The world is changing fast. As new thought leaders emerge and artificial intelligence (AI) becomes front and center, the role of the learning leader is more critical than ever. Every day in every organization, a learning leader is tasked with creating and aligning programs at the speed of the business.
We aren’t responsible for driving organizational growth per se, but we must ensure that colleagues supporting the business have the knowledge and skills. They need to excel in their roles. Doing this effectively requires more expertise than instructional design and training facilitation. We have to take what we know about learning and performance and translate it to influence and sometimes sway stakeholders who may not share the whole picture, or the root cause of their challenges. The ability to lead stakeholders by influence is challenging and when it is successful the outcomes include building trust with stakeholders that result in broader thinking about their teams and better leadership overall. You, the learning leader, have the power to drive this success.
Changing Our Mindset
Leading by influence challenges the traditional hierarchy and might feel uncomfortable at first. The challenge, if you agree to accept it, will increase your ability to become a real and lasting change agent, a trusted advocate and a champion of learning. Believe that the power is within you to do this, and you have already accomplished half of the battle.
The Impact of Leading by Influence
When we use our influence to impact organizational outcomes by influencing the way we scope and develop our programs, we foster collaboration and alignment, which enhances our status as trusted business advocates. This will allow better discussions around innovation and continuous improvement to keep the training programs alive. Done well, we might even find that resource allocation and subject matter expert (SME) time improves. When this alignment happens, the long-term results include better work products, better engagement and better retention because the employees feel valued and invested in, which improves their job satisfaction. These are the outcomes that matter to the business.
Tactics for Leading by Influence
Now that we know the impact, let’s dive into practical strategies that learning leaders can use to help stakeholders move toward better thinking about programs for their teams.
Relationship Building, Trust And Promise Keeping
The foundation of all great stakeholder relationships is trust. It is the glue that holds the relationship together. When we take the time to understand our stakeholders’ goals, concerns and motivators, and listen with empathy to their perspectives related to performance challenges, we build credibility and trust. When we follow through on commitments, milestones and timelines and communicate well, they will support initiatives and ideas from learning and development (L&D) because they know we have their best interest at heart.
Understand and Communicate Business Impact
At the end of the day, what is most important to your stakeholder is the bottom-line impact of the learning programs. As a practice, we must articulate how the programs we develop and deliver move the bar in contributing to the organizational goals. These goals are often defined as increased revenues, net promoter scores, operational efficiency or retention. No matter what the goal is, your ability to tell a good data story that illustrates the potential return matters.
Share Your Vision, Leverage Data and Customize
Getting the stakeholder to imagine how your program idea translates to organizational success is important to gaining their agreement. Paint a compelling picture of what the future state looks like and explain how the program is the journey map to that success. Create a sense of purpose and excitement about your proposed plan. Make sure your plan includes opportunities for quick wins. Early success helps build confidence that paves the way for bigger and more ambitious and innovative programming in the future. Be sure to provide opportunities for data-driven decision-making. Give your stakeholders evidence-based evidence that your programs work and drive impacts. Show them how you adjust based on data for quick in-the-moment pivots. Highlight the aspects of programs that are relevant and can be adapted to suit their needs. Then adapt your message and presentation in a way that showcases meaning to them. This will help you establish a coalition of supporters and testimonials that give you organizational credibility.
Leading by influence is a critical skill for learning leaders who want to amplify the work their team can do to impact organizational performance. Using these key approaches to help stakeholders think differently about learning partnership will elevate the role of L&D and will allow you to use your superpower to align a shared vision of learning excellence with the business. Embrace this opportunity for lasting change now.
