The ability to think from other people's organizational and
personal perspectives is central to building institutional support
and selling training and development. Each area of an organization
represents a frame of reference. Because our work serves all areas
of the business, we have to become skilled at moving in and out of
various perspectives. Our own view becomes secondary. Pacing with
people, meeting them on their turf, and making an effort to speak
the language inherent to their functional area are our greatest
challenges. When we succeed in temporarily abandoning our own
outlook and are able to immerse ourselves in others' organizational
worldviews, tremendous results are possible. It's a simple truism -
when people feel you listen to them, they are more inclined to
listen to you.
Creating solutions that fit
People need to feel their unique needs have been understood and
that we haven't rushed to offer them a cookie-cutter solution, so
we must avoid the temptation to immediately fit a functional area's
needs into our collection of prefabricated solutions. Even though
we might, in fact, pursue a tried-and-true course of action,
selling a training and development solution as a strategic asset
demands that we help our customers feel unique. When we listen to
people and observe the work they are engaged in, we will discover
opportunities where we can make a difference.
Learning is dynamic, so it should come as no surprise that we need
to model these principles in the way we do our work. As we become
more skilled at listening, we also become better at anticipating
what our customers need. We start viewing our customers' new
projects and initiatives as opportunities. We come to the table
with ideas and recommendations. Our customers begin to see us as
their strategic partner. Powerful things happen when our customers
realize we are looking at the world from their organizational
perspective. In the beginning, you won't be able to reach out to
all the areas of your organization, so start with a small win. As
you build momentum and institutional support, other areas will hear
your training and development success stories and start coming to
you.
Building relationships
Because building strong relationships is so important, we must
allot more time to cultivating them. How people perceive us is
directly related to the amount of time and effort we spend in
reaching out to others and taking an active interest in them.
Achieving results is only one part of the equation, however.
Broadcasting our accomplishments in the form of hard facts is not
convincing enough to engender trust and widespread support of our
activities. We have to reach out and make an emotional connection
with people. One of the best ways to do this is to share a story,
to help our customers realize we have their best interests at
stake.
It takes a critical mass of people working together to effectively
reach out to all areas of an organization. To build long-term
institutional support and sell the benefits of training and
development, we must leverage every member of our team to become an
ambassador of goodwill. The foundation for promoting training and
development stewardship is the culture we develop within our own
teams. We must endeavor to create an ethos for our team that exudes
warmth, fascination, and tireless interest in others' well-being
and development. These are qualities that generate excitement,
commitment, and ownership. There is nothing soft and fuzzy here -
beyond the obvious humanistic merits of such an approach, this
advice is couched in utilitarian benefits. Our customers and
employees alike will embrace and respond to the positive energy we
create.
When we listen to people and observe the work they are engaged in,
we will discover opportunities where we can make a difference. The
key is to go in with an open mind and attentive eyes. We also must
be careful not to jump to conclusions or take what we hear from
people at face value. What people ask for and what people need
could be very different. Working together, though, we can explore
solutions.
We want people to seek our participation and ideas when planning
key organizational initiatives. In fact, we will know we have
succeeded in selling training's potential when we begin to help the
organization uncover new opportunities instead of simply helping to
achieve goals and objectives that have already been set.