Have you felt frustrated when a stakeholder comes to you asking for a specific training solution in a shortened timeline?

One day, as I was sharing these frustrations with my boss in a one-on-one, she simply responded with, "We need to train the business how to do business with us."

If those of us in L&D want to work as Strategic Business Partners, it's critical that we deepen our understanding of the business. We need to approach the work as business partners with learning expertise. It's one thing to know what to learn and another to know where and how to find that information.

L&D, It's time to amp up our business acumen game. If we want to move from a place where our work is transactional, where we take and deliver training orders, to one where we are working in partnership with our business colleagues, then we need to do better. We need to know more.