Many of us fall into L&D - and some of us make sacrifices in order to do so. At a time when many of us have faced layoffs and unexpected setbacks, we wanted to spotlight career journeys that had tough times and what our guests did to overcome these. In this episode, I’m speaking with Jennifer Sutherland, Global Leader of Culture, Learning & Development at Trustwave, about her incredible career and the lessons we can all learn from her.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Very few people follow a linear path into L&D. This is good because they bring varied business skills to the role.

• If you do not have any training or L&D experience to put on your resume seek it out. Jennifer shares several ways to do that.

• Be authentic, especially during presentations, and develop your own style.

• Listen to feedback but recognise who the outliers are and factor that in before deciding whether to pivot.

• Take your time when switching roles. Lots of L&D professionals inadvertently end up in a role that is not a good fit for them.

• Use other L&D professionals as a sounding board and help each other.

• Understand how humans learn and stay up to date with the research.

• Stay curious and stay up to date with the tech.

• Build good relationships with all stakeholders and network.

BEST MOMENTS

“You created the opportunity that helped you gather the experience that you needed to be taken seriously by those L&D hiring managers.”

“Words matter … how you fill in the silence is so critical.”

“Frankly, that role was not the right fit for me.”

“The career path that I'm on looks bananas, but gave me all these skills, resources, knowledge, community and networks.”

“Create your own sandwich of tech to create what you need.”

“The world limits you already. Don't be the one that limits yourself.”

Jennifer Sutherland Bio

Jennifer is the Global Leader of Culture, Learning & Development at Trustwave, where she is responsible for driving employee engagement and developing enriching learning experiences. Her team focuses on initiatives such as change management and sales enablement, essential for a dynamic global workforce across EMEA, APAC, and North America.

Concurrently, as an Adjunct Professor at Davenport University, Jennifer leverages her expertise to educate the next generation in HR and Learning & Development.

You can follow and connect with Jennifer via:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifernsutherland

Website: https://sutherlandtalentsolutions.com

The Nonlinear Training Career article - https://trainingindustry.com/magazine/spring-2024/the-nonlinear-training-career

https://www.toastmasters.org

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523

L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home

ABOUT THE HOST

David James

David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

As well as being the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D.

CONTACT METHOD

• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin

• L&D Collective: https://360learning.com/the-l-and-d-collective

• Blog: https://360learning.com/blog

• L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home

L&D can sometimes fail to make sense to even the most seasoned L&D leader but what about our colleagues in other departments? What do they make of our products and approaches? What do they make of our inability to equate our spend and effort to ROI? Well Ajay Pangarkar can tell us. His frustrations with L&D had him lean in from his Accounting background and tell us. But not just by heckling. But by giving us advice. In this episode, Ajay will tell us how we’re perceived and what we can do to better measure the impact of what we do.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Using business terminology, you are not 100% familiar with undermines your credibility.

• Knowledge is now genuinely driving businesses, so L&D is seen as far more important.

• Focus on the end result.

• Use the Kaizen approach – keep asking why.

• Become a listener, get into people´s heads and skill them up in a non-intrusive way.

• Data analytics is essential to L&D.

• Work with your financial team to deliver your business case.

BEST MOMENTS

“With all respect and love for Learning and Development, they are the nerds in the schoolyard trying to fit in with the cool kids.”

“Nobody in the organization cares about learning. They care about the doing.”

“We are in the golden age of L&D.”

“I always say they cut their budget because you didn't deliver value.”

Ajay Pangarkar Bio

Ajay is the author of four books, with the most recent titled, “Learning Metrics: How to Measure the Impact of Organizational Learning" (Kogan Page). He’s an award-winning author receiving multiple prestigious TrainingIndustry Readership and Editors’ Award, eLearning Magazine’s Learning Champion, and the World Training Development Congress named Ajay their “Distinguished Trainer”. He is a broadcast media commentator addressing workplace performance issues and contributor to leading international publications.

Ajay is also a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA, FCMA), Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP), and a world-renowned workplace performance authority on integrating employee performance strategies within operational environments.

On top of all this, he is a professor at the Sprott School of Business (Carleton University) and Smith School of Business (Queens University) as well as being actively involved with workplace learning working closely with LinkedIn Learning.

You can follow and connect with Ajay via:

Twitter: @bizlearningdude

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajaypangarkar/

Book: https://www.koganpage.com/hr-learning-development/learning-metrics-9781398615366

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523

L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home/

ABOUT THE HOST

David James

David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

As well as being the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D.

CONTACT METHOD

• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/

• L&D Collective: https://360learning.com/the-l-and-d-collective/

• Blog: https://360learning.com/blog/

• L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home/