Clear Channel Outdoor

Remberto Jimenez

Having recently celebrated my 30th year in the workforce, I have come to appreciate the importance of evangelizing the value of what learning and development teams can bring to any organization. We are more than just content creators and leaders of learning management systems.

We are strategic partners, knowledge experts, and so much more. We are known by many titles and functions, but at the end of the day, we are professionals who support the organization's needs by managing thoughtfully executed strategies.

Regardless of the size of your organization, it is important to consistently remind stakeholders, potential advocates, and existing partners of the value your team is providing. There are ways that we can showcase our value both through formal and informal channels. There are ways to articulate the value we create through the advocates and partners we are cultivating. We show our value when we articulate our understanding of the business. Based on my past experiences, I have distilled these ideas into four key pillars that I use to drive success. My four pillars for learning and development success are excellence, curiosity, partnership, and communication.

"Regardless of the size of your organization, it is important to consistently remind stakeholders, potential advocates, and existing partners of the value your team is providing."

The first pillar is excellence. Excellence is about making sure that you and your team are seen as exemplary performers.

We hold ourselves to a high standard. It means that we execute on our promises. It means that we look beyond our role and align what we do to the organization. It also means that we ensure that whenever we launch a training program, we are thinking about executing these functions in the most effective and efficient way possible. People remember the last thing that you did for them. If they remember that your last project was poorly run, or missed major deadlines, that will create the perception of poor performance.   

The second pillar is curiosity. It is important to be curious not just about your role in the company but also about the role and function of the people that you are supporting. For example, if you are supporting sales professionals, it's important to understand the seller's mindset, a day in the life of a seller, the products they are selling, and what constitutes profitability when it comes to their product set. We need to show that we are curious and can align them to key imperatives.

The third pillar is partnership. It's not enough to put your head down, work on a project, and complete it. It’s also about engaging with leaders and partnering with them. This provides an opportunity to market what you and your team are doing, and how you can help them to achieve their goals. Through these partnerships, these partners become the advocates and promoters of your services. This level of advocacy takes time and effort, but it is worth it when you are trying to establish yourself and your team as being value-driven and aligned with organizational imperatives.

The final pillar is communication. You can be the most successful learning and development team in terms of execution. However, if no one knows about it, you're not serving yourself, your team, or the organization. It's important to communicate your wins beyond just focusing on course reminders and course completion rates. This is important information to share with your partners. It’s about communicating what you're doing for them. It’s also about creating a customer-centric approach by asking, “How else can we help you?” Such a simple question can lead to further discussions, creating an environment of partnership, trust, and success.

By incorporating the four pillars for learning and development success, you can create a brand for your learning and development. That brand awareness needs to be communicated consistently. It takes time to build your brand; it just doesn’t happen overnight. You build your brand by being consistent, leading the way, and setting the example that your organization wants to see. This means aligning your brand to your organization’s mission, vision, and values, their leadership pillars, as well as organizational imperatives. The four pillars of learning and development success will help you cultivate a brand and team everyone wants to partner with on their projects.