CHAPTER 52

How L&D Can Partner With Executives

Andy Trainor

Learning and development needs have changed dramatically over the years. No longer can the L&D function simply provide training for associates. No longer can we be order takers, doing only what an organization requests. And no longer can we sit back and wait for direction.

Organizations face a competitive global market, environmental issues, rapidly evolving technology, and constant change. High-level executives want L&D to provide informed guidance, make recommendations that support the organization’s strategy, and lead workforce development to ensure the right talent is available to meet organizational need. Executives want L&D to be knowledgeable and skilled, understand what’s most important for success, and create a lasting relationship built on trust and confidence.

Executives need L&D associates to be trusted advisors and partners who understand business complexities and can advise on the skills and knowledge the workforce requires to overcome them. At Walmart, we ensure L&D is a great partner to our executives by building just that—a partnership. L&D can’t be order takers in today’s ecosystem. However, this was standard practice for some organizations not long ago, when executives would deliver marching orders and L&D would scramble to execute without pushback, conversation, or even a strategic plan of its own. At Walmart, efficacy and autonomy go hand in hand. We take a consultancy approach—executives identify a need to fill or a problem to solve, and our L&D department has the freedom to build its own solution. This creates a shared vision where all key stakeholders have a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion. And critically, this vision must be future focused—if we know where the business is but not where it’s going, we run the risk of delivering too little too late. The reality is that staying even with the business actually means falling behind; to deliver what the business needs, when needed, we have to stay two steps ahead.

L&D teams can become trusted advisors to and partners with executive leadership by focusing their energy in several areas. A learning department must be able to communicate with top executives. Know what’s important and how to present your solutions. Your department must ensure that the learning strategy supports the direction your organization is heading. Understanding which metrics are important to your leadership team will be key to measuring L&D’s success too. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, determine how you can prepare your leaders for the future.

For their organizations, L&D must invest time and energy putting in the work; that is, doing the research, planning, and risk assessment months in advance of any initiative. That’s when the executive team is making decisions. Let’s examine how you can do this.

Communicate Clearly With Executive Leadership

Executives focus less on the minutiae of a given department and more on leading the organization as a whole. They authorize business models, offer insights and strategies that contribute to key decisions, endorse succession plans and talent structures that create a competitive edge, and have a broader focus that reaches beyond the specific area they lead. Therefore, communication with executives must focus on what’s important at the executive level—the broader picture that encompasses the entire organization. For example, even though I’m primarily responsible for learning in our 5,000 stores across the US, I also consider how my decisions affect my counterparts in other departments and business segments.

I see myself as a Walmart leader more than the VP of learning. My conversations are less about learning techniques and more about how developing the company’s talent will drive revenue, improve market share, or make a positive impact beyond our walls. That means that when others in L&D share data or key information, I immediately reframe the message for the organizational perspective. How will the communication affect Walmart as a whole?

As a trusted advisor to executives, your message should be easy to understand and act upon. Your communication should be strategic, concise, and well thought out. Executive leadership is your customer; know what they need and why. Communicate in their language. Understand their challenges. Focus on goals, build in metrics, anticipate their needs, and seize opportunities to solve their problems.

Learning and development isn’t a simple, salable business segment. And sometimes, it’s less than palatable for executives without a background in learning. This makes it critical for us to focus on tangible business outcomes, avoid jargon, and speak in a language that executives can understand. As fascinating as some might find a 40-minute presentation on the application of adult learning theory, making that kind of presentation to execs is a surefire way to hamstring your initiative. When it comes to getting buy-in, sounding right is as important as being right. When we couch our tactics in simple, relatable terms; demonstrate not just our learning expertise but our broader business acumen; and avoid overwhelming executives with raw, out-of-context data, we deliver communication that drives wins for the organization.

Executive communication was key, for example when pitching our Community Academy (CA) initiative. For context, CA is an initiative dedicated to opening our Walmart Academies to the public and providing free, foundational courses on everything from the basics of personal finance, to interview skills, to college admissions prep. What makes the program unique is that it offers no direct benefit to our business. Its benefits are wholly community and associate based. With that in mind, our executive conversation around CA had less to do with dollars and cents and more to do with culture. We’d already built a trusting relationship with the decision makers using all the tactics I’ve mentioned, and now—rather than discussing KPIs and business outcomes as usual—we focused on what we cared about and why. In the end, CA was greenlit less because of tangible outcomes and more because it was aligned to our goal of helping people.

Ensure the L&D Strategy Aligns With the Organization

Strategic alignment ensures that all actions taken within an organization are designed to accomplish the same goals. An effective L&D leader focuses on keeping things that the team does (or wants to do) aligned with the organization’s strategy.

One of the most basic contributions L&D can make is to ensure the strategy created for learning embraces and supports that of the organization. What L&D goals and objectives will support the organization’s strategic priorities? What development do associates require so that the business strategy can be executed successfully? This means that L&D must understand the organization as well as the industry. Who are the competitors? What changes are required for success in the future? How can L&D demonstrate that it will enhance business value?

Once the strategy is developed, L&D leaders must make sure everyone in the department understands the L&D strategy and how it ties to the organization’s strategy. This may require translating the strategy and communicating in the associates’ language. In addition, L&D must help all associates understand their roles and how they fit in the organization. This is particularly challenging at Walmart because we must reach 1.5 million US associates. To ensure our strategy is communicated to all associates, we work closely with our communications teams to target high-traffic channels with simple, easy-to-digest messaging framed around a go-do format. One of the most critical aspects of Walmart’s strategy is a focus on serving customers, and when it comes to our training, rather than dictating subject matter as an L&D group, we look to our customers’ needs, leveraging data to understand where training can fill gaps in their experience.

Walmart is a massive but strategically nimble organization. Based on market trends, new technology, or the evolving needs of associates and customers, our business strategies can and do evolve. These changes often affect L&D strategies, and if we’re not aligned with senior leadership, we can’t course-correct to reflect executive-level changes. This creates inefficiencies, which are then compounded by the size of our organization. I like to make a “measure twice, cut once” analogy for our company because our sheer size makes high-level alignment critical.

It starts with staying connected to the business. Our L&D associates get out into the field as much as possible to get hands-on experience with operations because adult learning theory in a vacuum is just that—theory. We need our people plugged into an associate’s day-to-day experience so we can adapt our training to their needs. Once we have that daily pipeline of practical information, we use it to inform our strategy. We’ve found that as long as we’re grounded in the reality of the business, we often view our work through the same lens as the senior executives do.

We also take steps at Walmart to achieve strategic alignment between the learning department and the organization. For example, the executive steering committees and cross-functional workgroup are major factors in maintaining alignment. The former brings every key decision maker into the room, prevents the formation of work silos, and allows information to flow freely between different departments. The latter layers on expertise. We like to partner learning expertise, business expertise, and financial acumen to create diversity of thought that drives business outcomes.

Identify Metrics That Get Your Executives’ Attention

Executives want to see results from every function within the company, and that includes the L&D department. The L&D function adds value to the organization, but it needs to know which metrics matter at the executive level as well as how to present the data. For example, can you show that L&D adds value by increasing customer satisfaction? Decreasing costs, rework, or time to market? Increasing retention and reducing attrition? Enhancing learning agility? Increasing customer satisfaction?

It is difficult to provide an ROI on training because everyone in an organization is working to improve the same metrics. At Walmart, we make sure we engage business partners who may have a stake in the final ROI. This includes our tech teams, the operators who run our stores, and anyone else with a vested interest in a given initiative. When possible, we demonstrate the learning potential to our business partners by having them take part in the training. This helps them experience and understand what the initiative is about and helps them buy in to the plan. A critical role for an L&D trusted advisor is to get buy-in from partners throughout the organization. You’ll need to prove the ROI of training initiatives if you want to claim your value as a trusted advisor and getting buy-in from others in the organization is critical.

But the ROI and metrics aren’t only organizationally focused. L&D also adds value for associates, and metrics can demonstrate this. Metrics can show how L&D increases job satisfaction by making the work more meaningful. In addition, development can also increase morale, commitment, engagement, and confidence. At Walmart, our associates make all the difference, and we believe that investing in them makes an impact not only on business metrics but also on their opportunities to enjoy a great career.

L&D can be more effective when focusing on metrics. And remember that when it comes to metrics, context is king. It’s one thing to take your seat at the table armed with data; it’s another thing entirely to be able to frame that data in terms of practical impact. We like to take a what and why approach to presenting metrics. We open with the what: These are the numbers. We follow it with the why: Here’s why they matter. An additional layer of context can mean the difference between a path forward for future initiatives and a hard stop.

Metrics are a great measuring stick for celebrating wins, and we use metrics to increase support for L&D efforts. When we link a given initiative to a dollar value outcome for the business, we’re speaking the language of the career operators in the C-suite. Rather than pitching them on what our training might do for the business, we’re informing them of what our training has done. Metrics are the difference between supposition and fact, maybe and definitely, a green light versus a red light for future work.

Help Executives Prepare for the Future

An incredible number of pressures are placed on organizations today thanks to rapid technological changes; new, tougher competition; a demographically changing workforce; increased globalization; higher customer expectations; greater associate expectations; and a constantly increasing rate of change. Every one of these pressures requires the attention of the learning department. You can help prepare your organization for the future in many ways. Start by determining what is most important.

New challenges create a need for new knowledge and skills. The role of the L&D department is to stay ahead of these challenges and, acting as a trusted advisor, provide recommendations to the senior leadership team and keep them informed of what’s happening in other organizations and industries. It’s important to help senior leadership embrace the speed of change and understand the kind of development associates will need to support the future of the organization.

At Walmart, we often say that we’re moving faster than ever before, but the truth is, we’re still accelerating. Like all businesses, retail is evolving, and our customers’ needs are drastically different today than they were even five years ago. This means our associates’ work is changing. It’s important that every organization provide associates with learning experiences that prepare them for the future. And to deliver these learning experiences in a timely fashion, we have to stay two steps ahead with our strategy. Ultimately, we want our associates to have skills that will be useful to them professionally and personally. In addition, we want to ensure that we provide training that they want, when they want it, and how they want it. Achieving both—what our associates need and what the organization needs—has always been a Walmart goal.

We also need to recognize the importance of technology for a successful future. We see it as a means of breaking down barriers between associates and the information they need. At Walmart, we partner with our tech teams using a four-in-the-box model to pursue convenience, efficiency, and consumer-grade technology. For example, our IT and L&D teams worked together to create our Academy App, a platform that puts microlearning based on our existing training programs directly into the hands of associates.

Additionally, technology is a key enabler for our pull approach to learning content. In traditional L&D, associates are pushed content based on any number of factors, including role, performance, and compliance needs. While pushing some content is necessary, however, it’s also important to do the reverse. Tools like the Academy App help us take on a marketing mentality with our associates—rather than exclusively pushing prescribed training, we can also leverage AI and machine learning to market recommendations. This increases engagement with learning content and helps create an environment where associates are more empowered.

We also look for ways to use technology for critical learning, such as using VR as a means of replicating challenges and situations that would be otherwise difficult to capture in training. Our Moments of Care VR module is focused on customer relations and gives associates real-time, reactive practice dealing with a distressed customer. This allows associates to practice their responses in a simulated environment with all the nuance but none of the consequences of the real thing.

L&D must be preemptive. When it comes to future-proofing the business, there’s no substitute for proactivity. Being late on a key piece of technology or an evolving best practice can mire an L&D team and create a ripple for associates. L&D is constantly on the lookout for the next wave of innovations, and we’re not afraid to look outside the company. We maintain a strong network of other learning professionals, and we’re always interacting with consultants and other experts to maintain our forward focus.

L&D must help executives prepare for the future. They need to strip away the marketing façade and deliver the raw facts of what we know, what we think will happen, and how we propose to react. It’s also important to frame up worst-case scenarios. No matter how much planning, projection, or data analytics we do, we’ll never be crystal clear on the future. That makes it important to identify risk. It’s easy to focus on outcomes that can benefit the company, but while we want to highlight them for the organization’s leaders, if our projections aren’t balanced, we risk an awful lot.

Additionally, the importance of a future-focused strategy is worth repeating. If we’re not ahead, we’re behind. To deliver for our executives, we have to know where the business is going.

Final Thoughts

As a trusted advisor to your leadership, you must be at the forefront of talent development, offering an innovative and bold yet effective and practical approach to addressing the developmental needs of all associates. Your job is to help guide your organization’s future.

I’ve addressed four responsibilities to enhance the learning department’s value to the organization: communicating clearly with executives, aligning learning strategies to the organization, choosing appropriate metrics, and helping leaders prepare for the future. Of course, there are many other things you need to do, but this is a place to start. These steps will help you gain a reputation as a trusted advisor who is accountable to your C-level executives.

Let me add one last thought from a personal perspective. When it comes to driving executive buy-in on a given learning initiative, the conversation is won or lost months in advance based on the work you put in or the work you don’t. Make sure it’s the former.

About the Author

Andy Trainor is the vice president of Walmart US Learning. In this role, he and his team focus on the strategy, innovation, content development, and delivery of training for the entire Walmart US Field, including all training for the 1.5 million associates in supply chain and stores. Andy spearheaded the implementation of more than 200 academy locations across the US, including determining locations, managing construction, staffing trainers, and creating content to support a renewed focus on associate development. Today these locations facilitate the core and area-specific courses for new role leaders as well as offering classes to the community. Previously, Andy spent four years as the senior director for China implementation for international business processes and was responsible for sharing and implementing Walmart global best practices within the China business. He also led the international logistics engineering team, where he was responsible for establishing, developing, and working with the logistics engineers in 28 countries to improve productivity and processes within the logistics and transportation businesses. Andy has also worked on the US grocery industrial engineering team designing mechanized grocery distribution centers, developing process improvement projects, and managing a team of field industrial engineers. Andy has 21 years’ experience with Walmart. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Memphis and a master’s degree in business from Webster’s University.

References

Biech, E. 2018. ATD’s Foundations of Talent Development. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.