NYNP blog post 3-30-09

Advice from senior managers for trainers

A panel of training and non-training senior managers shared their advice for training professionals & training departments at ASTDNY's Training Directors Special Interest Group on Tuesday.

The panelists were all from for-profit organizations, but two of their messages in particular were good takeaways for nonprofit trainers:
1. Be a strategic business partner for your organization
2. Market your results to enhance your credibility

Partnering with business functions to be a catalyst for positive change
As trainers, we are in a unique position to have a major impact on our organizations. The process of designing training requires that trainers understand both our organizations' big picture priorities and the details that will support our organizations' goals. This gives us a rare insight and therefore the opportunity to make an insightful difference.

For example, when we do needs assessments to uncover issues that could be solved by training, we also uncover other challenges that require non-training solutions (such as changing management policies, restructuring, improving internal processes, conducting research, etc.). When this happens we need to be proactive in proposing solutions to management, even if they challenge the status quo, so that we become true partners in improving our organizations.

The panelists also encouraged trainers to talk with the business functions, find out what's important to them, and collaborate on ways to help them solve the issues that keep them up at night.

Marketing our impact on our organizations
How many of us have gotten written feedback on workshop evaluations to the tune of "thank you for this incredible workshop that's going to help me do my job better"? Yet, how many of us have forwarded that feedback to our supervisors or to senior management? How many of us include management when our training teams meet to review our results and discuss successes, challenges, and lessons learned?

The panelists urged trainers not to keep training evaluation information to ourselves. If we're too humble, we're actually doing a disservice to our organization's decision-makers, because we're withholding information that would help them understand the value of training. We need to share information about money saved, value added, performance improved, etc.

We trainers know that we provide a valuable service. We prevent problems, improve service to our clients, increase our organizations' impact on our missions, and enhance efficiency, which saves our organizations time, money, and resources. We need to make sure we're not the only ones who know how valuable we are and how much we contribute.

The panel
The panel was organized by Lance Tukell, ASTDNY's President-Elect and Chair of the Training Directors Special Interest Group (who was also a panelist), and moderated by Diane McCulloch, ASTDNY's Vice President of Programs.

Panelists included:
- Aleksander Scekic, VP of Talent Management & Organization Development, AIG
- Lance Tukell, Director of Global Training and Development, AIG
- Don Decker, Director of Learning and Development, Barnes & Noble, Inc.
- Mark Bottini, VP, Director of Stores, Barnes & Noble, Inc.
- John M. Attinger, Technology Training Manager, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
- Gina Elliott - Director of Technology Support, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
- James O'Hern, Corporate Director of Learning, HESS Corporation
- Paul Maccaro, Corporate Director of Talent Management, HESS Corporation.

(See my prior blog post "The Value of Joining a Professional Training Association" for more information about ASTDNY.)