L&D and HR – a match made in heaven, or a marriage of inconvenience?

Whatever opinion you hold, there’s no escaping the fact that at some point in your L&D journey you will most likely work with, or sit within, a HR function. In this episode of L&D Disrupt we’re joined by Lauren Cunningham – ​​L&D Manager at Bumble – to help us navigate this partnership and work through the hurdles that can hinder your harmonious efforts!

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Running Order 

00:00 Intro 

05:19 Building relationships to avoid silos 

08:34 Changing your approach once you move into a function

11:07 Testing and iterating to achieve results

14:02 Budget implications of moving into a function 

16:06 Myth-busting perceptions around L&D!

18:20 Figuring out where to start as the first L&D hire

20:08 Positioning L&D and HR in your organisation 

20:55 Quickfire Round 

Key learnings

Where should L&D be positioned within the business?!

After experiencing L&D life both sitting in an HR team and now sat within a specialist function, Lauren believes that it’s better for both the business and the L&D professional to be placed within the latter. As Lauren explains, working more closely with stakeholders this way helps L&D to gain a much broader understanding of the business needs while not feeling like such a separate part of the organisation.

If you’re wanting to secure some L&D budget, you might also have more luck in a specialist function versus the HR team, as budgets are already likely to be stretched to the max in HR/People teams! Lauren has found it much easier to get budget while being part of a specialist function, and puts this down to having more impact when building the business case.

Found this interesting? You might want to read our guide on building a learning brand!