If you’re in technology there are probably two thoughts that enter the minds of leaders when you ask for a meeting: ” Ugh!” or “Good, I could use the help!”
These thoughts are primarily driven by the team’s perception of the contribution you can make to their business goals. So, can you have relevant, timely, and business-focused discussions with team members? Can you tie project goals and targets to deployments and solutions? In this article, you will learn how to take clear steps toward becoming a partner in team success by boosting your credibility, leveraging business acumen, understanding how team members are measured, and gaining management buy-in.
UNDERSTAND THE CONTRIBUTION YOU CAN MAKE
Most training doesn’t adequately meet their needs. According to this research, most team members agree that foundational communication skills (i.e., presentation skills, objection handling, questioning skills, etc.) are still considered necessary; however, higher-level skills such as problem-solving, ethical decision-making, business acumen, and listening are considered more crucial. Unfortunately, this research found that most teams struggle to translate content requests into course material. This is especially troubling given that over 65% of all training decisions come from the management team. So, team members believe training needs have changed, and yet the training content hasn’t evolved to keep pace, and this is where you can help.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE TEAM?
The most effective technology training has credibility in the eyes of the team. While many believe this credibility can only come from previous technology experience, we challenge this thought. This is akin to saying that Michael Jordan makes the best basketball coach. As a workplace learning and performance professional, no matter where you sit on the organization chart, you can have the ability to engineer the right learning solutions for your company.
Credibility is not just given…it’s earned. Many technologists miss this distinction. You must help team members develop and increase individual and organizational team performance. Think about it; people work hard to improve their credibility in the eyes of internal customers. As a result, they aren’t prone to cutting anyone any slack when it comes to one of the most critical daily questions from customers, “Hey, engineer or developer, what’s in it for me?” Living in a world where customers require a clear return on their investment, team members are asked that crucial question almost hour-by-hourly. So, they’re likely to extend the same mindset to you. If you’re looking for some more credibility, you need to be able to answer the question, “What’s in it for the team?”
The key to answering these questions is business acumen, one of the most crucial skills a Workplace Learning and Performance professional can have. The “what’s in it for the team?” question goes to the very heart of the matter. Great technologists build credibility by clearly tying their learning solutions to business outcomes. They understand and embrace the “what’s in it for me?” questions they receive.
A BUSINESS ACUMEN PRIMER
Your business case for a training solution should always address the skills and performance drivers that help executives achieve their most important goals. To do this, you must understand how business acumen is applied as “business acumen.” Several key concepts require your understanding:
Sales process: A sales process requires a series of customer-centric steps and tasks required of salespeople in effective selling. The most successful sales processes must create value for customers and the sales organization. A typical example might include various tasks such as prospecting, qualifying, fact-finding, proposing, presenting, and closing. Usually represented by phrases like “the nine steps of the customer relationship,” the sales process is often standardized across the sales team.
Sales pipeline: A sales pipeline (sometimes called a sales funnel) identifies all sales opportunities and helps the salesperson allocate selling time more effectively. It is a critical sales planning and management tool for setting priorities. It provides a method to increase attention to sales opportunities representing the greatest reward.
Sales Cycle: A sales cycle is the time it takes for a customer to progress through the sales process from initial inquiry into the actual sale. In contrast, the buying process is a broader view that starts from the customer’s need awareness and vendor identification through negotiation to the final purchase. To improve sales effectiveness, the sales cycle must be closely aligned with the buying process of the target audience.
Sales Forecast: A sales forecast is a short-term prediction of pending sales by sales team members and the sales organization. The forecast provides crucial financial information to the company’s senior leadership for administrative, manufacturing, service, and other departments. Projections allocate resources and help manage cash flow, project investments, and other purchases.
THINK LIKE A BUSINESS EXECUTIVE
Linking your business acumen with some thought leadership around the learning function is essential to be more effective and strengthen your position as an integral part of the technology team. Why? As a technologist, you often recommend strategic solutions to tactical problems. This requires you to address short-term challenges immediately (leveraging business acumen) while engineering lasting performance (leveraging thought leadership in learning). To balance the long- and short-term, you must understand the selling environment thoroughly. It’s time to do your homework and place yourself in the shoes of the executive. Visualize yourself as the VP of Sales and ask questions to understand his or her challenges. Of course, leveraging business acumen helps build credibility as someone who understands the complicated world of selling, but more importantly, it will help you identify ways to contribute. For example, you must understand what keeps most executives up at night to make a strong business case for a technology training solution. Revenue and profit growth are the primary issues, but there is more.
Business Acumen Check:
Did you know what the sales leadership team thinks about:
- How vital are gross margin and operating margin?
- How does your sales team show a return on Investment for the product/service they sell?
- How often does discounting occur? Why?
- What profitability measures and initiatives exist?
- What does the management believe is happening regarding “selling with value” vs. “selling with price.”
- What’s the position of your company in the market?
- Is the market growing or shrinking?
- Who are your major competitors?
- How is the sales force winning against the major competitors?
- How is your sales team protecting its position in the marketplace?
- How is the company growing the business faster than expenses?
- Is the sales team retaining the most important and profitable customers?
- What’s the sales team turnover rate? How does this compare to competitors?
- What salesperson competencies need to be improved now and in the future?
- What’s the training mix? How do you deliver product knowledge, company knowledge, industry knowledge, or selling skills at each level of the team?
As an enablement professional, you have many tools and techniques to address individual development requirements. When you meet with the management team, you can use the following questions to conduct a thorough training needs assessment. With an understanding of these questions, you can begin to craft training solutions that overcome challenges and address important management priorities:
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What are the critical strategies for growing the business this year?
Understanding the team’s key strategies and priorities will help you formulate a training strategy. It will also help identify the measurable results that training needs to provide. However, it will probably not get funded if you cannot recommend a training solution that addresses this question.
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How strong are the organization’s capabilities to execute these strategies?
Knowing areas of perceived strengths can suggest areas of potential weakness in the team that can be further developed or enhanced.
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What are the critical issues facing the team and the business?
Determining which issues are most critical to management will help you focus attention in the right areas. Addressing the training needs associated with these factors must be a priority.
- How skilled is your team in executing your strategy?
Is the organization sufficiently skilled? A needs assessment will uncover skill gaps. Your role as a business consultant will be able to demonstrate the impact of a specific competency gap.
Gaining Management buy-in
Competing for resources or convincing leadership of the most appropriate course when addressing competency gaps can be challenging. While no magic formula or silver bullet will convince senior management to support your training initiatives, using business terms instead of training terms will give you a head start. The next step is to become a true business partner and trusted advisor. To achieve this, meeting with every business-unit leader possible to develop critical relationships and learn more about their particular issues and requirements is essential. Bring knowledge of the market, the competition, and the firm’s performance. Listen and ask questions. Ask for clarification if needed, and let each business unit leader know you will be back to address their concerns.
MEETING WITH THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
The Top 10 Things You Must Do Before Meeting with Your Leadership Team:
- Prepare, prepare, prepare.
- Do your homework before the meeting.
- Be sure you have a clear and concise agenda.
- Have a specific goal for the meeting.
- Build your understanding of the world in which your team operates.
- Who are your company’s top clients?
- How are your teams’ organized?
- What is the number 1 goal of the team this year?
- Prepare pertinent, insightful questions, and be prepared to LISTEN!
- Ensure you allow the management team to provide feedback and direction to any plans, thoughts, or ideas.
- Write critical comments down on paper for later review.
- Get your head in the “game”.
- Think speed, efficiency, low maintenance, high flexibility, rapid change, etc.
- Remember, your light bills don’t get paid without someone selling something!
- Do you remember the last time you were on the road with the team? What happened? What was it like?
- Remember to keep it simple.
- Communicate concisely and courageously.
- Over-engineered complexity isn’t a good thing…and almost everything from the training organization to the team looks over-engineered! Instead, try preparing an executive summary with bulleted lists.
- Focus on keeping content relevant.
- Remember, most managers are scared of the word “intervention”. Use “training solution” or “learning solution” instead. Make sure you thoroughly understand the competencies required for teams to succeed.
- Help your leadership team share their understanding of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to succeed at each level.
- Stay focused on the positives.
- Leading a conversation with “your team’s morale is low” isn’t a good idea. Try focusing on what is working well or what you’ve seen that contributes to success. If you point out areas for improvement, always offer options.
- Understand what success looks like to your leadership team.
- Revenue goals, customer satisfaction, customer retention, lower turnover, etc.
- Understand how to tie learning and development initiatives to team performance.
- Does it help them sell more, faster? Does it help in crucial conversations with the C-Level? Etc.?
- Remember to close the business!
- Ask for the order with your team. Ask them, “When would you like to get started on this?
