A FocusU Framework for Building Trust, Credibility, and Influence with Business Stakeholders
Table of Contents
Engaging with business stakeholders as part of the L&D function isn’t easy. The business always comes first. The daily hustle and tasks take precedence, and learning is always an afterthought, if that.
But is that really wrong? Even us L&D professionals can admit to prioritising our work over learning about some new framework. It’s natural and normal to focus on the business tasks and goals – the immediate priorities.
When do we really spend time on learning? Think about it. It’s usually when reading something, picking up a new skill, or applying a technique is directly helping to do a business task better or faster, or achieve an existing KR.
Teams don’t usually have the luxury of learning just for the sake of it – it would be great if that were the case. But, for most people, learning needs to help achieve a tangible outcome. In a world that measures everything in metrics and results, L&D is no exception. Like every other function, we need to show how our work contributes to business outcomes.
The problem arises because business metrics hardly ever move solely because of learning. Learning is one of the many factors that affects larger business goals and metrics. So then the question for most of us is…how can I really prove the value of learning? How can I show my stakeholders that a conversation with me will help them? How can I convince my leaders that learning needs better investment and attention?
The struggle may not be due to a lack of effort or skill, though. Sometimes the environment itself can make it harder. L&D operates within a larger system – a system of busy stakeholders and a million different priorities. A system that has long been built around “order taking.” A system of skeptics who may have had past experiences with checkbox learning interventions that neither had relevance to their work nor inspired curiosity. A system of believers who may have experienced a life changing learning experience once, and now expect the moon and stars for their team.
Within such a system, it’s no wonder that many L&D professionals feel stuck somewhere between frustration and fatigue. It’s natural to want the business leader in front of you to believe in learning as much as you do and feel excited by your new initiatives, but feel disappointed and tense when they sneak indiscreet glances at their watch during your conversation and tell you their team doesn’t have time for more than a 60 minute virtual session. It’s normal to feel the pressure to deliver on an urgent request when your hunch tells you that you’ll just be addressing a symptom of a deeper problem and yet don’t want to offend your experienced business stakeholders or waste their time by asking another question.
In moments like these, it’s easy to wonder: will there ever be a day when business leaders truly seek our advice? When we are called into conversations early enough to make a difference? When our voice shapes strategy instead of simply responding to it?
These things take time – and more importantly, they take trust. Leaders listen when they believe you understand their world. They take your advice when they feel you genuinely care about helping them succeed and know what you’re talking about. The thing is, most L&D professionals do have expertise and passion. This is our experience having interacted with so many from the community. So then what really needs attention? Expertise in your domain and passion for your work only go so far in a larger system fraught with people whose experiences may have unfortunately converted them into cynics or may have 10 different things occupying their minds at any given moment – in a system that isn’t designed to offer trust easily.
What turns a skeptic into a believer? What captures the attention of a busy-bee?
Building trust, credibility, and influence – bit by bit, layer by layer, till different stakeholders across the organization view L&D representatives as strategic partners, or trusted learning advisors.
What does it take, in such a system, to begin building that trust and credibility and influencing decisions? Well first off, a lot of you reading may not be starting from scratch. You may already have a rapport with some of your stakeholders, and already be having some business-relevant conversations. You may have already delivered interventions which have created an impact on performance, and even turned some sticky heads with the demonstration of that impact.
At FocusU, we have, through our experiences, observed 4 avenues through which this trust and credibility can be enhanced further, even within the constraints of the system:
1. Understanding Stakeholders
(Trust begins when you see the person behind the request.)
Every L&D ask comes wrapped in another person’s story – their pressures, their hopes, their targets, their fears. Behind every “we need a training” is a person trying to meet a goal or solve a problem.
As you build a practice of listening for what’s really being said – what’s at stake for that person, what they’re afraid might fail – you can begin to earn their trust.
Understanding stakeholders isn’t about being agreeable or trying to please everyone. It’s about empathy with purpose. Seeing their world so that you can bring something valuable to it.
When you are able to do this consistently, you may notice that your stakeholders feel more comfortable confiding in you, and asking what you think as opposed to telling you what training they want.
2. Understanding Business
(You can’t build credibility if you don’t understand the game you’re playing.)
To be taken seriously by business leaders, it’s important to build a deeper understanding of what success looks like for them – in business terms. What drives revenue? What keeps customers coming back? What’s costing them money, or trust, or time?
When conversations start to move from sounding transactional (“this workshop will build communication skills”), to sounding more meaningful and relevant (“this will reduce client escalations.”), is when your stakeholders start listening differently.
This isn’t to say that you now need to become an expert in sales or finance! You just need to understand how your organization creates value for customers, how different functions work together, and where learning fits in the bigger system. That understanding is the foundation of credibility.
3. Understanding Consultative Approach
(Diagnose before you prescribe.)
The difference between being helpful and being trusted lies in the questions we ask.
When a stakeholder says, “We need a leadership workshop,” it’s easy to respond with a, “Sure, when do you want it?” A harder yet more valuable response could look like, “Tell me what’s been happening lately, what’s making this feel urgent?”
Trusted Learning Advisors take time to find what’s really in the way of performance – is it a skill issue, a motivation gap, or an environment problem? They are able to advise when learning or training is not the answer at all, but rather the problem or blocker of performance lies somewhere else and needs another solution.
And just as important, they know when not to over-engineer. Sometimes a team just needs a well-facilitated, energizing session, not a 3-month journey. Consultative doesn’t mean complicated. It means being intentional about solving the right problem.
This discipline takes courage. To pause before reacting. To ask questions that make people think. To challenge, respectfully, when you know there’s a better way forward. You may of course not always get the audience you need for such conversations, but there can be ways around resistance, which experience can teach.
4. Understanding Learning Science
(Design for what makes the difference your stakeholder hopes to see.)
People trust advisors who clearly know their craft. In L&D, that trust comes from being well-versed in how people actually learn and change.
Trusted Learning Advisors are usually ones who keep themselves abreast of learning science research and expert voices in the industry. They are constantly curious about how adults learn, how habits form, how behavior sustains. They are able to advise on the ‘how’ of reaching the goals they’ve discovered through meaningful conversations because of their domain knowledge and expertise on how learning happens, how learning transfers to work, how to design for what usually blocks this transfer, and how impact can be measured and demonstrated.
They know how to collect stories and data that stakeholders value – tied to the performance outcomes they wanted to realise, to showcase impact and also create proofs for other stakeholders.
FocusU’s Trusted Learning Advisor Program brings these four disciplines to life.
You’ll work through realistic stakeholder personas, role plays, and case studies. You’ll practice structured questioning, learn to map business priorities, and explore evidence-based design approaches that show impact.
You’ll discuss, debate, and apply – not just listen. You’ll leave with practical tools you can use immediately and the confidence to start having different conversations with your stakeholders.
Most of all, you’ll leave with a new mindset. You’ll stop seeing yourself as an “L&D professional” and start seeing yourself as a “Performance Consultant”.
Trust takes time to build, but every conversation is a chance to begin.
Take the self-assessment below to build awareness around your current approach and find out which of these disciplines is a natural strength and which you can develop further.
