u201d. That\u2019s what I was looking for \u2013 a link to improving performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a few other responses, I then asked, \u201cWhat are trainer shoes for?\u201d The first response was, \u201cto help people run faster\u201d. Other verbal offerings built on this performance related theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I then asked what they thought was the overall role of a horse trainer. The first respondent indicated that her view was that they were there to enable horses to win races. A second added that perhaps it was to enable both horse and rider to win races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo\u201d, I asked, in a John Humphreys sort of way, \u201cWhy is it that you view trainer shoes and horse trainers as being there to improve performance, yet you see that the primary purpose of our trainers is to deliver training?\u201d. This was followed by a silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This short exchange had confirmed my concerns and highlighted a fundamental issue in leading a successful Learning and Development Unit. If its own staff see the focus as being delivering training, this will be apparent to others in everything they do \u2013 most of all to the already potentially sceptical operational managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I personally would consider changing the job title of \u201cTrainer\u201d to \u201cPerformance Improver\u201d, however, \u2013 at least initially \u2013 I think this would cause problems for others to understand what the role is about. It is fundamental, however, that the trainer views their role in this way. They should not see themselves as people with training skills who use these skills to improve performance; they need to see themselves as performance improvers who achieve this by using sound training skills. This may appear to be a play on words, but I don\u2019t believe this to be the case \u2013 it is a way of the person constantly being reminded of the primary purpose of their role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I used to train trainers, we engaged in some lengthy discussions which felt very important and fundamental to the role \u2013 in retrospect, I am now disappointed to admit that they were akin to navel gazing \u2013 they were all about the minutiae of training delivery which, on reflection, had little impact on delivering greater operational performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is only be demonstrating this focus on improving performance that you will earn a credible and respect place around the table when the all important annual budget is being allocated \u2013 and then the more improvements you can show to have been involved in, the better your chance will be of improving your share of the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All this can be achieved by a number of key activities. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overall culture of a unit is probably the most difficult aspect to change \u2013 but ultimately the most fundamental and rewarding. By implementing these processes, we can start to change the mindset of our team. We find out who wants to make the journey with us, and who perhaps does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where does the L & D function fit within your organisation? The importance of this cultural fit cannot be underestimated when leading a L & D function. In my experience, too many L & D functions have existed to deliver training \u2013 that is what they have been seen to do, and that is what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,8],"tags":[180,179,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}