It all started with the BIG question on the table.

What do we wish our stakeholders knew about learning—and how do we actually tell them?

 

This Coffee Chat was all about the communication breakdowns between L&D and stakeholders, and how to fix them without just venting for an hour (though we did some of that too). We kicked off with a hard truth: sometimes the misunderstandings are our fault. When we say yes to impossible deadlines, we train stakeholders to keep asking. So how do we break the cycle and have better conversations?

The group tackled the classic stakeholder statements. "Everyone needs this training" got unpacked with the five whys—asking why, why, why until you get to the actual problem they're trying to solve. We talked about shifting from big questions like "What's the business goal?" to smaller, clearer ones like "What behavior are you seeing that you don't like?" or "What failures are we trying to prevent?" Sometimes stakeholders have more clarity around what they want to avoid than what they want to create.

We explored practical tools for working with SMEs and stakeholders. Training request forms that are short enough to actually get filled out. Checklists that prompt SMEs to gather what we need without us having to nag. Discovery meetings where we fill out the form together. And the magic phrase: "If I don't hear from you by Friday, silence means yes." Documentation and receipts matter—send back what you agreed on so there's no confusion later.

The conversation turned to getting real reviews from SMEs. Sit with them and go through it together. Send them one section at a time instead of a 20-minute course. Give them specific examples of what feedback looks like—"This looks great" doesn't help, but "I like the tone you used on slide 3" does. Test it with someone who knows nothing about the topic. Read it out loud. Project it on a big screen. All of these catch things you'd never see otherwise.

We also vented about the things that drive us up the wall. Everything defaults to one hour. SMEs who tell us the solution instead of the problem. Requests that arrive with "turn this into a game" or "make a video" already baked in. The key is reframing without being combative—asking what "game" means to them, explaining constraints, helping them break content into need-to-know versus nice-to-know buckets.

The takeaway? We need to communicate better, set expectations upfront, and remember that stakeholders and SMEs aren't the enemy—they just don't know what we need unless we tell them clearly.

So what's one conversation you could reframe this week?

Stay curious! -Shannon

Andrew Jacobs

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Andrew Jacobs Transcript

Transcript Summary

Resources

The Learning Rebels’ The 2025 Edition: From L&D Order-Taker To Strategic Business Partner

Where L&D Will Survive and Where It Will Die In Age of AI

What is Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model?

Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model

Andrew Jacobs’ PPT

Andrew Jacobs’ Four Cs:

Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping

Management by Wandering Around

Andrew Jacobs’ Linkedin

Books

Leading the Learning Function: Tools and Techniques for Organizational Impact by MJ Hall and Laleh Patel

The Trusted Learning Advisor: The Tools, Techniques and Skills You Need to Make L&D a Business Priority by Keith Ketting

Employee Engagement for Organizational Change: The Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement by Julie Hodges

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Host: Shannon Tipton 

Podcast produced by: Obsidian Productions