In this week’s episode of L&D Disrupt we speak with Doug Ellin – People Partner L&D at GoHenry. Doug is incredibly passionate about serving the internal customer, and shares his experiences of using this insight to carve out successful, tailored L&D solutions. Throughout the conversation we cover everything from getting to know your internal customer to tracking whether your interventions are successful or not. This episode is a wonderful testament to the fact that L&D should always be about people before anything else and we can’t wait for you to listen! Scroll down to access the episode and key learnings. 

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Running Order 

01:13 How do you get to know your internal customer?

04:46 Using this knowledge to help you deliver better L&D 

06:00 The steps you need to take before developing the L&D strategy

09:38 Identifying the influencers within a business 

12:43 Striking the balance between addressing people’s training requests but giving the business what it actually needs 

17:15 Working out what to include in an L&D solution to make it successful

20:26 Ways to track if your interventions are working 

24:07 Quickfire round

Key learning

I want to go one step further in getting to know my internal customers – what can I do differently?

To really dig a little deeper Doug recommends flipping the script on the exit interview and asking questions within employees’ first few months. To get a thorough understanding of your internal customer’s experiences, try asking questions like: 

• Do you have all the tools you need to succeed in your role?
• Do you feel that your tasks match the job description?
• How would you describe our company culture?
• What has been the best day on the job so far and why?
• What has been the worst day on the job so far and why? 

When you ask these questions early on you have the opportunity to do something with the information before it’s too late. Doug explains that this exercise helps to uncover what people need from the business to feel supported and happy within their roles, and it gives you an opportunity to fill the gaps and put solutions in place.