ATD: Stop Reporting Activities, Start Communicating Strategy
"We delivered everything we promised. Completion rates were up."
A chief learning officer told me that a few years ago, right after she learned her company was cutting the talent development budget by 40 percent. The problem? She brought the executive team activities when they needed strategy.
In my latest piece for ATD's Talent Development Leader, Stop Reporting Activities, Start Communicating Strategy, I argue that organizations rarely cut TD because the work lacks impact. They cut it when TD communicates like a service provider instead of a strategic operator.
Completion rates and satisfaction scores don't answer the question every CEO is quietly asking: How does this help us execute our strategy?
The Three Cs
Concise: Lead with the business issue, your recommendation, and the expected impact. Five slides, max.
Coherent: Tell a strategic story: what you set out to do, what happened, and what's next and why.
Consistent: Use the same structure for every update, so executives know where to look and can spot trends.
You'll also find before-and-after examples (including a $400,000 succession story) and the four questions CEOs silently want TD leaders to answer.
And that CLO? Six months after we reframed her updates, the CEO invited her into strategic workforce planning conversations. A year later, leadership restored her budget, even though economic conditions hadn't improved.
