Episode 4 Making Friends

· How can you create hype and generate motivation for embracing L&D? – without making promises you can’t keep?

· How can you build relationships with managers and other influential stakeholders to demonstrate how L&D can help them achieve their goals?

· Who are the influential individuals within the organization that can act as ambassadors for the L&D department and help spread your message?

Everyone wants to be friends with the CEO. Help start up L&D by connecting with stakeholders you might not have thought about. When something new hits the market, there are the early adopters, the late majority and the laggards. L&D in your company is a new product. Find your people, your ambassadors. The cool kids that are connected to everyone else and will help you get things going. Make connections with managers so they know who you are as a person and how you're going to make their jobs easier. You’re going to be relying on them a lot, so if there’s anything you can do early to build your relationship, get into it.

Everyone loves L&D (naturally), but if your first impression is rocking up to their inbox forcing them to learn about cyber security for an hour, it’s going to test that love.

03:04 Connecting with Key Stakeholders – what even is one of those?!

04:19 Group Dynamics and #Influencers

06:51 Targeting Innovators and Early Adopters; ignoring laggards

07:50 Social Proof and Success Stories

12:48 Learning to be okay with inconsistency

24:29 Connecting with people

26:07 Giving Generously – and sensibly

30:22 Conclusion and Next Steps