Becoming an Expert Business Partner

 

The Challenge

Have you recently restructured to enable your support functions to work as business partners across different areas of the business? Do you work in a function that needs to work collaboratively with the business, such as HR, Learning & Development, Organisational Development, Finance, Marketing, Quality, Information Services, Internal Communications & Media, Data Analytics, or Supply Chain? Or perhaps you are a Learning and Development specialist who needs to support people making this transition?

How do you build your confidence and skill set to be able to build trusting relationships with senior colleagues? How do you manage effective conversations with them about business strategy, business change or overcoming complex or deep-seated problems? Above all, how do you position yourself as someone worth talking to?

We can develop your skills to enable you to help others: make effective business decisions, facilitate change, develop credibility and manage successful business partnerships, both internally and externally.

 

How We Can Help

We work with organisations to build the capability and confidence of Business Partners to establish and facilitate partnerships. These skills will include: stakeholder involvement, influencing skills, analysing problems and needs, as well as collaborating on solutions.
We run workshops that are geared to the level of seniority and experience of the audience and provide opportunities for them to practise with case study situations drawn from their own context. We are trained to use the ‘Verbalise’ observation and feedback system to identify specific areas of strength and areas for targeted improvement for each individual.

We provide easy to use tools and frameworks to equip business partners to effectively manage any business conversation. We encourage the use of alternative ways of thinking within the business, which make it easier for individuals to talk to each other about their requirements and feel comfortable digging beneath the surface of issues, to find sustainable solutions.

 

Our Business Partnering Programme

Our business partnering programme includes:

  • Skills development in how to operate in ‘business partner’ rather than ‘expert’ mode
  • Gathering important information at the outset of a discussion that will enable the business partner to question and challenge the client’s perspective, where necessary
  • Analytical frameworks to understand their business situation and needs
  • Measuring the impact and costs of current problems, as well as the full extent of the benefit to the business of solving the problem
  • Tools and techniques to get closer to the client and develop effective ongoing relationships
  • Managing the progression around the different phases of the Business Partnering Cycle
  • Using diagnosis techniques and skills to identify, develop understanding of and clarify problems and needs
  • Influencing others, if necessary, through expanding perception of their problems and needs
  • Working in partnership to create practical and appropriate solutions
  • Generating ownership and commitment to quality solutions
  • Identifying additional areas of work that are needed for the solution to be successful

Contact us to talk through how we can support you in this area and how we can help develop your people’s capability.

 

Who We Work With

We have run these courses for clients from the following sectors:

  • Bio-technology
  • Business Services
  • Consumer Goods
  • Distilleries and Wineries
  • Finance
  • Food Services
  • Telecommunications
  • Technology Services
  • Utilities

Business Partnering Testimonial 1

I would recommend this 2-day programme to anyone who is working in a partner role or is looking to build skills in business partnering.  The programme will absolutely elevate your thinking and you will walk away with a fantastic set of tools that will allow to you help your business make high quality decisions.

 

Paul Dobson, Head of Learning, SAGA
LCN : Learning Curve Network
2014-01-03T14:49:57+01:00
I would recommend this 2-day programme to anyone who is working in a partner role or is looking to build skills in business partnering.  The programme will absolutely elevate your thinking and you will walk away with a fantastic set of tools that will allow to you help your business make high quality decisions.   Paul Dobson, Head of Learning, SAGA

Business Partnering Testimonial 2

Learning Curve makes learning fun! With practical, real-life examples and a great understanding of our business, the team at Learning Curve has delivered instant value and impact to our business through a well-crafted Business Partnering programme.

 

Rocio Del Carpio, Vice President HR International, Beam Suntory
LCN : Learning Curve Network
2014-01-03T14:54:46+01:00
Learning Curve makes learning fun! With practical, real-life examples and a great understanding of our business, the team at Learning Curve has delivered instant value and impact to our business through a well-crafted Business Partnering programme.   Rocio Del Carpio, Vice President HR International, Beam Suntory

Business Partnering Testimonial 4

Our HR team recently attended the Business Partnering course and the effectiveness of the programme exceeded expectations. So many simple, useful tools and frameworks to support the partnering conversation. The learning the team took away has allowed us to provide a consistent approach to partnering with our business leaders. We were guided by excellent facilitators - subject matter experts combined with practical take aways, excellent individual feedback and a fun learning environment. Very valuable!

Jan Roberts, L&D and Organisational Development Business Partner, William Grant and Sons

 
LCN : Learning Curve Network
2019-05-21T11:44:55+01:00
Our HR team recently attended the Business Partnering course and the effectiveness of the programme exceeded expectations. So many simple, useful tools and frameworks to support the partnering conversation. The learning the team took away has allowed us to provide a consistent approach to partnering with our business leaders. We were guided by excellent facilitators - subject matter experts combined with practical take aways, excellent individual feedback and a fun learning environment. Very valuable! Jan Roberts, L&D and Organisational Development Business Partner, William Grant and Sons  

Business Partnership Testimonial 5

Back at work, I already saw some of my HR leads putting their learning into practice –gathering the bigger picture, being cognizant of the politics dimension, not jumping to solutions right away. It is quite interesting to watch. Thank you for a seamless and engaging delivery of the program. It was a great and insightful experience not just for me, but also for the team.

Jessie Lim, Head of Human Resources APAC, Orange Business Services
LCN : Learning Curve Network
2019-05-21T11:45:37+01:00
Back at work, I already saw some of my HR leads putting their learning into practice –gathering the bigger picture, being cognizant of the politics dimension, not jumping to solutions right away. It is quite interesting to watch. Thank you for a seamless and engaging delivery of the program. It was a great and insightful experience not just for me, but also for the team. Jessie Lim, Head of Human Resources APAC, Orange Business Services
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LCN : Learning Curve Network