Would You Like Fries With That?

The individual contributor role in Sales Ops L&D that I accepted later in my career was sold to me as “a strategic role”.

I was excited to share my experience not only as a sales professional and leader, but as a teacher, a listener, a coach, a creative, a business person, a researcher, and course creator. 

It turned out my “strategic role” was one of an order-taker. 

Here’s how it went: 

The business (sales leadership) would have an idea of training du jour, and *think he knew what he wanted. He’d tell my boss, and my boss would TELL us what to do, and by his terms alone. We would work tirelessly to follow orders and crank out the best content we could muster.  

The most time-consuming part of the process was the ping-pong-back-and-forth about requirements. Which, often were along the lines of, “we are having a sales meeting and I need to train my people.” Okay.

The break-neck speed of delivery was exhausting, and it feels like we never hit the mark because we were scrambling to please the unpleasable. 

Why doesn't the process work the other way around? Why is the tail wagging the dog? 

Because that is the “normal” process instructional designers and L&D teams are used to; but that method of developing training is out of style.  

I’m delighted to see the progress of the role of Learning and Development. CLOs and their teams are becoming more strategic. The wealth of knowledge that facilitators and mature instructional designers bring to the business should not be overlooked or minimized. 

These professionals should not be order-takers, but magic-makers for the growth and development of your people.  

To the business unit leaders: look to collaborate with the talent that lies within your L&D teams. Flip the script. They know the trends, they know the stats, they know the research and the topics; and most importantly: when partnering with you they likely know EXACTLY what your teams need to be successful.

If you’re a smaller business and you don’t have #learninganddevelopment or a  #trainingdepartment, Association for Talent Development (ATD) is a wealth of resources that can help guide you to the right learning experiences. Innovative companies like DDI | Development Dimensions International develop unmatched leadership development programs.

Hats off to strategic #learningleaders like Ramona Arora, PhD. and forward-thinking instructional designers like AJ Durand , and talented, multi-faceted facilitators like Christine L. Krafka, Ph.D. Y'all are making a difference! 

If you are tasked with creating engaging learning experiences, instead of asking the business, “Do you want fries with that?”, the conversation from a learning and development professional becomes: "I’d love to tell you about potatoes." 

Educate the business on the magic you can create with the potatoes, and guide your customer to the right order.