Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2024 - 15

CAREER
DEVELOPMENT
JULIE WINKLE
GIULIONI
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE PERENNIAL CHALLENGE
OF SECURING LEADERSHIP SUPPORT
I remember the day everything changed
around how I perceived my role as
a
learning
and
development
in
(L&D)
professional. Early in my career as an
instructional designer, I developed
a training intervention for account
associates
our
organization. My
extensive needs analysis involved focus
groups, job shadowing and countless
subject matter expert (SME) interviews
over several months. The outcome was
a beautiful program. Rich in content.
Creative. Engaging. Actionable.
And completely ineffective. I couldn't
understand how, after so much attention
to the training audience and its needs,
I had delivered such disappointing
results. After licking my wounds for a
few days, I set out to discover what had
undermined my implementation. Much
to my surprise, the lackluster results had
little to do with the account associates
I'd trained - but rather their managers
whom I'd ignored. As it turns out, it didn't
matter how wonderful the learning was
if leaders weren't prepared to support it.
Fast forward 30 years, and this dynamic
remains a challenge. But now it's taken
on new levels of complexity as:
* Training is more customized to the
individual.
* Resources are drawn from various
sources, many of which live outside of
the organization's ecosystem.
* Learners take greater ownership of
their learning journeys.
So, I shouldn't have been surprised
when the results of a survey I recently
administered to 100+ L&D professionals
felt like déjà vu. Echoing themes from
decades ago, those in the field today
continue to report challenges associated
with securing the leadership support
required to optimize L&D outcomes.
They report that the four most common
barriers they battle (in this order) include
leaders not:
1. Having enough time.
2. Being sufficiently familiar with
the content.
3. Believing in the content.
4. Knowing what to do.
The good news is those same survey
respondents also shared a variety of
tactics that can help busy and skeptical
managers enable teams to get the most
from their learning investment.
IT DIDN'T MATTER
HOW WONDERFUL
THE LEARNING WAS
IF LEADERS WEREN'T
PREPARED TO
SUPPORT IT.
Topping their list of best practices
is: " Communicate the line of sight
between the content and business
outcomes. " Connecting the learning
initiative directly to what matters most
to leaders - their business goals,
key performance indicators (KPIs),
objectives or priorities - is a quick
and effective way to capture leaders'
attention. It can also serve to put into
perspective how a small act of support
on their part can serve as a lever,
delivering significant business results.
TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2024 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE
Those who responded to the survey
also offered a variety of specific ways
they make it easy for leaders to do the
right - and effective - thing. Offering
skimmable summaries, lists of new
behaviors to watch for, and pre- and
post-learning
conversation
guides
can bring leaders up to speed and
reinforce learning.
But as the volume of learning escalates
in response to upskilling and reskilling
demands - and as the sources of
learning become more distributed -
L&D professionals may need to rethink
the most effective vehicle for gaining
leadership support. Might this be a task
better suited to learners themselves,
who know what they need to learn and
what's needed to make it happen?
Ushering in a self-driven leadership
support paradigm driven by learners,
though, only works when people
are prepared to advocate for their
learning. This means arming them
with skills and resources like the
ability to connect new skills with
critical business outcomes, describe
the specific behaviors they aspire to,
negotiate for resources and articulate
the kind of feedback and coaching
that will be most helpful.
Thirty years later, the challenge
remains. But perhaps it's time for me
to again rethink my role in delivering
learning outcomes - this time in a way
that engages and empowers learning
as partners in securing new levels of
leadership support.
Julie Winkle Giulioni is the author of the
bestselling books, " Promotions Are SO
Yesterday " and " Help Them Grow or
Watch Them Go. " Email Julie.
15
https://trainingindustry.com/glossary/upskilling/ https://trainingindustry.com/glossary/reskilling/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine
Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2024

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