Are We There Yet?

The role of talent professionals has evolved significantly over the years, moving from a reactive role to a proactive, strategic partnership with business leaders. This evolution has happened over time, and each of the phases has had aspects that carry over to the next.

Gaining a Seat at the Table

Back in the day, the big buzz was about “gaining a seat at the table.” The implication was that talent development leaders should aspire to be part of a group of senior executives determining the overarching strategy for the organizational system. Having a seat at the table required seeing the big picture and knowing the ins and outs of how the business interacted with customers and produced the results needed for them. Additionally, it implied that talent development could and should add value to enhance the organization’s competitive advantage in the marketplace.

An Invitation to the Dance

The buzz gradually shifted to slogans advocating a shift away from an order-taker role where talent development just responded to training 911 calls. About 15 years ago I had a conversation with a colleague, and he relayed a story from his graduate professor called, “An Invitation to the Dance.” The professor stated that the only way managers feel comfortable asking for help is to request training. They cannot tell others that they have performance problems within their team, especially when they do not know what is causing the issues, and do not realize—or want to admit—that it could be their own management style. So, they ask for training—and of course, they want it fast, and they only have a short amount of time for it. The busy trainer who has a large portfolio of courses and sessions pulls something off the shelf, tweaks it, and offers it to the manager, with minimal performance impact. And the cycle continues.

Instead of reacting to manager requests for training in a transactional way, the professor suggested accepting the request and then using it as an invitation to ask questions to develop a partnership with the requestor. This can easily turn into a collaborative performance assessment process where the requestor, the clients or end users for the solution, and the trainer all learn about the performance need and associated solution—which may or may not be training. Thus, you accept the invitation to the dance and change it from a waltz to a tango. This was pivotal in the evolution and moved the needle from talent development professionals playing a passive to an active role.

Using a Sales Consultant Model

In Leading the Learning Function, John Kelly suggested talent professionals use a sales consultant model based on a disciplined process made popular years ago by Peter Block in Flawless Consulting (2005). Kelly’s six-phase model continues to build on being strategic, partnering with operational leaders, and incorporating project management skills. Kelly’s model includes:

• Preparation – Gathering and reviewing preliminary information and documents including a list of key stakeholders prior to meeting with the client

• Data gathering and needs analysis – Getting input on the strategies, results, and current challenges through structured interviews

• Linking the learning solution to the business need or challenge – Letting the data collected drive the direction. This is more effective if it is a collaborative process with the client.

• Project planning – Developing objectives, budgets, timelines, scope, and the evaluation plan for execution

• Project management – Maintaining consistent reviews and update processes

• Evaluation – Crafting targeted reports for the clients and leadership

Strategic Business Partners

Fast forward to today and the buzz is about being a strategic business partner (SBP) with the goal of enhancing performance capability at every level of the organization. Jess Almlie has promoted this mindset shift where learning professionals start to see themselves as business leaders with deep expertise in learning. SBPs use the big picture to drive every small step. The mission, goals, and objectives of the business are directly and strategically tied to each learning project. Besides having this systems approach, they proactively cross boundaries and engage with business leaders in all parts of the organization, always include clients to make project collaborations with different perspectives, and continuously seek large and small ways to add value.

Looking back on where we have been and focusing on this SBP model, one big question related to being an effective SBP is “What skills are needed?” Research on SBPs, performance, and competitive advantage have surfaced numerous skills needed by talented professionals who want to serve as SBPs. The following four elements were selected as critical.

1. Having a Business Focus: To add the most value to an organization, SBPs need to understand core business principles, practices, and language. They need to know key factors affecting business results, including prioritizing the customer and employee experiences. It implies being innovative and adaptive to the continuously changing needs of the future. SBPs also need to understand financial factors.

2. Being Strategic: Organizational competitiveness is fueled by leaders with a continuous improvement mindset. This happens when strategy, structure, management processes, people, rewards, and metrics are aligned and integrated throughout the larger system. Being strategic for the talent and learning function means products and offerings are mapped to these business attributes and objectives and designed using the principles of learning and performance sciences, such as durable learning.

3. Collaborative Partnerships: Organizational work is boundaryless and thrives with cross-functional collaboration, including working with customers and external partnerships. This requires organizational values and leadership actions promoting trust, respect, and openness between and among all employees. It means knowing and managing all stakeholders and intentionally building working relationships to foster organizational productivity. It includes using structured tools and techniques to enhance decision making.

4. Robust Measurement and Evaluation Process: SBP’s focus on performance captures and analyze data to measure effectiveness, efficiency, outcome, impact, and possibly ROI for learning offerings and processes. This data helps ensure that these initiatives align with organizational goals and objectives such as growth, cycle time reduction, and productivity. It also includes using the appropriate reporting methods. Having dynamic information using leading and lagging indicators encourages data-driven decisions, especially related to continuous improvement and long-term planning.

Are we there yet?

The journey from “gaining a seat at the table” to becoming a true strategic business partner is not over until skills for being an SBP are mastered and used. When this happens, chances are there will be a seat at the executive strategy table, invitations to partner with others on unique dances, and a structured process in place for consistently produce excellent results. Are you ready to elevate your role as a strategic business partner?