Do you often wonder how L&D can have a seat at the table? Do you wonder how to create different expectations for your stakeholders as you evolve from one and done to modern learning clusters?

During our October Modern Learning Monthly Dialogue, we heard from Dave Sayers, L&D leader at Cortland and LCD Practicum alumni. Dave leads a ~10 member L&D team at a fast growing, values-driven organization.

He begins by sharing about going from drive by requests to being invited to design a strategy upfront, well before a change hits.

What’s a drive by request? It’s when a department drops by on a Friday and asks for a new training program for a launch coming out Monday.
What is being invited upfront? It’s being invited when the idea for a change happens.

How did Dave bring this about?
– He realized his company didn’t know change. They knew innovation. But they needed guidance on change. Learning could be the expert.
– He created his own Theory of Change inspired by The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni and our book, Designing for Modern Learning. His theory of change involves four components (see below image)

Build a Cohesive Leadership Team:

  • He empowered his leaders to care about the L&D department, he found the leaders that care and empowered them by sharing his Theory of Change with them. He got them a copy of The Advantage so they could all talk from the same philosophy.
  • He shared his Initiative Planning Process where Learning actually is the convener of multiple departments to talk about a new idea for change

Create Clarity: He shared how the Change Action of the LCD Model is a crucial tool they use to define the initiative and it’s needs

We ran close to the end of the hour as we talked about Overcommunicating and Reinforcing Clarity. A few other comments from dialogue members:

  • Lisa MD Owens shared, “Learning can help change, because a lot of change is surrounded by fear and learning breaks through fear.”
  • Danielle Casimiro shared, “Learning can drive change and change can drive learning. Learning can come before change happens and sometimes the change happens, and learning comes after.”

Check out the YouTube below for the full dialogue as well as Dave’s slides, including the great diagrams of his Initiative Planning Process and Marketing Strategy.

If you missed our earlier article and youtube on Dave’s ATD-award winning work on 56 Change Management Initiatives, check it out here.