Getting a 'Seat at the Table'... or not getting it!!!

Are you 'in', or are you 'out'...

This is a short presentation I made to a summit organiser, because they wanted me to present on the topic... Well, they didn't approve of the idea, I guess, because they sent me an invitation to attend rather than present. Nevertheless, it was worth it. And for many of my colleagues in the industry, it may be of some help.


World View of a 'Good L&D Guy'

• Conducts good training & coaching
  
• Plans to upgrade the L&D function to a Corporate University, and oneself as the (Chief) Learning Officer
  
• Has a lot of training presentation from the previous assignment, and innovates on them
  
• Talks about cost reduction by using innovative learning tools such as 'e'
  
• Sends motivational emails and news items from leading journals
  
• Has his numbers in place

...and also organises get-togethers


My View of 'What is wrong with that'

• A lot of training happens unhappy happens, but people at large are still unhappy, unless I deliver myself
  
• My boss doesn't understand as to why do I want to call the department a 'corporate univ.'
  
• I build content from the repository that I have, but people don't like it
  
• eLearning is costly to implement, but I am sure it will work out someday
  
• I send motivational mails because people want me to
  
• My MIS of 'how much have I done' is there in place
  
• I thank Edward Scannell and John Newstrom for 'Games Trainers Play'

...I do what people 'expect me to do', so, why the fuss???


My Boss' View of 'Why am I not at the table'

• My competitors have a L&D guy so do I now I'll figure guy, now… , the competitive advantage; we do conduct a lot of training
  
• Learning is not our business; then why do we need a fancy name for the L&D department; I have other things to do
  
• Its very standardized; I had the same slides in the previous company
  
• I need to reduce manpower costs, so, we should automate learning; we should get eLearning
  
• I need to remind our Training Head to keep me out of the motivational emails that the department sends me; they are very good
  
• I also need to explain the data that I want to see
  
• These guys are good at team building; the problem within the team is something that I need to take care of, same with our sales numbers, and also with my succession plan

So, what do you have to do...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Why are you still here reading this...


You should be off to your Sales Head, Marketing Head, Finance Head, HR Head and Ops Head… need to take care of challenges in their worksphere!