In this episode, we go through the basics of building a business case for any new Learning & Development initiatives in your organization.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG, and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* In its HR blog, Spotify talks about being skilled at upskilling and the difference between a reactive and a proactive L&D - as seen in Issue 57 of Offbeat.
* Amazon has a strict one-page rule for writing business cases, which constrains L&D to be both efficient and effective when conveying the purpose of any new initiative.
* Keep a close relationship with the business, constantly do your research, and connect any new L&D initiative with relevant, measurable business metrics.

Outline of an L&D Business Case:
1. Describe the problem
2. Define the target audience
3. Add relevant quantitative & qualitative data
4. Explain the solution to the problem
5. Describe the costs involved (not just cash, but also time and other resources)
6. Show the implementation timeline
7. Add objectives and KPIs that you will track

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we discuss the significance of continuous professional growth for L&D Professionals and finding educational resources.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* L&D and HR roles in general need to be self-aware and keep learning and growing - both as an example of good practice and to help the organization most effectively at the necessary time.
* The primary value add of L&D is understanding how adults learn and creating or identifying the right experiences that support optimal learning transfer.
* L&Ds can keep up to date by learning on the job, getting certifications (where relevant and available - e.g., CIPD, LPI), accessing reliable sources of pertinent information (Offbeat and similar publications), and joining a community of like-minded professionals.

Skills to have as an L&D Consultant:
1. Ability to learn & adapt
2. Problem solving
3. Consultancy & asking questions
4. Tech knowledge
5. Analytics awareness
6. Understanding how adults learn

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we go explain how SMEs can create practical learning experiences that support an effective internal knowledge transfer and retention.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
- The initial research done by SMEs points out precisely what knowledge gaps there are and where colleagues need the most support in an unbiased manner.
- SMEs should avoid one-time events and instead create a learning experience that relies on spaced repetition.
- Learning experiences based on real-life practice allow learners to spot their knowledge gaps and come back with questions. This behavior informs the SME on what concepts to reinforce in future learning interventions.
- Creating an effective learning experience takes a long time and significant work, so SMEs could be tempted to create one-time events and then stop; checking in with colleagues and seeing their progress can help SMEs stay motivated.
- To create practical soft-skills learning experiences (which are more challenging to measure than hard-skills learning experiences), that initial research is essential, as it helps precisely define the expected business outcomes and behavior changes.
- Not all business problems can be solved through learning interventions - this is a frequent misalignment of expectations that L&D teams face. SMEs are best equipped to spot the difference, more so than managers or other people from the business.

Steps to create an effective Learning Experience:
1. Do the initial research to understand your learners and design an experience with business goals in mind.
2. Identify those solutions for your colleagues' challenges that require learning new skills or acquiring knowledge.
3. Create a list of concepts relevant to the Jobs To Be Done, which you put in a logical order.
4. Start with basic concepts and add more complexity as you progress.
5. Use data to understand the impact of the learning experience:
     a. the first layer of data is feedback or engagement - this can be misleading because of the initial excitement of attending. Therefore you need to dig deeper.
     b. a second layer of data is found by re-doing the initial research and checking those business KPIs that link directly with the new knowledge acquired.
6. Look for behavior changes and improvement of results with a measurable impact on the business.

SMEs' accountability to their peers:
A. In the short term, SMEs should adopt a Beginner's Mindset and put themselves in their colleagues' shoes to make sure they truly understand their knowledge gaps.
B. In the long term, SMEs should check in with their peers and see if they need additional support to ensure they achieve their goal of sharing their knowledge.

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we take a quick dive into Future Skills: what they are, why they are relevant, who they are for and how to acquire future skills at your job.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* The accelerated adoption of technology and automation is affecting the way we work; Future Skills enable employees and companies to cope with these changes sustainably.
* With the pandemic as a catalyst for change towards digitization, the way organizations and people acquire skills has drastically changed.
* Current formal education is not preparing young people to deal with how complex life can be, both professionally and personally, as it is designed based on an industrial mindset. Learning is not personalized to the individual.
* People who now join the workforce can expect to change careers seven times over the course of their adult life.
* Future Skills are relevant for employees at any step of their career, not just for young people joining the workforce. It is not a matter of age but instead of experience and each individual's mindset.
* L&Ds can gauge the adoption and practice of Future Skills in the company by relying on People Analytics to track improvement in business metrics and behavior changes.
* People Analytics helps L&Ds measure access to learning resources, career growth opportunities, internal transfers, engagement, retention.
* More resources can be found by following Kevin Yates, Sam Allen, and software products that focus on People Analytics: Culture Amp, Lattice, Nifty Learning.

Future Skills essentials:
1. Adaptability, being able to welcome change
2. Intentional learning - shared by McKinsey in August of 2020 and updated with a practical guideline published here, as seen in Offbeat Issues #13 and #47
3. Growth mindset
4. Innovation, Resourcefulness
5. Data Awareness

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we take a look at Business Acumen: what does it mean in L&D, why it's essential to have this skillset, how it helps L&D professionals and organizations.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* Business Acumen is a combination of skills and knowledge that, summed up, explains how well an L&D professional understands the business they operate in. Having Business Acumen means understanding how that business makes money, what it spends money on and what drives business performance.
* L&D's role is to support business performance either by driving down cost or driving up revenue through skills and know-how development.
* Having Business Acumen builds organizational trust in L&D.
* L&Ds don't typically have this know-how for two main reasons: the main focus of L&Ds professionals is psychology-oriented, and the business' expectation of L&D is to execute upon request rather than to advise.
* To acquire Business Acumen, L&Ds can: expose themselves to the operational and financial teams' work, take part in projects to practice business-specific skills, or learn about the industry from external sources (i.e., domain research papers, articles, podcasts).
* Understanding business metrics and KPIs directly from operational and financial teams is essential for building them into effective learning interventions.
* Prototyping learning interventions together with operational and financial teams ensures a close connection between business growth and learning.
* Measuring the impact of a learning intervention is easier when you build business KPIs into learning program prototypes.
* Understanding what drives a domain, a business, or an employee is the best way to exercise the support role that L&D has towards an organization.

Business Acumen as a form of knowledge:
- Understanding the business model
- Knowing the drivers of profitability and cashflow
- Understanding the interdependencies of the various business functions

Business Acumen as a skill:
- Knowing how to act based on the information above
- Proposing and implementing L&D solutions that fit the need identifies
- Forecasting the impact of these solutions and measuring results

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we explore the concept of Psychological Safety and understand its impact on team learning and organizational performance.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* Psychological Safety is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or while making mistakes.
* Amy Edmonson's research paper sits at the basis of the concept of Psychological Safety as the main influencing factor in team effectiveness and learning.
* Google also did a research project called Aristotle on the same topic; they offer a framework and free tools for any organization to start fostering Psychological Safety in teams.
* Adam Grant and Melinda Gates put together an experiment at the Gates Foundation. They asked leaders to show vulnerability by talking about their mistakes to create a more welcoming and trusting work environment.
* Radical Candor by Kim Scott also touches on how leaders can create an open and honest working environment by showing people that they care personally while offering feedback or having difficult conversations.
* L&Ds can help create psychologically safe working environments in their organizations. First, by identifying issues with trust and belonging on the various teams they support, then by helping executives and team leaders understand the importance and effectiveness of being supporters and promoters of psychological safety on their teams.
* The absence of Psychological Safety prevents employees from focusing on learning since they're using their cognitive resources on workplace survival rather than acquiring new knowledge.
* The biology of how the brain works also supports this: learning and going through new experiences protects and improves the neurons' myelin sheath, enhancing cognitive function - more details about the science behind this in Amy Edmondson's book The Fearless Organization.

How to foster Psychological Safety:
- Leaders should show vulnerability to the organization
- Mistakes are seen as learning opportunities
- Showing concern for colleagues on a personal level
- Creating a sentiment of mutual trust and belonging within the team
- Encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone

What prevents Psychological Safety in the workplace:
- Public shaming or shaming in general.
- Punishing mistakes instead of recognizing effort made and focusing on points of improvement.
- Putting on a brave face even when it is unnecessary, for fear of being judged or ridiculed; not showing vulnerability.

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we look at situations when L&D is not the right solution for performance or accuracy problems identified by the business.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* Cathy Moore's flowchart is a good starting point to help guide L&D professionals in understanding whether knowledge or skill acquisition can solve a specific business problem - as seen in Offbeat Issue #64
* The business will likely come to L&D with a request for a training session or learning content when employee performance decreases or errors are identified.
* L&D's are better equipped than the business to identify if a learning intervention helps solve a problem by playing the role of a consultant.
* Asking the right questions is an excellent way to help the business identify the source of a problem.
* Especially in these situations, L&D can work together with people managers and operational teams to understand the root cause and identify an effective solution.
* If the business still insists on receiving a learning intervention, L&D must set the right expectations about the very limited expected impact of that intervention - advice coming from Anamaria Dorgo, founder and community catalyst of L&D Shakers and Butter.

L&D can showcase its value to the business by:
- putting in place a consistent consultancy process, which is especially important for more junior L&D roles
- interacting openly with all levels of the organization and asking for support in promoting the way L&D works, especially in hierarchical organizations.
- creating case studies from previous business situations, together with the alternative solution identified.
- advertise to everyone in the company, especially decision-makers, how adults learn, the time it takes to see behavior changes, the real impact of learning.

When is L&D not the solution?
- When documentation or procedures are not put in place or are incorrectly created, employees can't execute their tasks, which can seem like a performance issue.
- If employees don't feel safe or comfortable at work, they might have performance issues that don't come from a lack of knowledge or skill; in this case, even if a learning intervention is decided, it will likely not be effective. Learning is one of the first things compromised when there is no psychological safety in the workplace.
- Lack of resources, such as access to people, tools, or the right level of influence to unblock a problematic situation, which might hurt individuals' performance.

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.

In this episode, we look at how L&D can showcase its value in the business and speak to decision-making stakeholders.

Guest: Lavinia Mehedintu, People Experience Manager at eMAG and co-founder and curator of Offbeat.

Highlights:
* The L&D team typically sits between two business environment extremes. One side is when L&D is entirely disconnected from the business's objectives and metrics. The other one is when L&D is a true business partner and actively contributes to improving these metrics.
* L&D should take specific action to measure the impact and effectiveness of learning programs and find out ways to promote these positive results.
* L&D can invest time and effort into getting closer to the business, understand the language, immerse itself in the operational departments to understand their context.
* Having a separate L&D thread from business objectives like revenue streams or cost optimization is the single most negatively impactful activity for L&D's image.
* Showcasing L&D value to the business is a gradual, slow process, as it has to do with other stakeholders' behavior and perception change - not different from the process of learning itself.
* An excellent L&D professional is brave and assertive in promoting the value of their team and knowledge.
* The essential factor that L&D brings is the deep knowledge and understanding of adult learning principles. L&D is the expert here, and this is where it can make the most significant contribution.
* Doing a premortem analysis before launching a new learning program or technology is the best way to prepare for a conversation with decision-making stakeholders.
* L&Ds must keep their consultant hat on when speaking to business stakeholders, making sure they consistently ask the right questions, then measure the impact of L&D programs and feed it back to the business.

Reasons why the business might not fully understand the value of L&D:
- L&D is not trying enough to prove value by showcasing good examples or metrics to the business.
- L&D is not speaking the business language and does not have common points on which to relate to the business.
- The business does not have a formal learning culture and only relies on informal learning interactions.

To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.