Just had a fun hour with Mike Cooke, CEO of Brandon Hall as we talked about J4 Learning and the “Terrible Too’s” on a webcast [full webinar will be available here soon]. One of the poll questions that caused some discussion was the first question.
Put these internal training customers in order of priority:
- Executive with budget
- Learner
- Managers responsible for improving performance
In our experience, many learning departments either put all the emphasis on the learner or no emphasis on any of these as they are just trying to get projects out the door.
The order should be 1, 3, 2. Executive with the budget, managers responsible for improving performance and the learner is last. Not because they are not important, but because there are higher level priories that need to be met first.
You need two things from executives: top down support and budget. Move their key initiatives or measures and you create a happy executive which means budget and support. Keep managers and learners happy and then you never have to fight getting people to go to or take training.
If you focused on just the learner over the last 3 years would there have been budget cuts or a downsize in your department?
We’d love your thoughts and input! And if you haven’t already downloaded your free chapter of J4 Learning: How to Create Training That Works in the Digital Age, do so now and you’ll automatically be entered to win a Kindle Fire.