BY BEN SIEKE
Early in my career in learning and development – as an intrepid, newly-minted trainer – I used to measure my success by how well I delivered exactly what an internal client asked for. Someone needed customer service skills training? Managers wanted leadership development? Sure, we can make that happen!
I was efficient, responsive, and completely missing the point.
Over time – through experience, exposure, and learning from successes and failures – I learned what many skilled practitioners and leaders in our space have discovered: that it is through business partnership that we deliver maximum impact.
Business partnership in L&D means establishing consultative, trust-based relationships where our main focus is on supporting clients in solving their business problems or advancing their business goals, not just about delivering training. It’s the difference between being a responsive service provider and being a strategic thought partner.
Let’s explore what that means in practice.
We Ask Different Starting Questions
Traditional L&D responds to “We need training on X” with “What format would you prefer?” L&D business partners respond with “Help me understand what business challenge you’re trying to solve.”
In a recent organization where I led enterprise learning, the leaders of our call center asked my team for training to improve their customer service experience. The traditional approach would have focused on curriculum: What customer service techniques should we teach? How long should the workshop be? When can we schedule it?
The business partner approach started with diagnosis: What specific customer satisfaction issues are you seeing? How do current metrics and incentives shape agent behavior? What does success look like – and how will that be measured?
This shift in questioning changes everything that follows. Through conversation, we discovered that this training was part of a strategic shift from being an efficiency-focused call center (how many calls can we handle, and how quickly) to being a call center focused first on delighting our customers. Instead of delivering generic customer service training – which would have only partially addressed what the client was trying to accomplish – we took a holistic approach that included targeted skill development, integrated new performance metrics, and upskilled management’s coaching skillset – all aligned with the client’s business model transformation.
We Measure Different Outcomes
Traditional L&D tracked training completion rates, satisfaction scores, and maybe knowledge assessments. We celebrated when people showed up and said that they liked it.
L&D business partners measure whether we changed the business. In our call center example, we tracked customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter scores (NPS) alongside traditional learning metrics. Why? Because that was how our call center was defining success – through the lens of customer outcomes. We knew that our learning intervention was working if those scores improved after learners completed training, and it was easy to recognize and celebrate success with our call center clients because we all defined success in the same way.
The difference is profound! When we measure business outcomes, we’re accountable for impact, not just activity. It also changes how stakeholders see us – shifting from someone who runs workshops or builds eLearning courses to someone who drives results.
We Show Up as Consultants, Not Order-Takers
This might be the hardest shift, especially for practitioners who’ve been trained to be responsive and accommodating. Learning and development business partners learn to push back on requests, ask uncomfortable questions, and sometimes recommend solutions that don’t involve training at all.
When our call center leaders initially asked for customer service training, it would have been easy to immediately start planning workshops. The wiser, business partner response, though, was to say “Let me spend some time understanding what’s happening operationally before we build a training program.”
This consultative approach requires confidence and strong relationships, but it’s what separates strategic partners from service providers. Sometimes the best thing L&D can do is recommend process improvements, technology changes, or organizational restructuring instead of – or before – any training happens.
The Challenge
Here’s my challenge for you: Look at your last three major L&D initiatives. Were you solving training problems or business problems? Did you start with learning objectives or business outcomes? Did you measure education or impact?
If you’re primarily in the first category, you’re not alone – and you’re not stuck there. The shift to business partnership is learnable, and it starts with changing the questions you ask. Your organization needs strategic thinking about capability development, not just efficient training delivery. The question is: are you ready to provide it?
About the author
Ben Sieke is an award-winning talent and learning executive with a proven track record of driving transformative learning initiatives. As Head of Learning at Delta Dental, he led an enterprise talent development organization honored by Brandon Hall Group and Training Industry for excellence in custom learning and executive development programs. Previously, Ben served on the leadership team at Guitar Center as Director of Field Human Resources and held global learning practitioner roles at Weight Watchers and Union Bank. His passion lies in elevating learning and development to deliver measurable business impact.