When You Should Take the Order
Becoming a strategic business partner doesn't mean you stop taking orders altogether.
Yes, L&D. We can have a bigger impact on our organizations when we shift our focus, our mindset, and our approach away from that of an order taker to one where we work as strategic business partners.
Also, it's not that black and white. We can't simply swap one for the other. Even when we have our sights set on working as a strategic business partner, there are plenty of times when we will still need to take and deliver on the order (a.k.a. training request).
Moving from a model where we take and deliver on an order to one where we partner with the business strategically doesn't happen overnight.
Shifting our own mindset is the easy part. After all, you can clearly see the benefits. Working as a strategic business partner is an easy sell if you are currently a frustrated order taker. You know that you can offer more. Working as a partner makes sense and you are ready to go! But your recognition of the need to change, the vision of how it will be different for you, and your decision to work differently isn't enough.
You aren't just changing the way you do the work. You don't work in a vacuum. Becoming a strategic business partner means you need to work with other people differently and they currently have a very clear vision of how they work with you.
To change the way you work with the business means you need to change the established norms and operating systems of how everyone else in the organization works with L&D. Norms and systems that have been in place for a long time. Norms and systems where people are comfortable and don't have to think that hard.
Change is difficult for anyone, but it's especially hard when you don't see it coming. Your announcement about working as a strategic business partner likely won't be received well. Your stakeholders in the business have enough other challenges, fires, and pressures on their plates. To stop and think about how to work differently with you isn't even on their radar.
Thus, you need to introduce it to them slowly, in teensy tiny increments. You need to earn the right to change your work to a model where you work alongside them and not for them. There will be no big announcements or fancy parades. Becoming a strategic business partner is more of an evolution than a revolution.
In evolution things change slowly, bit by bit. So that, in the end, you either look back surprised asking, "How did that even happen?" or the change has been so gradual that you didn't even realize there was a change at all.
All this to say, even when you have decided that you want to do the work differently, there will be plenty of times when you still need to take and deliver on the order.
How do you know the difference? When do you push back and attempt to work as a partner and when do you simply respond with, "I'll get to work creating that for you."?
Even when you know you want to work towards becoming a strategic business partner, you should still take the order when:
YOU NEED TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP with this particular stakeholder. You don't know them well enough to push back. They have an expectation that you will hear their request and deliver and would be quite turned off from working with you if they were met with resistance. Take and deliver on this order with the purpose of building a relationship with this particular person, thus laying the groundwork for a more strategic partnership later on.
YOU NEED TO BUILD TRUST with this particular stakeholder. Much like the need to build a relationship, you also need to show that you can do great work and be trusted to deliver. In most business interactions you need to earn the right to push back and approach the work differently. That right comes in the form of trust which can be earned through a relationship and proof that you can deliver a quality response on time. Take and deliver on this order with the purpose of showing that you are easy to work with, that you deliver on your promises, and that you do high quality work.
YOU NEED SOME VISIBILITY into the larger organization and this request will provide that in spades. Taking and delivering on an order for a high visibility project will crack open the door. Use this opportunity to wow your stakeholders and showcase your learning skills and expertise.
IT'S A POLITICAL NECESSITY. As much as we dislike organizational politics, they are a reality in every organization. In other words, organizational politics exist. You don't need to play a political game, but you do need to work within the existing political structure in order to create any type of change. If someone with a high degree of political power (i.e. C-Suite, your new boss, etc.) asks you for a training, it may be in your best interest to comply rather than push back. Take and deliver on the order with the purpose of learning more about how to navigate politics in the future, especially where and when you may be able to push back.
