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From Grit to Pearl:
Enhancing the role and influence of the
Learning and Development professional
August 2014
Lee Waller and Inge Wels
“ If you see the organisation as the pearl, you’re the
grit that forms the pearl, because the grit is always
nasty and challenging. You just have to make sure
that you don’t get rejected. ”
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the interviewees from Siemans, B&Q and AXA Australia who participated
in this research, not only for generously giving up their time, but for their free and frank views on
the subject.
© Ashridge Business School
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism or review, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Ashridge.
Ashridge Business School
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire HP4 1NS, UK
www.ashridge.org.uk
ISBN: 978-1-910025-06-2
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5
INTRODUCTION 7
METHODOLOGY 11
FINDINGS 13
CASE STUDY: SIEMENS 15
CASE STUDY: B&Q 21
CASE STUDY: AXA AUSTRALIA 27
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE 33
REFERENCES 37
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5
Introduction
Throughout the past decades the role and
function of Human Resources (HR) and
Learning and Development (L&D) have changed
signicantly, from what was once a largely
administrative Personnel Department to a
function that is now required to full a much
more professional, strategic role. Whilst HR
have attempted, with differing levels of success,
to become more strategic in their focus, L&D
professionals have often struggled to achieve
this shift, and face a variety of challenges to
establishing themselves as strategic partners
and exerting real inuence within their
organisations.
These challenges are wide ranging, and
include issues in engaging in critical, strategic
conversations, the ability to align their initiatives
with organisational strategy, a lack of perceived
credibility in the eyes of senior managers, and
difculty in demonstrating or inuencing the
impact of their activities.
This paper discusses these challenges in detail,
and through conversations with members of
three organisations representing best practice
in effective and inuential L&D, explores how
the profession can tackle and overcome these
challenges to position themselves as strategic
partners, and increase their inuence within
their organisations.
Methodology
One-to-one, semi-structured interviews were
conducted with 15 individuals in total, from three
different organisations: Siemens, B&Q and AXA
Australia, exploring their perspectives of the role
and inuence of the L&D function within their
organisation. Interviewees included the three
Heads of L&D, four HR Managers, and eight
senior operational managers.
A thematic analysis explored the participants’
reported experience within each organisation,
and was structured around four themes:
approach to L&D; the nature of L&D
programmes; organisational attitude towards
L&D; and the L&D function.
Findings
Patterns across the case studies
Whilst the ndings are presented as three
individual case studies, a number of
themes emerged across all the participant
organisations. In general, their learning and
development strategies were agile and
adaptive, aligned to the organisational strategy,
developed in collaboration with departments
and critical stakeholders, and with a focus
on outcomes and ensuring that learning was
transferred. Interventions were offered across all
levels of the organisations, and impact was felt
at individual and cultural levels.
Support and commitment from senior
managers and line managers was reported
by all three organisations to be critical to
the impact of L&D interventions, as was the
development of a culture of learning that
establishes learning as a continual process.
The L&D professionals were typically described
as pragmatic, passionate and committed,
and fullled a variety of roles from expert
and specialist, to mentor and change agent.
The Heads of L&D exerted their inuence
through the development of relationships with
critical stakeholders across the organisation,
allowing them to get close to the business.
A commercial understanding facilitated their
engagement in strategic discussions and
helped establish their credibility.
Implications for the L&D professional
Our research suggests that in order for
L&D professionals to establish themselves
as strategic partners, to develop the trust
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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and credibility required to inuence and to
challenge, they need to develop themselves to
become experts in three domains:
1. The ‘grit’, the trusted advisor, who ‘irritates’
and challenges the organisation
2. The learning expert, the specialist who
understands how individuals learn and
change their behaviour
3. The organisation development expert, able
to translate individual change to change at
a systemic, organisational level.
To become the trusted advisor, L&D need to
be able to develop relationships with critical
stakeholders. This will get them close to
the business, get them involved in strategic
conversations, help them to understand what
the business needs, and ensure that their L&D
activities support the business and respond
to this need. To do this they need to develop
their self-awareness, their personal impact,
and consulting skills, as well as develop a
commercial understanding. This will enable
them to cultivate the credibility and trust
to really have sway and inuence in their
organisations.
This credibility in turn is facilitated by L&D
becoming true experts in adult learning,
understanding how to engage and motivate
learners, how to ensure learning transfers and
has impact, and that this impact is clear and
visible. Designing interventions in collaboration
with senior managers, line managers and
different units and departments will ensure
learning is relevant, will be supported, and will
have impact at an individual and organisational
level.
The nal role L&D need to full is that
of OD expert, supporting individual and
systemic change and ensuring that individual
development has impact at an organisational
level. Developing a shared language and
understanding of leadership and developing
a level of consciousness around learning and
development will help to ensure that learning
and development results in both individual and
organisational outcomes.
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Over the past 70 years the role and function
of Human Resources (HR) and Learning and
Development (L&D) have changed considerably.
What was once ‘Personnel’ with a focus
on administrative duties such as discipline,
safety and recruitment, has evolved into
a more encompassing, more professional
function attending to issues such as diversity,
downsizing, and talent management,
and taking responsibility for building an
organisation’s capability to learn, perform and
deliver its strategy (Dunn, 2006).
Cohen (2011) suggests that in spite of these
changes, the fundamental challenges faced
by HR and L&D professionals today are much
the same as those of the 1950s; how to
manage and motivate employees, and how to
develop competent leaders. The difference,
according to Cohen, between then and now,
is the context within which HR and L&D
professionals must operate. Globalisation,
changing demographics, and volatile economic
environments have necessitated a move
towards a more business-focused, strategic
approach to HR and L&D (Cohen, 2011).
In recent years the HR function has tried
to redene itself as a strategic partner, with
varying levels of success (Anderson, 2009),
and there are indications that the L&D function
is attempting to follow suit (Patterson, 2010).
The literature however, suggests that few L&D
professionals have managed to achieve this
move, and this would appear in part to be due
to their limited status, inuence, and impact
within their organisations. This paper explores
why this is the case: what are the challenges
facing L&D professionals, and how might they
overcome them to help establish their role as
a strategic partner and improve their inuence
within their organisations?
The strategic importance of L&D
For some time organisations have understood
that HR activities, including training,
recruitment, appraisal and reward can facilitate
or hinder the performance of employees, and
as such, have an impact on the organisation’s
ability to achieve its strategic objectives (Cryer
& Schneider, 1996). It is argued that the unique
combination of skills within an organisation
can provide superior value to customers and
be a source of competitive advantage (Ulrich,
1997). Learning in particular is considered
critical to organisational performance as
environments change, technologies develop,
competitors come and go. Remaining
competitive, adaptable, and nding solutions to
new problems therefore, all rely heavily on the
organisation’s capacity to learn (Garvin, 1993).
In a 2009 poll, IDC found that 80% of
respondents thought learning and development
played a moderate to signicant role in helping
organisations achieve their strategic objectives
(Anderson, 2011). A similar study in 2011 of
Chief Learning Ofcers found that learning and
development was perceived as having a critical
role to play in recovering from the recession,
particularly when the strategy involved
repositioning for future growth, or growing
aggressively (Anderson, 2011). As organisations
continue to recognise human capital as their
most important competitive asset, the role that
L&D take is now necessarily more strategic if
their activities are to produce the outcomes
that address the organisation’s human capital
priorities (Ulrich & Brockland, 2009). Their
ability to take on this role as a strategic partner
however, would appear to be hindered by a
variety of factors.
INTRODUCTION
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Current challenges to the role
and influence of L&D
Maturity and skills
One factor that appears to be impacting
the ability of L&D professionals to establish
themselves as strategic partners is the relative
newness and standing of the profession.
Compared to other professions, such as
accounting and engineering, L&D are not
considered well established and systematised,
and as such have not yet gained the same
degree of status or inuence as other, more
well-established functions (Kahnweiler, 2009).
Also implicated in the inuence and impact of
L&D is skills development. Research suggests
that many L&D leaders lack the necessary
skills and competences to understand
business needs, contribute to debates around
organisational strategy, and inuence key
stakeholders (Smith, 2010; Macaulay & Cook,
2010; CIPD, 2007).
A requirement to demonstrate ROI
Not surprisingly, the current economic climate
is putting considerable pressure on L&D
budgets. Organisations are cutting or modifying
leadership development programmes, and
fewer leaders are offered the opportunity to
participate in development activities (Bersin
& Associates, 2009). In a study of 217 top
companies – those demonstrating strong
leadership practices – Gandossy et al (2009)
found that organisations were making smaller
and more targeted investments in leadership
capability improvement, and focusing on high-
impact initiatives, rather than nice-to-haves.
To secure this limited investment, L&D
professionals are now required, more than
ever before, to demonstrate the impact of their
activities on the bottom line. But it would seem
few are able to do this. In a survey of Fortune
500 CEOs, the ROI Institute (2009) found that
whilst 96% of CEOs wanted to receive data on
the business impact of learning, only 8% did.
This is likely due to the fact that it is notoriously
difcult to demonstrate a link between L&D
interventions and business results, and many
organisations have failed to establish an
efcient and effective way to do so (Burgoyne
et al, 2004; James & Burgoyne, 2001;
Hayward, 2009).
Irrespective of the metrics however, perhaps
what is equally critical is that L&D professionals
have limited inuence over whether their
activities do in fact impact business results,
as this depends so heavily on the learning
culture of the organisation which supports
the application of learning, as well as their
capacity to align their activities with the
organisational strategy, which will determine
whether or not interventions result in outcomes
considered critical to the organisation. The
literature suggests that the L&D function has
two key stakeholders in this regard: senior
management who decide corporate strategy
(Gryger et al, 2010) and line managers who
often hold training budgets and make decisions
regarding staff participation in learning activities
(Hutchinson & Purcell, 2007). L&D’s ability to
engage and inuence these two stakeholder
groups is, as such, critical to their ability to
implement activities which impact business
results, and in so doing, increase their status
and inuence within the organisation, which will
affect the impact of interventions and therefore
the credibility of the L&D function.
Influence of the learning culture
It has long been established that the culture
of an organisation is critical to the transfer of
learning from leadership development initiatives
(Waller, 2011). The support individuals get from
their line managers to attend development
programmes and to create opportunities to
use learning on their return, the openness of
the organisation to doing things differently, their
tolerance of mistakes, and the organisation’s
attitude towards learning and development,
will all hinder or facilitate an individual’s ability
to apply learning, and ultimately inuence the
overall impact of the learning and development
intervention.
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The development of this learning culture
depends in large a part on the senior managers
and line managers within the organisation. Line
managers often control development budgets,
nominate individuals for training, undertake
less formal, on the job development activities,
such as induction, coaching, and mentoring,
and have a great inuence, through the support
they offer, on the success or failure of their
subordinates’ efforts to transfer their learning,
which ultimately determines whether or not
an initiative has impact on business outcomes
(Hutchinson & Purcell, 2007).
Senior management engagement with L&D
activities is also vital in this regard. Line
managers have competing priorities, and under
pressure may channel resources elsewhere,
and focus on short term goals rather than
longer term staff development (Hutchinson &
Purcell, 2007). Senior managers have a critical
role to play in demonstrating the importance
of learning and development, encouraging line
managers to place L&D towards the top of their
priority list. As such, senior managers can have
a powerful inuence on the development of a
learning culture, and therefore on the impact
of L&D activities on the bottom line. Research
suggests however, that whilst top management
support for L&D and HRD may be espoused,
it is often absent and not supported with true
commitment and action (Gubbins et al, 2006).
Alignment with organisational strategy
Aligning L&D activities with organisational
strategy is also critical to L&D’s ability to impact
the issues that are of strategic importance to
the business. Rather than aligning with the
needs of the organisation however, some
researchers have found that leadership
development tends to be more aligned with
perceived wisdom about best practice (Ready
& Conger, 2003; Davidson & Martineau,
2007), a perspective that nds support from
many studies which suggest that leadership
development lacks strategic alignment with
business needs (Anderson, 2009). Indeed
leadership development activities are often
perceived as somewhat ad hoc and haphazard,
and disconnected from organisational life
(Barton & Delbridge, 2004; Day, 2011). It is
equally critical that L&D initiatives are also
aligned with the distinctive business context of
the organisation, and the particular capabilities
essential for success in their specic industry
(Gurdjian, Halbeisen, & Lane, 2014)
CIPD (2007) and others suggest a number of
factors may be hindering the efforts of L&D
professionals to achieve alignment between
their activities and organisational strategy.
Firstly, organisational strategy is constantly
changing in its efforts to keep up with a
rapidly shifting environment. In order to remain
strategic, the onus then is on L&D professionals
to constantly reassess their activities, and
adapt at a similar rate. But changing L&D
activities and bringing about different learning
outcomes often takes time. There is also the
challenge of balancing longer–term strategic
L&D needs with shorter–term imperatives,
which has been reported as a real test for
L&D professionals (CIPD, 2007). Finally, as
responsibility for delivering and funding learning
and development is devolved to line managers,
L&D professionals are not always able to ensure
that learning is aligned with business priorities
(Anderson, 2009; CIPD, 2007).
Another factor crucial to aligning L&D with
organisational strategy is the engagement of
senior management, as found in an online
survey by McKinsey (Gryger, Saar & Schaar,
2010). They found that in companies where
capability development was focused on the
skill priority most critical to the company, 38%
had senior leaders involved, compared to 28%
where HR determined the agenda. They also
found that programmes were considered more
effective in driving business performance, and a
larger percentage of the operating budget was
allocated to development, when senior leaders
were involved in the L&D agenda. Senior
management involvement in L&D would appear
therefore, to be critical to their ability to align
activities to strategy in order to impact business
results.
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Credibility
Getting senior managers involved in leadership
development however, is a constant challenge
to L&D professionals attempting to launch
development programmes (Bailey & Clarke,
2008). A signicant issue is ensuring that L&D
are positively perceived by senior management,
both to get their support for their activities,
ensure their activities are aligned with the needs
of the organisation, and also to encourage
senior managers to promote a culture of
learning. The literature however, suggests
that this group’s perceptions of L&D are not
often positive. Some 16 years ago, Meldrum
& Atkinson (1998) found that line managers
were largely ambivalent or negative about
the inuence of HR professionals, particularly
in terms of their strategic overview of the
business, a perception which appears to
have changed little in recent years, as a 2012
study also found that only 18% of executives
considered L&D activities to be aligned to the
needs of the business (Taylor, 2012).
Hamlin (2010) argues that the lack of credibility
that L&D professionals have creates a vicious
cycle – without credibility L&D professionals will
not be consulted about strategy and business
needs, and without consultation, leadership
development programmes will not be aligned
with strategy, which in turn will mean they
do not result in the required impact on the
business, further damaging the credibility of the
profession.
If L&D are to establish their role as a strategic
partner and improve their inuence within the
organisation it would appear imperative that
they develop the required skills to engage and
inuence key stakeholders to ensure they are
involved in strategy development, and are
able to align their activities to the needs of the
business. This will enhance their impact on
critical business outcomes, further enhancing
their credibility and inuence.
Objective of the research
The objective of the research is to understand
how the profession can tackle these challenges
by exploring how three exemplars of effective
and inuential Learning and Development
functions overcame these challenges in
practice. How did they develop the necessary
credibility and acquire the appropriate skills
to engage those critical stakeholders, without
whom their activities would not be aligned to
the strategy, would not be supported by the
learning culture, and would ultimately fail to
impact on the business?
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Procedure
Qualitative data were collected through 1:1
interviews with managers from three large
organisations: Siemens, B&Q and AXA
Australia. Interviews were conducted both face-
to-face and over the telephone. The interviews
were semi-structured, exploring participants’
perspectives of the role and inuence of the
L&D function within their organisation.
Participants
15 interviews were conducted in total, with three
managers from Siemens, ve managers from
B&Q and seven managers from AXA Australia.
Interviewees included the three Heads of L&D,
four HR Managers, and eight senior operational
managers.
Participant organisations were selected based
on criteria such as the transformation of their
L&D approach, staff engagement scores, or
recognition through accreditations, company
listings, or learning and development awards.
Analysis
A systematic thematic analysis of interview
transcripts was conducted for each
organisation, to allow the exploration of the
participants’ experience and to generate
meaningful, rich data. The analysis was
structured around the following topics, and
presented as three individual organisation case
studies:
• Approach to L&D
• The nature of L&D programmes
• Organisational attitude towards L&D
• The L&D function.
Text relevant to these topics, which became the
core categories, was coded, and these codes
later arranged into themes and subthemes.
For example, the emerging theme of ‘iterative’
became a sub-theme of ‘the development
process for L&D activities ’, which in turn
came under the category of ‘the nature of L&D
programmes’.
METHODOLOGY
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13
The following section explores the ndings
from the research, gathered between 2011 and
2013, detailing how the three organisations
approached L&D, the nature of the
interventions they delivered, the organisations’
attitudes towards learning and development,
and the role, perception, capabilities and
inuence of the L&D function. The ndings are
presented as individual case studies in order
to present a contexualised narrative for each
organisation. Each case study is followed by
a brief addendum detailing any signicant
changes since the data were collected.
FINDINGS
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15
Siemens is a German, multinational engineering
and electronics conglomerate headquartered
in Berlin and Munich. Siemens’ principal
activities are organised into four main divisions:
Industry, Energy, Healthcare, and Infrastructure
and Cities. Siemens and its subsidiaries
employ around 360,000 people across nearly
190 countries. Siemens was selected as an
exemplar of best practice because of the
transformation of their approach to L&D to a
centralised global governance for HR, Talent
Acquisition, Learning and Leadership in one
corporate HQ organisation which reports
directly to the Siemens Managing Board
Member responsible for HR.
In addition the company are listed as one of
the top employers in Germany and have been
granted the Corporate Learning Improvement
Process (CLIP) accreditation by the European
Foundation of Management Development.
The HR function
Whilst the Head of L&D at Siemens is not a
Board member, the Head of HR does sit on the
Board, and is responsible for the HR strategy,
learning and development activities, and
leadership. Below the Head of HR sit functional
HR organisations which interface with the
operational units and incorporate the varying
HR functions including talent management,
leadership development and organisation
development, with practitioners operating as a
network of peers.
Approach to L&D
Development of the L&D strategy
The L&D strategy at Siemens is an adaptive
one. Activities are designed to respond to the
constantly changing environment, reecting the
challenges that their leaders are facing in the
moment. There is a recognition that what was
once topical and leading-edge, will quickly be
perceived as out-dated and redundant, and as
such, the strategy and activities are continually
revised, adapted and updated to remain
relevant and cutting-edge. “I don’t think [dealing
with a complex environment] is the main
theme any more. It’s now much more about
ambiguity than about complexity, and so we’re
now re-inventing this whole course in order to
reflect that more.”
The perspective the function takes is long-
term, incorporating an understanding that
behaviour doesn’t change overnight and
their credibility as a department needs to be
earned. A step-by-step process is therefore
required to embed new behaviours across
such a large organisation. Such a process also
demonstrates the impact of their activities and
wins the hearts and minds of key stakeholders.
There is also an understanding that change is a
delicate process. What happens in one area will
impact another, and as such change needs
to be incremental. Moving too fast causes
anxieties and defensiveness. In order to engage
and bring others with you, one needs to change
step by step. The size of the organisation can
limit one’s ability to inuence, but by focusing
on the immediate environment one can
instigate a step change across the organisation.
“I can only influence my environment here and
then see what the repercussions are.”
Critical to the success of the L&D strategy is an
alignment with the strategy of the business.
This they achieve through networking, through
making connections, by staying close to all
functions of the organisation, and ensuring that
the L&D strategy and activities reect the reality
the business is facing. “We always have to find
the sweet spot, connecting all this to business
reality. All that we are doing has to stand the
reality test of next Monday morning.”
CASE STUDY: SIEMENS
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The development process for L&D activities
and initiatives
The approach to the design of activities is
collaborative. Different stakeholders are
engaged in the process, including senior
managers, leaders from all levels, and previous
and future participants, to capture their
perspectives on the area of development and
ensure that it resonates and is congruent with
the needs of the organisation. “We are having
interviews with our Alumni, with leaders, with the
external stakeholders to really understand the
different perspectives that you can have on such
a question. And in the end, arriving at choices,
and decisions that are really turning this initiative
into something that creates value.”
The development process is thorough and
iterative, drawing on best practice from other
programmes and business schools, responding
to feedback from across the organisation and
from programme Alumni about what works and
what does not, what has been applied and what
hasn’t, and building on strengths and known
successes from previous programmes.
Development programmes are tailored to the
needs of specic businesses or target groups,
focusing on the required outcomes in terms of
capability gaps, levels of knowledge, business
and operational requirements. Programmes
incorporate topics and learning that is
appropriate and relevant, connects with the
business and touches the nerve of the receiving
group. Initiatives have a commercial focus and
are designed to generate business results.
“You really have to understand what this target
group is all about, what the real challenges are,
and how you can then use the ideas, concepts,
elements you have to work with, to create
insight.”
At the same time there is a red thread woven
through the different programmes aimed at
different target groups, to ensure that both
language and behaviours are embedded
across the business. The development of a
coherent leadership framework allows learning to
be applicable to even a diverse, heterogeneous
organisation. “We actually were developing,
despite our diversity, quite a harmonised
leadership culture and quite a harmonised
framework of how we manage people.”
Given the number of potential initiatives and
the limited resources available, the challenge
for L&D at Siemens is to prioritise those which
will have the biggest impact, and in so doing,
ensure that the function is recognised as
adding real value to the organisation.
The nature of L&D programmes
The range, content and format of
L&D programmes
The L&D function provides a range of activities
targeted at all levels of employee from junior
leaders to the Board, helping to disseminate
the ideas of the function and the leadership
framework throughout the organisation.
Programmes are designed to challenge, to
take participants out of their comfort zone,
and to present the possibility of failure, but in
an environment that feels safe, where trust
is established, and participants feel able
to disclose, to contribute, and stretch their
capabilities. “And what we want to have, what’s
necessary for learning, is that we feel really safe.”
Initiatives cover a range of content areas. At a
senior level they are designed to help managers
develop the self-awareness and maturity to
deal with the ambiguity and complexity of a
rapidly changing environment. Rather than
just developing skills and competences,
programmes are designed to change the
culture of the organisation and have impact at
a systemic level. “The process has led to a
result that resonates with the people and that’ll
change…the reality for Siemens as a whole.”
“It’s this journey of self-awareness and maturity
that I have to make. To take decisions I have to
pay a price. It’s not a right or wrong solution. It’s
just I go left or I go right, and somehow I cannot
have both. And then I have to deal with the
consequences.”
Through coaching, through experiential learning,
through feedback and reection, programmes
take a personalised approach, bringing the
individual into the room, engaging them
actively in the learning and translating the
content into something very personal to them.
17
Impact of L&D initiatives and programmes
Our interviewees described impact from L&D
activities both in terms of individual, cultural
and attitude change. At a cultural level,
activities were helping to open up discussions,
address challenging topics, and generating
positive energy. Individually, programmes have
been described as transformational, helping
individuals develop a self-awareness that not
only improves their leadership capabilities, but
can also translate into other areas of their lives.
“I’ve found it in the courses, especially when they
are these – big word – “life changing” moments.
When you work with people some will have an
epiphany and then just realise something for
themselves, where you see that you can make
a contribution to somebody’s life. And that has
happened really quite a couple of times I would
say over the last years, and these are great
moments.”
Individuals have discovered new ways to lead, to
work with their teams, and as a result the impact
is felt at that level. Teams feel empowered and
engaged in decision-making, and as such are
more motivated to act on those decisions.
“So instead of being directive and saying, let’s
do it this way, I ask the question: so what would
you recommend? And in 80% the answer given
is exactly what you would have said. Just that
the fact that your team is saying it, they feel more
empowered, the buy-in is there… The answer
that comes is either the right one, because you
thought it was the right one, or it is something
else. And then you have to open up and engage
with it. And then, in more cases, it’s even better
than what you thought.”
Organisational attitude towards
L&D
Senior management commitment
Siemens’ approach to L&D ensures that
initiatives have the support of senior
management, and that the capabilities and
behaviours being developed are congruent with
the leadership culture in which the participants
must operate. Similarly, senior leaders are
invited to speak on leadership courses, further
demonstrating organisational commitment
to the initiative.
“The key is to approach the very top of the
organisation and understand at the CEO level,
what it is that they want the organisation to
develop. What is the leadership style and what is
the leadership focus that you want to have in the
organisation? Because all these things have to
come from the top. There is no point in training
your leadership team or your middle managers
on an open culture of feedback, and have your
teams develop their decisions themselves,
when you want to manage your team in a totally
different way, and say it’s me who will take the
decision that everybody executes. You totally
lose credibility and then the whole thing dies. So
I think the first thing is starting at the top.”
Culture of learning
Part of the philosophy of L&D at Siemens is to
develop a culture of personal responsibility for
learning, a level of consciousness around
learning that encourages individuals to
take responsibility for and direct their own
development.
“We felt that the organisation was now ready to
make a change from being offered something in
a teaching mode, towards approaching learning
from a learning perspective: offering participants
some elements and encouraging them to reflect
and think about whether it is something that’s
useful for them or not. To take ownership for
their own learning.”
Feedback which fosters self-awareness and
insight is encouraged, mistakes are regarded
as opportunities for learning, and there is an
acknowledgment, advocated by the L&D
function, that in order to embed new behaviours
change needs to happen at a systemic,
cultural level. This was reported as a challenge
for the function – how to help the organisation
to recognise and deal with the required cultural
shift. “But then the pattern is very difficult to
change, even if you’ve changed a person, it
does not mean that the organisation as such is
changing.”
18
The L&D function
Role and perception of the L&D function
Our interviewees described the L&D function
as a proactive one. Rather than responding to
requests, they actively seek out opportunities
to add value, identifying skills gaps and
development needs. The L&D function
innovates, challenges, “irritates” the organisation,
posing questions and initiating new thinking.
“Who, if not the learning organisation, is irritating
an organisation and bringing in new thinking
and new questions… shouldn’t also a learning
department be a source of innovation for new
thinking? You can wait until somebody tells you
or you can start to think this through and then
act strategically on them. That’s what we try to
have as a mind-set.”
L&D initiatives are not just about developing
leaders, but through organisational-wide
development L&D becomes an instrument for
organisational change, and L&D professionals
become agents of change, stimulating
innovation, and challenging the status quo.
“We have always used the learning organisation
as a lever for organisational development for
Siemens.”
The Head of L&D shared an example of an
initiative designed to accelerate the development
and progression of women leaders: “There was
an issue that was in the air and we both decided
that we wanted to do something around that,
because we see an opportunity for us to really
show the value of what we can contribute. It’s
a symbolic issue, it is really important, high on
the corporate agenda at this time, but it’s also
risky because it can be taken the wrong way
very quickly. So that’s the first strategic choice
– do you get involved in such a topic? Some
topics you get from the CEO, you just have to
do something. But our understanding here,
when you think as an organisation, is that you
have to be pro-active in everything you do….
The question is, now we have responsibility
for diversity, what can we do, as a leadership
development unit of Siemens, to help capable
women grow more quickly and be able to step
up to more senior roles earlier? And this is a
good example of how we have to work: nobody
has asked us to do something, but we see that
we can create value there.”
As a function that operates across the whole
of the organisation, L&D are also able to take
a strategic, helicopter view, harmonising the
perspectives and requirements of a disparate
set of customers and partners, and aligning
them all with a common vision for leadership at
Siemens. “Everybody is looking at it from their
perspective…but somehow somebody has to
have this overall perspective and make sure that
this high level vision makes sense, is maintained
or preserved. That’s been typically the kind of
role that we have.”
The organisation as a whole maintains a
positive perception of the function. The senior
management are reported to be engaged with
their activities and consider them to be aligned
with the requirements of the organisation.
The function is valued and has “established
enormous credibility as a learning organisation.”
The capabilities and influence of the
L&D professional
Reported to us as one of the most critical
means of inuencing the organisation for the
L&D professional was through developing
relationships. Through relationships one gets
the opportunity to understand others’ needs,
perspectives and agendas, and the opportunity
to glean, respond, and act on their feedback, all
of which helps to engage them with what you
are trying to do. “Persuasion does not work,
you have to convince people. And you can
only convince people when you address their
personal needs and their personal agenda, and
you need to involve everybody.”
Similarly, through actively seeking out and
establishing relationships with key stakeholders
such as senior managers and participants,
one can develop networks of advocates and
protagonists outside of any formal business
connection and outside of one’s formal
authority, who are bought in to their ideas and
engaged with the need for change.
“But it’s not so much active influencing as it is
19
pro-active network management, relationship
management, I would say. So that whenever
there is an issue you have the right partners and
you can address it.”
Having both a commercial and OD
background also helps in making connections
between the business needs and the individual
and organisational development needs, and
nding the right balance between the three.
Considered important to effectiveness is an
ability to reflect on past experience, and to
turn past difculties into critical development
incidents, opportunities to learn and to improve.
“And it has shaped me, because it’s not just
an example of something that was a tough
situation, but it shaped me in many ways
because it was a hard time. And it has triggered
a lot of thought also later, on how to deal with
these kind of situations, to learn from them.”
As an L&D professional, having a curious and
enquiring mind-set, recognising that you
cannot know everything, and being driven to
understand and make sense of what you see
was considered critical to their inuence. The
L&D professional needs to walk the talk, to
be a continual learner, go through the process
that their participant groups are going through,
and live their realities, in order to be seen as
credible. “You have to be a learner yourself, and
you have to have a positive attitude towards
understanding what is happening if you want to
take others along in leadership development.”
“When you deal with dilemma, when you talk
about issues like trust, about listening, about
dealing with emotions, whatever it is, you need
to be seen as credible by your environment,
both your own team, but also the people around
you, and embody that… so that people really
see it as not just theory.”
Self-awareness – an understanding of what
motivates you, what is your ‘sweet spot’, what
are your strengths – is also considered an
important leadership skill, and the foundation
for understanding others and facilitating
collaboration and engagement.
The L&D team are committed and motivated
by a real desire to make a difference, to
implement programmes that they believe in.
“I have never worked in a team that so openly
shares common values and are driven by the
same desire to shape something which is really
extraordinary. We all want to have an impact on
the leadership culture of Siemens and you know
how difficult it is to change behaviour.”
The Head of L&D at Siemens brings a range of
skills to the role. He is both challenging and
intuitive, identifying and naming organisational
patterns and needs. “And I think they, in a way
they know we just named reality that was there
anyhow, and that was, so far, maybe a bit of a
blind spot at Siemens. And what I might have
done, I just realise now, I might, a bit earlier than
the rest of Siemens, have intuitively identified this
blind spot. And now it resonates with people.”
Bringing an ‘unconventional’ provocative
perspective is also considered to be a critical
element of the L&D role within the organisation,
one that balances challenge with support. “If you
see the organisation as the pearl, you’re the grit
that forms the pearl. Because the grit is always
nasty and challenging…but you just have to
make sure that you don’t get rejected.”
The Head of L&D at Siemens takes a holistic
approach to L&D, rather than purely focusing
on skills development. He perceives the
organisation as a whole, identifying cultural
patterns that need changing and challenging
the organisation to take an organisation
development approach to L&D. “We’re very
much an engineering culture so people are very
technical, task focused, content focused. And
as much as for them individually, emotional
intelligence is the blind spot, then for the
organisation sometimes these patterns are
a blind spot. It would definitely help a lot to
talk more about how are we working with one
another and how engaging this is. So step by
step I think we are now having more of these
conversations. But I’d say probably I’m the
person who’s bringing the most experience in
change management OD into Siemens. But it’s
not a very official hat or task. We don’t have a
functional centre called OD. It’s just something
that I try to breathe wherever I am working with
people, as a mind-set.”
20
Addendum: Siemens 2014
Seven years after having been, this L&D function
is still operating, continuously adapting and
regarded as a high-value brand in the company.
Deploying the potential of several thousand
Alumni of its programmes throughout the
organisation, in the future it will play an even
larger role in the endeavour of fostering the
aspired ownership culture at Siemens.
21
B&Q are the largest home improvement retailer
in the UK, employing more than 30,000 people
nationwide. At the time of the interviews they
had begun a large organisation development
process, including a restructure of the HR and
L&D function, which was continuing to evolve.
They were selected as an example of best
practice based on their transformation of their
organisational strategy, high staff engagement
scores, HR Magazine Gold Award 2010, and
Gallup Great Workplace Award for the fourth
year running.
The HR function
The HR function at B&Q is led by an
HR Leadership Team consisting of specialists
from across the different components of the
function. This team reports to the Board Director.
HR operates on a business partner model,
with Divisional HR Managers partnering the
Regional Managers and Divisional Directors,
offering a central point of contact for all matters
relating to HR, from recruitment to L&D. These
HR Managers are close to the business reality
for these regions and divisions, developing an
understanding of what they need, and they in
turn partner with the relevant HR functions such
as reward or L&D, bringing in the specialists
where appropriate. “I think it just helps when
they’ve just got that one relationship, to really
make sure that we get the right people in at the
right time.”
The partnership approach between HR and
L&D has helped to connect L&D to the needs
of the business. “L&D business partnering
with HR just has removed any boundaries, any
colloquialisms, you know, it’s just helped us form
as a really strong function, but connects L&D
very quickly to business need.”
In response to the changing environment B&Q
were re-shaping the organisation, and HR and
the HR Director were integral to that process,
to the development of the new organisational
strategy, and to the establishment of people
at the heart of the business. Part of this
reorganisation saw a shift from a divisional
approach to L&D to an integrated L&D strategy
for the whole of the business.
History of the L&D function
In the past, the approach to L&D had been
somewhat ad hoc and inconsistent. “They
always seemed to be spread so thin, that they
were chasing themselves … no sooner had
they moved on from one project they were
going on to another one, and haven’t had time
to really look at whether what they’d done
had embedded.” This impacted the credibility
of the L&D function as they were reportedly
seen by some as a ‘jack of all trades’ rather
than experts. Similarly, there was for some a
perceived lack of clarity around how L&D could
support the vision of the organisation or help
individual functions to meet their business
needs. “I’m not sure that the interaction
between the functions and L&D was cohesive
enough to end up with an offer that necessarily
met the needs of the function.”
Approach to L&D
Development of the L&D strategy
Now the L&D strategy at B&Q is agile and
adaptive, exing to the needs of the business.
They operate a rolling three-year business plan
which is concrete for the rst year, but more
exible in the second and third years, allowing
it to adapt to the iterative and emerging nature
of the business. “For an L&D function you need
to stay agile and flexible. And what I mean by
that is the business is forever changing and
the needs are forever changing, particularly in
a retail business like B&Q. And I would say, for
any L&D function in that kind of environment,
CASE STUDY: B&Q
22
you need to stay one step ahead of what’s
going on in the industry.” Critical to this agility
are close connections both internally with those
on the ground, and externally with what’s going
on in the broader industry.
These connections also help ensure that
the L&D strategy is aligned to that of the
business. Connecting with retail ensures
that L&D are talking the same commercial
language as that being spoken in the stores,
and connecting with senior management
ensures L&D understand where they want to
take the business. “Understanding where we
want to head as a business, what’s our next
three to five years, to make sure that, actually,
the L&D strategy is bang in alignment with
where we’re heading as a business.”
Rather than a preconceived plan of what will
be right for the organisation, the L&D strategy
is determined by an understanding of what
the business needs, what local divisions
and functions need, and from that identifying
how and where they can add value, what the
‘people’ solution might be to meet the individual
divisional strategic plans. “Rather than go out
and go, ‘Hi, we’re L&D, these are all the things
that we can do, we’re trained in this, we’re
trained in that, we’re trained in the other, and
sell your wares’. I’d flip it on its head and go
in and get to know your business, get intimate
with your business, understand where your
business is going, and then work out how L&D
can add value, rather than sell what you’ve got
on your shelf.”
Identied as critical to the impact of L&D at
B&Q is their ability to fundamentally connect
with what happens in the stores, on the
ground, with the customers. “It’s about being
engaged and involved in what we’re trying to
do in the stores, because the reality is to B&Q
that it all happens in the stores. Without the
stores we don’t have B&Q. So it’s about L&D
being really connected to the people who work
in the shops.”
The development process for L&D activities
and initiatives
L&D activities and initiatives are developed in
collaboration, between L&D and the division,
region, or operational function, ensuring that the
content is aligned with the business need
and brought to life through the expertise of the
L&D specialist. “So the business content, the
business owners were from the business side,
I was involved in that myself. But a lot of the
creativity and ideas came from L&D bringing in
the right people to add the difference to it.”
The focus is on outcomes, understanding
the difference in terms of individual or business
performance that the proposed intervention
should achieve. “They’ll help you understand
what is it you want as your end result, and
then help you work it backwards.” “So the
first question is always what do you want the
outcome to be?”
Interventions are tailored to respond to
local, business unit and participant needs,
customising designs to be appropriate for the
learning requirements, and customising delivery
to really engage and get buy-in from the
specic audience. “I work with L&D to build a
training regime appropriate to fit into the boxes
that I need them to work on.” “She’s pointing
me in the direction of people that can help with
funding, to do more development of my team,
that I perhaps see fitting in with the style of the
division… that feels very refreshing. And along
the way, there will be interventions, we’ll want
to focus on some of our top leaders, and we’ll
maybe have a suite of options for those leaders
… that is so much better than just having
a flavour of the month training course that
everyone should go through.”
The number of employees at B&Q, particularly
those based in the stores, presents a real
challenge for the L&D function in terms of
where to prioritise. “I think … very much some
of the challenges are where they should be
making their investment, and how much of their
time needs to be on retail and what’s going
on in the stores and at store level?” “Everyone
wants you to do everything and be everywhere,
so we have a challenge of prioritisation.”
23
To address this challenge the Head of L&D is
working towards getting the team to a position
where they can do less but do it better.
The challenge is also addressed by a keen
focus on whether the learning will transfer,
whether it will really add value and generate
a return on the investment of both time and
money. “I’ve got a very strong ethic around, if
it’s worth doing, adds value to the bottom line.
So I’ve got a very strong return on investment
head and mind-set that I drive into the team.”
For L&D at B&Q it is considered important that
interventions are reviewed to determine whether
or not they are hitting the mark and having an
impact, which in turn builds credibility for the
function. “It’s the Holy Grail of L&D, you know,
to try and measure and evaluate. And to be
honest, I don’t encourage my team to measure
the nth degree out of everything. It’s more of a
mind-set thing that I am educating my team to
have a commercial mind-set.”
The Nature of L&D programmes
The range, content and format of
L&D programmes
L&D at B&Q offer a range of interventions
from core basics around tills or software,
product and sales training, to trainee schemes,
graduate programmes, senior management
development programmes, and step-change
projects. Formal interventions incorporate
a range of formats including practical
workshops, coaching, and organisation-wide
communication events, and are typically run
in-house with some external input which is
customised to be congruent with the language
and culture of B&Q. “Taking the best bits out
of the industry and bringing it in pragmatically,
into the business … we use a lot of stuff that’s
come externally but we package it in a way
that’s palatable for B&Q.”
Where appropriate, programme cohorts include
participants from across the organisation,
bringing them together as one team, and
developing their knowledge of both sides of
the business. “I started to run some training for
both audiences in the same room, and this was
all a little bit by stealth because you know it was
all, it’ll never work … And actually it was really
powerful, for the times when we did that. And
you got Head Office Managers working with
Store Managers, in the same room, around
influencing skills, for example …
There was a double whammy learning actually.
They were learning about the content, but they
were learning about the business.”
Impact of L&D initiatives and programmes
Impact of L&D initiatives was reported at an
individual and cultural level, as well as in terms
of impacting the attitude of the organisation
towards the L&D function. Interviewees
reported demonstrable changes in
behaviour, and benets to individual personal
development. “It’s quite evident from some of
the people that the programmes had an impact
and you can actually see them operating in
different ways.” Culturally, the language
used on some L&D initiatives was starting
to embed across the company, helping to
develop clarity about the strategy and direction
of the organisation.
Some L&D initiatives were also highly visible,
helping to position L&D as central to developing
the organisation. “They’ve certainly had a high
profile I think, in the business, and I do think it’s
created a sense of optimism and a sense that
we’re changing the organisation … then I would
say, yes, I do think that they are valued.”
Organisational attitude
towards L&D
Senior management commitment
L&D was reported as being seen as an
important vehicle for propelling the
business forward, and has received signicant
investment over the past ten years. “And
that’s the fortunate place we’re in. We’ve got a
good level of investment from the B&Q Board.
They believe in us. They believe in what we
do.” This commitment is made explicit in the
involvement of senior management in some
L&D activities, co-designing and co-delivering
24
sessions, feeding back around planned
initiatives, and inputting into the strategy for
L&D. “So our relationship with retail and the
guys that are running the business is hugely
strong. We get them involved when we are
writing our plans and vice versa. So it’s all you
know … it’s a joint plan. So our retail plan is a
joint HR and Ops plan.”
Culture of learning
The L&D function at B&Q are working to embed
a culture of learning across the organisation,
developing a mind-set that learning is a
continual process that doesn’t have to
manifest only in the classroom. Indeed, only
20% of learning at B&Q comes via formal
intervention from L&D. 40% comes from line
managers, learning on the job, or through
interaction with peers, and the remaining 40%
through self-directed learning. “It’s a mind-set
we have about, learning doesn’t always have to
be in a classroom with somebody who has got
a learning and development job title.” “I spend
a lot of the time trying to diagnose actually
what they’re saying, and understanding is it
the L&D proposition we need or is it something
within our own capabilities as leaders, or within
ourselves?”
In service of this mind-set, L&D at B&Q are
developing advocates for learning, equipping
individuals to share and cascade learning to
their peers, producing a ripple effect through
the organisation. “So we’re trying to fuel that
culture by saying: don’t just wait for us guys.
We’ll equip you, and we’ll help you, and we’ve
certainly got our hand on your shoulder to help
you to do that … and we’ll give you expertise,
knowledge, and the encouragement. And
we try and get them to pass that on to their
colleagues.” This approach is supported
through recognition and reward to encourage
and motivate individuals to consider it as part of
their role. Line managers in particular are being
developed to facilitate workshops and train their
own teams. “I think it gives real accountability
for developing your own people, that’s a huge
plus for me. I think that puts the ownership into
all of our hands to develop each other.”
The role of the line manager at B&Q also
involves both performance management and
people development, encouraging learning,
providing feedback and coaching, engaging in
that development, and supporting application
back to the workplace. “It’s so important
that any training that we do, the leader has
to believe in it, because if I don’t believe in it,
then I’m not going to be talking about it and
the Regional Manager’s not going to be talking
about it, and therefore it will just be another
course … If we invest in people’s development,
we’re all able to support with that after the
intervention’s happened.”
Individuals are also encouraged to take
responsibility for their own personal
development, and to take and create
opportunities to learn. “What we focused on
as part of being the best you can be, which
was about you actually – you need to spend
some time thinking about your development,
otherwise you’ll never be as effective as you
could be.”
The L&D function
The role and perception of the L&D function
L&D at B&Q operate as business partners,
partnering Regional HR Managers. This allows
them to stay close to the business and provides
the managers with a ‘people’ resource focused
at their local level with whom they can develop
an understanding of their needs and tailor
interventions to those needs. “The RMs for
example, who are quite senior leaders in our
business, truly value that role, they get some
one-to-one time. It’s about them, they lead that
meeting, which we’ve not had before. So I think
that its moved from just delivery to they help us
think, a lot.”
L&D professionals are regarded as learning
specialists, diagnosing learning needs,
identifying capability gaps, and developing
talent, as well as delivering and facilitating
workshops. “How do we nurture talent, how do
we grow our business, how do we recognise
leadership and management, how do we
recognise opportunities within our colleagues,
25
and how do we give them the right framework
to grow and to develop? So that’s what I call
typical learning and development. It’s more
around how we develop our team, develop our
staff, and develop our capabilities.”
L&D also offer both coaching and consulting
to the Regional Managers, Directors and
the Board, supporting them in their decision
making, and personal development. “I think the
RMs, as I say, would see them as someone a
bit like a personal coach, so someone that they
can confide in, someone that can talk about
them, for a change, that can help them come
to be the best they are, they can be.” They also
input into developing frameworks to deliver the
organisational strategy and vision at a local level.
L&D professionals at B&Q are also perceived
as change agents, involved in and inuencing
the recent organisation design process,
communicating and engaging staff in change,
supporting the process, as well as being
instigators of change. “The relationship I’ve got
with our CEO is that sometimes he does use
us as an instigator of some change as well as a
follower of change and supporter of change.”
The organisation’s perception of the L&D
function is reported as positive. The L&D
function are perceived to be adaptable and
aligned with the organisational strategy, and
their capabilities and skills are valued. Whilst
described as more reactive in terms of local
development needs, the function was described
as proactive at a macro level, in terms of
developing pan-organisation business initiatives.
“I would say their worth in this organisation is
massive, and I think the fact that the plan, the
strategy and the plan, is now completely aligned
feels great. And the relationships feel strong. So,
yes, I think learning and development has played
a massive part.”
The capabilities and influence of the
L&D professional
Developing relationships were reported as
an important factor in L&D’s ability to inuence
the organisation. Developing relationships
and engaging different stakeholders across
the business help to ensure that they develop
a nuanced understanding of the business
and can get others on board with what they
are hoping to achieve. “I use a lot of my
relationships, that’s certainly an influencing
strategy, and if I don’t have a strong relationship
with somebody, I know somebody who has, so
I’ll use relationships in a lot of cases.”
The Head of L&D in particular, has also
developed good relationships with the Board
which helps to ensure that she is part of the
critical conversations, and is consulted and
involved in Board level discussions.
The Head of L&D’s inuence is also greatly
facilitated by her past experience of and
successes in the business, which helps to
develop her credibility and others’ trust that she
will deliver. This experience has afforded her a
good grasp of the business and has increased
her visibility, resulting in her contribution being
valued and requested. “she adds good value
in that space, go and ask her, … Because I’ve
been seen in a number of different roles around
the business, my credibility is out there, my
visibility is out there, and I get utilised because
of that.”
This past experience, as well as many years
working in L&D has helped her to get a good
working balance between the commercial
needs of the business, the reality of the
shop oor, and learning and development
requirements. “So she is very balanced. She is
very realistic. She understands business, she
understands what it is like to be in a shop. And
that doesn’t mean that she’s worked in a shop,
she just has a way of just getting to reality quite
quickly. And that’s how I operate, I don’t live in a
fluffy world of HR, I live in the real world of shops.
So for me she brings a real balance for us.”
Her credibility and visibility have also had a
signicant impact on that of the function as
a whole and its ability, as an entity, to exert
inuence. “As I stand out, when I’ve been
going round and listening to people, credibility
was lacking before … L&D wasn’t necessarily
involved in some things that they should have
been, or it was involved too late to influence it.
What my team are expressing to me now is,
since you’ve been around, we’re involved a lot
earlier, we’ve involved in much more.”
26
The Head of L&D brings a variety of skills to
the role, and was described as inclusive,
hands-on, and calming, able to diffuse the
emotion from a situation and help focus on
nding solutions. She was also described as
both pragmatic and challenging, able to offer
a different perspective, and pushing back when
she can vision an alternative approach. “She
just gives a different perspective. I think she’s
realistic enough but removed enough to just
throw a challenge into the room which just gets
great conversation going.”
Addendum: B&Q 2014
The organisation development journey at
B&Q has continued since the interviews were
conducted, and most notably, in October
2013, four of the six board members departed,
including the CEO and HR Director. The Head
of L&D was asked to take on a dual role and is
now also Head of Business Communications,
tasked with helping the Board create the
story of the strategy for B&Q and engage the
business in that strategy.
These changes have presented both challenges
and opportunities for the L&D function. New
relationships have had to be developed with the
new Board members before real movements
could be made on the L&D agenda. Developing
these relationships has again been facilitated
by the Head of L&D’s commercial background,
particularly given that the new CEO has a
nancial background rather than the HR
background of his predecessor. The changes
have also necessitated a restructure of the
L&D function, which has forced the function to
prioritise initiatives and to up their game and the
capability of their people.
The additional role also places the Head of L&D
at the heart of determining what the vision and
strategy of the organisation is, greatly facilitating
the alignment of the L&D strategy with that of
the organisational strategy of making B&Q a
simpler place to work and to shop. The two
roles also ensure that L&D remains high on
the agenda and has helped to unlock some
of the previous blockers to the L&D strategy.
Similarly, the dual roles have accelerated the
development of relationships with the Board
who needed her engagement in communicating
change across the business, before they
were in a place to talk about learning and
development.
27
AXA S.A. is a French global investment,
retirement, and insurance group headquartered
in Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of
independently-run businesses, operating
according to the laws and regulations of
many different countries. The AXA group of
companies engage in life, health and other
forms of insurance, as well as investment
management. The group operates primarily in
Western Europe, North America, the
Asia Pacic region, and the Middle East.
AXA Australia was selected as a best practice
case study because the scores for the
development support increased dramatically
after their new approach to L&D.
The HR function
The role of HR at AXA Australia is particularly
comprehensive, responsible for all elements
of people, including leadership development,
succession planning, talent management, pay
and reward, and industrial relations. Learning
and Development operates as a team within that
function, partnering with Regional HR Managers
to develop targeted solutions.
History of the L&D function
In past years the approach to L&D at AXA
Australia was fairly ad hoc and inconsistent,
with a variety of interventions on offer around
competence development, leadership or
building teams, but which did not connect
together. Attendance was often compulsory
and impact reported as low. “Ten years ago my
team would have probably all had to do one
course each per year. That would have been
thrust upon them and they would have got very
little out of it.”
Development was primarily event-based, there
was little clarity around what L&D was about,
and there was a high level of reluctance and
resistance towards learning. “When I met
with the Leadership Team members some of
them were quite reluctant to do any kind of
actual learning at that stage. They had bad
experiences of learning. They thought it was a
waste of time and a lot of people came up with
ideas that didn’t go anywhere.”
Approach to L&D
Development of the L&D strategy
The L&D strategy at AXA Australia is adaptive
and designed to respond to the changing
needs of the business and ensuring that
activities are relevant to the immediate
business challenge. This is achieved through
asking the right questions of the right people,
with real insight and understanding of the
business to establish what is really important
and relevant. “We then started asking slightly
different questions of people, which was, what
are the business challenges you’re facing
and what are you going to face in the next
six months? And, again, we spoke to pivotal
people that we thought of as having very deep
insight in the business, and we came up with
five or six key challenges.”
Rather than leadership development being
about attending programmes, the focus is
very much on applying learning day-to-day
to resolve the immediate challenges of the
business and develop an offer that helps
leaders be more effective in responding to
those challenges.
This shift of focus helps to engage otherwise
reluctant executives in leadership development
because rather than a process of compliance,
development is directly applied to the
challenges they need to resolve. “When we
talked to each of the other execs it became
very obvious … could see the way that … their
atoms were spinning with change. The eyes
would light up, the physiological signs were
CASE STUDY: AXA AUSTRALIA
28
there, the attention. One of the execs, someone
who had always been resistant to leadership
ideas, because ultimately for him it probably
got in the way of the immediate needs that
we had, operationally focused, then started
talking about, well if we did this and if we did
this. So there was an entirely different level of
engagement in the possibility.”
This adaptability ensures that the L&D
strategy is very much aligned with that of
the organisation. People development has
become about how leaders at AXA Australia
can deliver the organisation’s strategy.
“Where this becomes quite powerful is because
the leadership strategy is now actually not just
notionally aligned to the business strategy,
not just talking about it, not just encouraging
it, actively working on it.” This helps to ensure
participants understand how to connect
learning to the business and as such adds
more value.
Part of the L&D strategy is to develop a
common, coherent leadership framework
that will provide a red thread through the
organisation offering clarity around what
leadership attributes and behaviours are
expected, and embedding a common
language at all levels, breaking down silos
and introducing a commonality across the
disparate parts. Leadership is considered to
be universal, and incorporates self-leadership,
and as such the framework applies to everyone
in the organisation, and is translated into
performance discussions. “This is the guide
that would connect people up and they would
see all the threads running right through the
organisation, they would understand what their
responsibilities were as managers, as people
leaders. They would understand and be able to
be self-guided around their leadership.”
The development process for L&D activities
and initiatives
The process of developing interventions is
collaborative, exploring different stakeholders’
perspectives on the challenges of the business,
and obtaining their feedback on how initiatives
are progressing. As well as helping them to
understand what is relevant, this approach
also has the benet of validating the models
being developed and getting people engaged in
learning. “Collaborating, engaging in feedback
… was having a big impact on how people
were now taking ownership for it.”
The development process is thorough
and iterative, building on research around
effective leadership and sustainable leadership
development, and incorporating feedback from
stakeholders, managers, and staff, regarding
what’s working and what isn’t, what resonates,
and what’s missing, into the design of the
programme.
Development of L&D activities at AXA
Australia is very customer-centric, focusing
on the outcomes and requirements of the
business unit that the initiative is designed for,
developing and tailoring solutions to meet those
requirements, and determining how to add
value. “We’re not selling you a product, we’re
not selling a module, we’re starting with your
business needs and then acquiring a suitable
solution.” Rather than rolling out initiatives
across the business, roll out is ‘adaptive’,
targeted where there’s pressing need, particular
challenges, and specic capability gaps.
There is a strong emphasis on learning
transfer at AXA Australia, translating
leadership concepts into tangible behaviour,
and supporting application of learning through
practice, reection, and coaching. Follow-up
sessions track behaviour change to explore
what has been learned and applied. “So there
were various reconnect-type sessions with
these people and their managers to see, well,
what are these people doing differently? Have
they – coming out of the different programmes
– are they now managing in a different or more
effective way? What are they actually putting
into practice?” Success stories are shared from
some programmes to demonstrate the impact
and value of learning.
29
The Nature of L&D programmes
The range, content and format of
L&D programmes
AXA Australia offers activities across all
levels within the organisation, from junior to
senior managers. Content includes topics
such as navigating and exploring the impact
of change, understanding yourself as a leader,
business and strategic leadership development,
coaching and mentoring, and senior leadership
programmes.
Initiatives involve a variety of formats,
including reective, shared learning for
intact teams; practical, application-focused
workshops translating theory into action, and
experiential learning. The focus is on developing
open and safe learning environments in which
participants can share their experiences and
develop real personal insight. “We’d get them
to share their experiences with each other,
and that’s incredibly powerful. And actually
put the key emotional pieces on sticky-notes.
And they all compare each other’s journeys.
And all the journeys, whilst they had different
emotions at different times, they followed this
really strong pattern. And so it creates this
very powerful connection between the people
in the workshop. And it’s done on a dialogue
and reflective basis, so people were really
appreciating and enjoying that, and the way
of them really learning from each other and
using the wisdom of the group to reflect on
how they’re going to support their people going
through change.”
Learning guides and journals are developed
to accompany programmes and to offer
guidance on the development opportunities
available both formally, and within the day-to-
day role, and to encourage active reection on
that learning. The majority of programmes are
designed and delivered in-house.
Whilst this has the benet of reducing costs,
keeping the context of the business in the
room, and embedding the learning across the
organisation, one challenge for L&D at
AXA Australia is that internal training is not
always perceived to be as valuable as that
provided externally.
Impact of L&D initiatives and programmes
Impact was reported at all levels, including
individuals, teams, and the organisational
culture. Individually, participants are seen to be
actively using their learning, and applying the
tools to their jobs. Programmes are helping
to develop individuals’ self-awareness, their
understanding of their strengths, development
needs and personal leadership skills, and
improving their leadership capabilities.
“The leaders that have gone through
these programmes are more in touch with
themselves, they are more genuine and open,
and they rise to the occasion, not afraid to have
difficult conversations. The effectiveness and
communication improved.”
The programmes were also reported to be
impacting employees’ engagement with
the organisation, which is recognised as a
company that invests in their development.
Similarly, the benet of development to
individuals’ ability to do their jobs is now
understood, generating a buzz around the
organisation. “People are now requesting
participation or requesting workshops without
our needing to spend a lot of time promoting
what we have to offer. To me, that tells me
we’re finding that sweet spot. People are
experiencing the value, they’re realising it’s
making a difference in terms of their ability to
respond more effectively to the challenges they
face or the opportunities they’re seeing.”
Programmes are described as
transformational, impacting individuals beyond
their sphere of work. “Without a doubt this was
the most impactful experience for me, but also
for my wife, my siblings, my colleagues etc.
It goes beyond the experience you have when
you go out for just a couple of days for all the
other ‘normal’ programmes. They really look
at the person. The course was a life-changing
experience, had an effect on me personally.
It is very transformational. I would say the
courses are enlightened.”
Culturally, the L&D initiatives are having an
impact on how people treat each other,
within teams and across the organisation,
and encouraging collaborative and robust
dialogue that is changing the way that
problems are resolved. “He said he has
30
certainly noticed within the team, it’s actually
the dialogue as a team that’s changed quite
considerably. He said they’re much less likely
to blame someone else, they’re less likely to
whinge, and they’re much more likely to look for
their own solutions. So he’s actively seeing it
within how the team are interacting.”
The language used on programmes is
becoming embedded across the organisation
from the top down, helping to create a shared
understanding around what leadership is.
“But the reason it has created the impact
is because it’s come from the top, and it’s
language that now everyone uses. So it’s
language that’s ingrained within the culture.
So principles of straight talk, principles of victim
versus responsible mind-sets.”
The attitude towards L&D
Senior management commitment
It was reported that as an organisation,
AXA Australia recognises the importance of
learning and development. The Leadership
Team believes in what the function are doing,
and can see the benets of their activities.
Through successful programme roll-outs
a body of advocates has been developed
who are engaged in and committed to
development, championing it throughout
the business. To illustrate this engagement,
the Head of L&D described the setup of the
Leadership Advisory Committee, a group of
very senior managers brought together to
navigate the leadership ideas and initiatives
being rolled out through the business. The
committee was supposed to rotate after 12
months: “Then 12 months after we spoke about
it every single individual said they did not want
to rotate off it, they wanted to stay on. Because
they had a massive positive learning experience
on it, and to them the dialogues that we had
were invaluable. And they actually started doing
more things with their own teams and actually
building their own leadership capability in
their own teams. And it’s just a fantastic story
about how they’ve actually shifted just through
keeping and engaging in dialogue.”
As well as involvement in the dialogue
around L&D, senior management are also
actively supporting it through their investment
and involvement in activities. “So at that
point, because of the Strategic Leadership
Programme, there started to be a growing body
of advocates within AXA Australia. So this was
now, we’ve run four or five programmes, about
100 to 120 people, who were saying this is
fantastic work. We need to lead this business in
a different way.”
Culture of learning
There is recognition at AXA Australia that
effective development takes place in the
context of work, and the further removed
from that context the less effective it will be.
Initiatives therefore are developed through the
lter of this lens. “Leadership in Action was
a way of emphasising that development and
leadership are the same thing, and they both
occur whilst being applied to the context of our
work. So we can learn things in a workshop,
but the development is what takes place in
terms of the application of what we’ve learned.”
Through the 70, 20, 10 Model, development
is encouraged on the job as well as
through formal programmes, through work
opportunities, through situational projects,
through secondments, self-directed learning,
and through reection.
A strong emphasis for L&D at AXA is to
raise the level of consciousness around
development across the organisation.
Development is perceived as something that
occurs continually, and requires engagement at
all levels – the individual, the manager and the
organisation – to be effective. “To me you can
cut this and dice this in a million ways. But it
comes down to three things: the organisation
must encourage it, champion it, and provide
the space for it. The managers must actually
engage in it, be part of it. And individuals have
to have a sense of efficacy and responsibility
to go on the journey. And if you don’t work at
all three levels at the same time, you’re kidding
yourself, you’re dreaming. And you just create
pockets of resistance.”
31
Individuals are encouraged to take
responsibility for their own development, are
given the support and space to try out new
behaviours in a safe environment, and helped
to recognise the lessons to be learned from
failure, and to develop the self-efficacy to
create the opportunities to integrate what
they’ve learned into their work. “Not just
the formal side of development, it’s also
helping people see that business challenges
are development opportunities. That when
things go wrong, when the shit hits the fan:
development opportunity ... The experiences
we have at work, whilst they might be the
nature of the work, they are at the same time
also a developmental opportunity. So if we can
bring that attitude or that approach to what
we do that also then changes the nature of
the experience. That’s the attitude that we’re
seeking to instill.”
The L&D function
The role and perception of the L&D function
The organisation’s perception of the L&D
function is reported as very positive. The
leadership team are engaged in what the
function are doing, the CEO is bought in and
the team are regarded as credible experts.
“Now you asked, how do we know if we’re
successful? One of the biggest, I would call
success indicators, is when people say, we
don’t need you to explain to us what you’re
offering. We trust what you offer. We know that
it works. So when there’s that implicit level
of trust then we’re doing something that’s
resonating.”
Their role is primarily that of specialist,
partnering with business managers to develop
tailored interventions, building their capability
and delivering workshops, as well as facilitating
dialogue around challenging issues, and
creating opportunities and a safe environment
in which leaders can have robust, challenging
conversations. “And it had this really strong
reaction and very, very, aggressive discussion
which some people in that room didn’t
necessarily have the maturity to deal with. And
so my role was not to dampen it, but it was
just to navigate it, to allow some space for it to
happen, for then to bring it back to what was
recorded. So the feedback from that session
was, I suppose, absolutely seminal in some
ways … because the organisation allowed
this to happen. Rather than repercussions,
or shutting down, it was accepted that really
difficult conversations needed to occur.”
An additional role of the Head of L&D at AXA
Australia is also that of personal coach and
mentor to the senior directors, working with
them around their personal development, and
their team and organisational challenges.
The capabilities and influence of the
L&D professional
Developing relationships is a critical means
by which the Head of L&D at AXA Australia
develops his inuence. Getting to know senior
leaders personally fosters trust and enables
him to challenge and push back. “I think that’s
part of his strength as well, that he’s made
these professional relationships develop into
a situation where we trust him to give us that
challenging feedback from time to time.”
Similarly, through these relationships with the
senior team he is able to get their input and
engagement in ideas as they form, helping to
get their buy-in and support once the proposal
is complete. “He is very good at being able to
get support when an idea is just an idea, before
it gets too down the track and, therefore, when
people then see the idea grow and evolve, it’s
familiar to them. And I think he’s very clever
in doing that, because then he’s not showing
them a product that’s complete, he’s getting
that stakeholder buy-in from day one.”
Through these relationships he is also able
to develop an understanding of what is
important to the senior management team,
what it is that they need, facilitated by his
commercial knowledge and use of language
which is congruent with theirs. The Head of
L&D also combines a background of technical,
business experience, including strategy,
nance, IT, mergers and acquisitions, and OD,
with an in-depth, proactively self-developed
capability around learning and development,
communication, team-building, and
32
self-awareness. This combination helps him to
apply the business context to learning and the
learning context to business.
What is also important to his ability to inuence
is demonstrating the impact of L&D
initiatives through piloting programmes, getting
feedback, building on those foundations to
develop more, and using managers who have
gone through programmes as protagonists and
advocates for learning and development. “He’ll
then use my experience as a bit of an advocacy
for the other managers. And I think that’s a
really powerful way to seed us with ideas of
things we can do ... He uses us to advocate for
them once we’ve gone through them.”
He is also able to effectively and engagingly
articulate the benets and value of proposed
interventions. “What he did well was, really
had a compelling story to tell about the impact
of running a leadership development, and
what it would do for the organisation, not only
for the stakeholders, but for customers, for
shareholders, for advisors, for staff. And he sold
that story to our CEO and the CEO’s
direct reports.”
His energy and passion were also reported
as inspiring, inuential, and infectious, helping
to carry his argument. “I think that you can’t
help but notice that he truly enjoys what he
does each day, and goes around smiling.
He’s committed to making a difference within
the organisation. I think he derives a lot of his
influence from the fact that you can’t possibly
think that he has a motive other than just pure
enjoyment.” He is described as authentic, an
active listener, and genuinely interested and
engaged in other people. He is driven by a real
passion for L&D which has been a powerful tool
in getting through what he wants to do.
“He lives and breathes L&D (for over seven
years now). Credit must go to him for identifying
a gap in AXA Australia’s L&D, and his
commitment to deal with that. His dedication
and passion and his persistence made the
difference.”
The Head of L&D is perceived as a credible,
pragmatic expert who has ‘transformed’ L&D
at AXA Australia. “He is very effective and is
continuing to improve AXA Australia’s culture.”
He was described as inclusive, open, and
honest helping to develop a level of trust that
ensures others too can open up to him, in turn
facilitating their personal development.
Also important to the L&D professionals’
capability and credibility is that they are seen to
walk the talk, to model the learning behaviour
they expect from others, and to mirror those
behaviours. “Unless we’re modelling in
ourselves what we’re asking others to do,
we’ll never be aware of any incongruence. So
we added that as a lens on what we’re doing.
So are we going about what we do in the
same way as we’re asking others to learn and
develop?”
Addendum: AXA Australia 2014
AXA Australia was part of the AXA Asia Pacic
group until March 30th 2011. It was then sold
to the AMP Group, and no longer exists as an
entity.
33
This nal section summarises the themes which
emerged from our interviews and considers
the implications for L&D professionals in terms
of overcoming the challenges they face in
establishing themselves as strategic partners
and exerting inuence in their organisations.
Patterns across the case studies
Approach to L&D
All our participant organisations shared a similar
approach to learning and development. Their
L&D strategies were agile and adaptive, closely
aligned to the current challenges and needs
of the business. Initiatives were developed in
collaboration with departments and business
units, HR managers, and operational managers
to ensure they were tailored to specic needs
and audiences. The focus was primarily on
outcomes, identifying what good looks like,
and working backwards from that point. There
was also a strong commitment to effective
learning transfer, ensuring learning was applied,
supported, and followed up to maximise the
value and impact of the development.
The nature of L&D programmes
Interventions were offered across all levels
of the organisations, covering a wide range
of topics and incorporating a wide variety of
formats. The most effective programmes were
practical, designed to stretch and challenge,
but in an environment that was safe for taking
risks. Impact was felt at both an individual and
cultural level. Individually, programmes were
impacting personal development, leadership
capabilities, and self-awareness – impact
which often extended outside of the work
environment. Culturally, the programmes
encouraged more robust dialogue, greater
challenge, and the development of a shared
language, resulting in a palpable energy and
buzz around learning and development.
Organisational attitudes towards L&D
All three organisations cited the importance
of support and commitment from senior
management for learning and development,
support often reinforced through investment,
and through their involvement in either the
design or aspects of delivery of the initiatives.
L&D had created in them, and in line managers,
advocates for learning, who shared and
cascaded learning to their peers. All three
companies had developed a tangible culture
of learning – a ‘level of consciousness’ where
learning became a continual process most of
which happened outside of any formal L&D
activity. Individuals were encouraged to take
responsibility for their development and to learn
the valuable lessons from failure.
The L&D function
The roles of the L&D professionals within all
three organisations were wide ranging, from
credible expert and specialist, to coach, mentor
and change agent. Their strategies were
perceived as proactive, aligned and adaptable.
The primary tool employed by all three to
develop and exert inuence was developing
relationships, through which they could obtain
a detailed understanding of the business and
its needs, and engage senior management
in their activities. A commercial background
and/or commercial knowledge facilitated
their engagement in strategic discussions,
and helped them to offer a balance between
the needs of the business, and learning and
development requirements. Heads of L&D
were described as pragmatic, passionate, and
committed. They practised what they preached,
were prepared to challenge the organisation
and senior management, and were able to
identify and name organisational needs, and
push back when necessary.
DISCUSSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
34
Implications for the
L&D professional
As discussed in the introduction to this report,
Leadership Development practitioners across
the modern world are faced with a variety
of challenges to establishing themselves as
strategic partners and exerting inuence in
their organisations. These challenges include
a need to develop the skills to engage in
strategic conversations, the ability to align
initiatives with organisational strategy, difculty
in demonstrating or inuencing the impact of
their activities, and a lack of perceived credibility
in the eyes of senior managers. This report will
now conclude with an exploration of how L&D
professionals can overcome these challenges.
Through our conversations with L&D
professionals and senior managers within the
three companies, it emerged that in order to
establish oneself as a strategic partner, to
develop the trust and credibility required to
inuence and to challenge, L&D professionals
must develop themselves in three critical
domains as depicted in Figure 1: they need
to be the ‘grit’, the trusted advisor, who
‘irritates’ and challenges the organisation; they
need to be the learning expert, the specialist
who understands how individuals learn and
change their behaviour; and they need to be
the organisation development expert, able to
translate individual change into change at a
systemic, organisational level. We explore each
of these roles in turn.
Figure 1: Multi-faceted role of L&D
Being the
Grit: The
Trusted
Advisor
Credibility
and trust
Understanding
the business
Influencing
stakeholders
Role
modelling
Business
partnering &
consulting
skills
Self awareness
and personal
impac
t
L&D Expert:
how people
learn and
change
Understanding
how adults
learn
Demonstrate
impact
Focus on
outcomes and
adding value
Facilitation
skills
Understanding
behaviour
change
Engagement
and
motivation
Content
alignment,
context and
relevance
Senior
Management
commitment,
Line Manager
support
OD Expert:
how
organisations
change
Developing
a learning
organisation
Supporting
systemic
change
Supporting
local change
Supporting
individuals
through
change
Developing
a culture of
autonomous
learning
Understanding
the business
needs
35
Being the grit: the trusted advisor
Many factors were discussed by those we
interviewed as being vital to the development
of their inuence within their organisations, but
the most important was the development of
relationships with critical stakeholders. This
appeared to be at the heart of becoming the
trusted advisor. By developing relationships with
a wide range of individuals, including senior
managers, HR managers, and line managers,
the L&D professional is able to develop a
nuanced understanding of what the business
needs, and through this understanding, produce
a strategy which is agile and aligned with that
of the organisation, and initiatives which are
relevant to current organisational challenges.
To be able to develop these relationships,
engage in real, challenging dialogue with senior
managers and foster the necessary credibility
requires personal development on the part
of the L&D professional, development which
focuses on self-awareness, personal impact,
influencing and consulting skills, in order to
develop the necessary condence, courage
and ability to challenge where needed (Lesser,
2006). Similarly, if L&D are to be seen as
credible learning experts they need to model
the learning behaviour they expect of others.
What also appears critical, and indeed
facilitates the L&D professional’s ability to
develop these relationships, is a credible
commercial understanding. This enables
them to talk the language of senior managers,
engage in and understand those strategic
conversations, and know how to connect these
business needs with learning and development
requirements at an individual or local level. As
Young (2010) and Sheppard & Knight (2011)
argue, L&D professionals need to learn the
language of business, and talk in terms of cost,
prot, and productivity when discussing the
value of their interventions.
This understanding of and alignment with
business needs in turn results in L&D offerings
which have real value and impact on business
outcomes, further enhancing the credibility of
the function and the L&D professional. This
greatly increases the likelihood that they will
be consulted by senior management in the
future, and be in a position to challenge and
to inuence the organisation. Developing their
credibility, therefore, is critical to their ability to
exert inuence within their organisations and to
their ability to position themselves as strategic
partners.
L&D expertise
A commercial focus should not however, be
at the expense of their expertise as learning
and development specialists, and a balance
between the two is important. This means
establishing both an operational focus and an
understanding of the role that learning plays
in the business, whilst maintaining a position
as expert in learning solutions and leveraging
insight into how to motivate employees (Bersin,
2008; Hutson & Lucas, 2010, Smith, 2010;
Holbech, 2010; Macaulay & Cook, 2010).
What is critical to L&D’s role as expert in
learning and development is an understanding
of how adults learn and transfer learning:
the importance of motivation and engagement,
of designing interventions that are practical
and pragmatic, that are relevant and connect
with individual’s real work contexts, that foster
condence and self-efcacy, and which learners
perceive will result in positive outcomes in terms
of their work performance or career (Waller,
2011). The commercial understanding they
develop through their role as trusted advisor,
and their ability to work closely with and in
collaboration with different departments and
business units, will help in this regard, ensuring
that their L&D activities respond to identied
skills gaps that must be bridged to achieve the
organisational strategy, and result in learning
solutions that meet the specic, targeted needs
of the audience, and lead to real behavioural
change as well as organisational outcomes.
This behaviour change however, needs to be
supported back in the workplace. Engagement
with senior management will help secure their
support for what L&D are trying to achieve,
ensuring it is congruent with senior managers’
vision, and that learning, and learning transfer
nd support back in the organisation. Similarly,
engaging line managers in the development
process, and developing them as advocates
for learning, will help ensure that learners
are supported in applying their learning and
36
encounter little resistance to doing things
differently (Colquitt, LePine & Noe, 2000).
What is equally important, particularly to
the credibility of the L&D professional and
to engaging senior management in future
activities, is that this behaviour change is
clear and visible, and metrics are employed
which demonstrate how the learning is
impacting attitudes and behaviour, delivering
business value, and how L&D is meeting
organisational objectives, (Hartley, 2010;
McKessar, 2012).
OD expertise
The third role that L&D need to full is that of
OD expert, a role that is further facilitated by
developing an understanding of the needs
of the business. Through this understanding
the L&D professional can link individual needs
to organisation needs and develop initiatives
which will have real impact at a systemic
as well as individual level. Similarly, through
the development of a cohesive leadership
framework, a shared language and a shared
understanding of what leadership means can
be embedded across the organisation, making
learning familiar, behaviour and attitude change
less likely to be resisted, and resulting again
in change at an organisational level. As such,
it is important for L&D to develop the skills
necessary to support both individuals and
the organisation through localised and
systemic change.
In support of this the L&D professional needs to
promote a culture of autonomous learning,
a ‘level of consciousness’ whereby individuals
take responsibility for their own development,
supported by L&D. In this way learning and
development becomes a natural, essential part
of the organisation’s make up, and learning
from day-to-day activities becomes a regular,
anticipated element of organisational life.
A virtuous cycle
It would seem that in order to establish their
role as strategic partner and exert real inuence
within their organisations, L&D professionals
need to develop their expertise in all three
domains. Becoming the trusted advisor will
bring them close to the business, resulting
in learning interventions which impact critical
business outcomes, and lead to change at both
an individual and systemic level.
Our research suggests that Hamlin (2010) may
have been right. There would appear to be
a vicious, or if leveraged, a virtuous cycle in
operation that has a fundamental and critical
impact on L&D’s ability to position themselves
as strategic partners, and exert inuence in
their organisations. At the heart of this cycle
are relationships. Through these relationships
L&D are able to develop an understanding of
the needs of the business, align their activities
with organisational strategy, and ensure they
develop interventions which will have the
required impact. This in turn will develop their
credibility, further ensuring the full engagement
of senior management in L&D activities,
facilitating the continuing development of these
important relationships, and helping them to
establish themselves as strategic partners and
exert meaningful inuence in their organisations.
37
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