Socializing the Value of Learning and Development
Read Part I for the first part of our story.
James knew he had to build relationships to gain the trust of senior leadership. As with his last role at his previous company, the path was not easy and it took time. He also knew he couldn’t do it alone. Bringing in expert advice enabled him to learn best practices from other organizations and also see the issue from an outsider’s perspective.
ACG’s first meeting with James was to learn a bit about the senior leadership and past training initiatives. This meeting occurred about a month after James started in his role.
There were 10 senior leaders in the organization; representing all departments. One of them – Roberta – was the Chief HR Officer. While she supported learning and development overall, she had other major areas of responsibility including a number of upcoming acquisitions. She was content with leaving learning and development – and the issues surrounding it – in James’ capable hands.
ACG collaborated with James on the following high level socialization plan:
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GROUP |
Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Group 3 |
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FOCUS OF SOCIALIZATION |
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METHOD |
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Group 1: discussions would focus around how learning and development will benefit major initiatives being launched in the organization (especially the new acquisitions planned), as well as how learning and development can help to achieve organizational and divisional goals.
Group 2: discussions would focus on how learning and development will help to manage and achieve department/operational goals through the acquisitions and beyond.
Group 3: discussions would focus on how learning and development will help employees to perform their roles and responsibilities to help departments achieve goals and to help employees achieve their own personal and professional development goals.
Stay tuned for Part III where we’ll share some of the results from our socialization efforts.
