How L&D Can Become More Commercially Savvy

When asked to prove their impact on the business bottom line, many L&Ders get sweaty palms and fall into a state of panic. We avoid looking at data that really matters – and stay in the happy world of sunshine, flowers and smile sheets. But here at MAAS, we think this avoidance of commercials is holding L&D back a bit.

We are in a business-critical function. We have the ability to impact not only the business – but every single individual within it. We can future-proof our organisation through strategic capability planning and skills development. And instead, we like to report on whether people enjoyed the lunch on their training day or not.

Ok, ok. We’re being a little facetious. But there’s some truth in our humour. And lack of commercial acumen is holding L&D back.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO BE MORE COMMERCIALLY SAVVY.

We don’t have to tell you that organisations worldwide are penny pinching right now. They’re looking at every single business function, and searching for value in monetary terms. And that leads to many L&D teams getting their budgets unfairly cut… because we don’t report on our impact in the way the business needs us to. And no, I’m not asking you to report the ROI on every minute you spend creating learning – but I am asking you to pause, and look at the reporting we need to undertake to prove that L&D isn’t a nice-to-have, but a must-have for businesses.

To do that we must start focusing on:

• The business strategy.

• Influencing performance change.

• Collaboration with other business units.

So let’s look into these sections in a little more detail, shall we?

ALIGN WITH THE BUSINESS STRATEGY.

The importance of being commercially savvy in L&D comes down to one thing: proving our impact. And in the Workplace Learning Report 2024, friend of MAAS and Co-Founder of NilesNolen, Amanda Nolen, summed up our challenge:

“Many C-suite executives don’t understand the real value of learning: they see it as just a benefit or nice-to-have. When you talk to business leaders, their questions will instead revolve around business strategy, and how learning will help you get there. So even if Chief Learning Officers don’t officially change our titles, we should think of ourselves as Chief Skills Officers, or Chief Upskilling Officers, in charge of strategically building skills that will drive tangible outcomes for the business.”

And how can we do that, if we don’t know what the business wants to achieve? So we must prioritise understanding the company's strategic priorities. This means getting cosy with senior leaders and having conversations about where the business is headed and what skills are needed to get there.

It is only by aligning learning programmes with these strategic goals, we can ensure that we are supporting the organisation in achieving its objectives. And then we need to report back to the business – using their lingo, objectives and priorities – to prove our value.

ZONE IN ON PERFORMANCE CHANGE.

You know the saying “the proof is in the pudding” right? Well that goes here. The best way to prove our impact to the organisation is by influencing performance change. And that means we need to stop focusing on smile-sheets and time-spent-learning metrics. Instead, we need to track and evaluate how training interventions lead to improved performance throughout the organisations. For example, increase sales, better customer service or more productivity.

What’s more, the points you’re tracking should be directly correlated to the business strategy too! If your organisation is focused on building digital literacy skills, for example, track and evaluate how your learning interventions are helping with that goal! (And if they’re not, I think it’s time to go back to your L&D strategy and shake it up!)

COLLABORATE WITH OTHER BUSINESS UNITS.

It’s no coincidence that collaboration is one of the most valuable skills a marketer has. And it’s certainly one that L&D needs to borrow. The ability to network and build relationships across the business shouldn’t be overlooked in learning. Because it’s only after you’ve developed these relationships that you can begin to create tailored learning solutions that really cater to their needs.

In her podcast ‘Learning for Good’, Heather Burright compares L&D’s position in the organisation to someone coming up to you and starting a conversation mid-way through… you don’t know what they’re talking about, and you feel like you’re permanently playing catch up. It’s much the same as when someone comes to us in L&D and says “I need a training course”. They have a preconceived notion about the outcome, you don’t get a say in it. That isn’t conducive to creating the best learning solutions… is it? And for us to be brought in earlier in the conversation – to become the first response instead of last resort, as Heather puts it! – we must build relationships across the organisation.

COMMERCIAL ACUMEN: THE FUTURE OF THE BEST L&D TEAMS.

Learning and Development has been through no-end of changes in recent years. But in our opinion – all roads lead back to one thing: proving business impact. And if L&D start honing in on their commercial skills, focus on the bigger picture of the impact they can make and report on the right things, we’ll be well on our way to doing just that.

No, I get it, it’ll probably be hard to part yourself with your smile sheets. You love knowing that people enjoy your content. So why don’t we compromise? You can keep your smile sheets if you start looking at data that matters too. Agreed? Perfect. Here’s to the future of L&D, folks!