L&D Order Taker No More!

Transform Your L&D Team Into Your Organisation's Strategic Business Partner

Most L&D pros dream of the day when stakeholders will stop viewing them as mere order takers and consider them critical, strategic partners in shaping the future of their organisation. But how do you get there? In this book, veteran talent development leader Jess Almlie introduces her formula for becoming the valued strategic business partner (SBP) that leaders in the C-suite and elsewhere in an organisation need and want.

Partnering effectively with stakeholders requires a new mindset and behaviour, a keen understanding of the business, a willingness to collaborate, and targeted tools. Almlie provides detailed guidance on how to succeed in each of these areas and invites you to start by taking an in-depth assessment of your strengths and gaps in working as an SBP. She shares her own wins and failures along with wisdom from three dozen other L&D pros who work in small, midsize, and large organisations across a wide variety of industries.

This step-by-step guide will help current and aspiring L&D leaders understand business basics, create a playbook for team collaboration, work productively with stakeholders, and teach others to work in harmony with L&D. The final chapter offers practical advice for those who need to take small steps toward becoming SBPs in organisations resistant to change.

L&D Order Taker No More! includes questionnaires, worksheets, and other tools that will help L&D leaders understand business terminology and needs, see a stakeholder's point of view, and develop strategies for creating effective partnerships and measuring impact. You'll be able to create a plan for developing and advocating for a team of L&D professionals who all work as strategic business partners.