Learning & development professionals are frequently challenged by last-minute training requests. We’re challenged in delivering on them successfully, but also in minimizing their frequency—they can be disruptive to our regular work, after all. But the bigger challenge is how to insert ourselves into conversations with stakeholders sooner rather than later, which would, in fact, make those last-minute requests less common.
We’ve all seen last-minute training requests—the ones that come to us with a deadline of “yesterday.” Challenging? Sure. Fun? Not usually.
There’s often a similar backstory to these “popup” requests: the manager of the XYZ department has planned some necessary training for team members who aren't following procedures. She has it all outlined and just needs you to make the training. Oh, and can she have it by Wednesday?
Those of us in training—L&D managers, instructional designers, eLearning developers—understand the complexity of the process for creating a training deliverable. We know the phases and the many steps within each. But the departments and clients we work with to create those deliverables don’t know all the steps we go through. This is just one reason why we may receive a request for a training deliverable that is needed “ASAP.”
Layered with this is that the stakeholder doesn’t truly understand the value of L&D and all we do. Although we cannot remedy that immediately, we can work to build visibility and understanding for what we do across the organization and with our clients, even if it’s one deliverable at a time.
When we in L&D build relationships with other departments, stakeholders, clients, and subject matter experts, we establish trust with those groups—we forge a collaborative partnership and a pathway for working together toward success. When this partnership is established, those departments and clients think of training sooner when projects are launched, as in, “This will be a great project to help our representatives deliver on our goal of increased customer service calls. Let’s contact Suzy in L&D to help strategize how this training will come together.” Wouldn’t that be great?
That’s the long-term goal. It’s entirely possible when you provide value and service to stakeholders, and when they see and experience the value of what L&D can do for their departments and the organization. But what do we do now when those last-minute requests come in? Before that higher level of credibility and value are in place, these last-minute requests could actually help create a line of sight into how resourceful and helpful L&D is—essentially, what great partners we are.
Yes, the request is probably needed within a very fast turnaround. And yes, if L&D were engaged in the request sooner, we could probably provide a more well-rounded solution to the deliverable. But given the situation at hand, think about how you can help to solve that problem the client is faced with. Can our impact and effort help “save the day”? If so, the client will view L&D in a favorable light going forward.
As L&D professionals, our goal is to be helpful and resourceful. When we successfully deliver against a last-minute request, we can create dialogues and opportunities to pave the path with best practices for future work.
Here are a few tips for setting L&D up for that long-term success while executing on short-term needs.
Show Empathy
When popup training requests come our way, frustration may set in. Being a good steward of that frustration will benefit you down the line. You may not know the entire story, but it could very well be that the person making the request also had something requested of them at the last minute. It truly can be a trickle-down effect.
Listen and show empathy for the stakeholder’s situation. Seek to understand the problem and the need for immediacy. Demonstrate active listening by paying full attention and asking good questions.
Show Integrity While Thinking Outside the Norm
As you collect your information and assess what can and can’t be done, be honest with the stakeholder. If a successful deliverable is simply unrealistic, clearly explain why… and then follow it up with what can be done and what modifications may need to be incorporated, and why. Maybe the two-hour live video stream to demonstrate how the team would function on the job is out scope for this last-minute request—but maybe that idea can morph into something smaller and more plausible, such as a five-minute video showing snippets of essential tasks.
The key here is not to over-promise and under-deliver, or not deliver at all, due to the impending deadline. Such a failure will have a ripple effect and damage L&D’s reputation going forward.
Demonstrate value to the stakeholder by offering options that could still reach the end goal but within the criteria. The other party doesn’t know all the intricacies in the back end for how the deliverables come together, and that’s OK—provide that insight for future engagements.
Show Timeliness and Responsiveness
Demonstrate immediate value by being timely with your responses. Pick up the phone or stop by the stakeholder’s desk to answer a question or provide needed information. Your responsiveness is another way to show empathy, which makes you great to work with and creates a partnership you can build upon for future projects.
Do NOT Show Your Feelings
This last-minute request may not have been last-minute for the stakeholder; if that is the case, they may not be feeling a crunch like you are now that the request is in your lap. Don’t show how you’re really feeling—frustrated, angry, irritated, etc.—as that will only create a gap in your future working opportunities. Show a “can-do” attitude as you explain realistic options.
Be Impressive
Resist the temptation to say, “You know, if you came to me sooner, we could have done X, Y, Z, and 1, 2, and 3.” It’s best to address the situation as it is and move forward. Making the stakeholder feel bad is not a solid strategy. Be wary of scolding the client. Instead, focus on the long-term partnership by showing value, providing helpful insight, and releasing some of the burden on the stakeholder.
Create opportunities for future dialogue by listening to the stakeholder’s entire story, not just the small nuggets related to this one request. When we understand their broader challenges, we can identify those places where L&D can provide assistance. For example:
Stakeholder: “Yes, you can add that small paragraph of information to that slide. I think it works fine there, for now. The team struggles with this from the start, so we will have to address it again anyway. But for now, it’s fine there.”
Learning Pro: “OK, thanks for that confirmation. So, when you say the team struggles with this from the start, I think I understand why you shared that. Some of the quick interviews I conducted for this project confirm that struggle. I think we can design an effective how-to guide to help here. But let’s get this project out the door first.”
Do you see what happened? The Learning Pro showed value by listening and connecting the dots of what they understood about the team—and by showing empathy, planted the seed for future work. All in one small little dialogue. Continuing that frame of mind and those actions will benefit L&D for the long term.
In L&D, we need to think of ourselves as problem solvers. That mindset will pave the way for future projects and being inserted into dialogues within the organization earlier. Use last-minute training requests as a path to that partnership.
