Should L&D specialists sit at the executive table?

I heard this question asked recently and, ashamedly, I kept my mouth shut because everyone else was vehemently purporting L&D specialists being part of the executive table and I did not want to be hung, drawn, and quartered by people that I had only just met and wanted to have a good impression of me. If I had been brave enough to speak up my answer would have been “no”.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think L&D (Learning and Development) is extremely important, but I think it is also important to put it into context. L&D is a function of organizational performance but it is not the only factor that contributes to this. L&D has to be considered in the context of the bigger picture. That bigger picture includes elements of culture, strategy, vision, values, leadership and engagement.

When you consider what functions should sit on that senior executive level, it should really be those areas that have a strategic impact on the business. L&D has to be considered in the complete bundle of practices that sit under either the HR (Human Resources) or the OD (Organizational Development) banner. So either one or both of those functions should have representatives at the executive table.

Now, most of us know what HR is. Broadly speaking it is the function that looks after the policies, employment agreements, hiring and firing of staff. Often, it also looks after areas in the OD domain including engagement, culture etc. and, in small to medium organisations, also encompasses the L&D function. In reality, if you look at OD, L&D, and HR job descriptions there is so much overlap between them that it is difficult to distinguish the difference. Possibly, as a result, there is confusion about what the difference is between all three, but in particular there is confusion in the difference between L&D and OD.

I don’t purport to know exactly what the difference is, but the way I describe it is that an L&D role is more akin to an instructional design role, whereas OD encompasses L&D but includes all those other bits I’ve mentioned above that impact on organizational performance. OD is about creating synergies between all these factors for the greater good of the organization at a very strategic level.

Now if you had asked me 6 months ago whether L&D should be represented at the executive table, I would have said “absolutely”. But this perception has been based on my experiences in an L&D role that encompassed parts of OD – my concept of what an L&D role was skewed towards OD. So we need to be careful about what we are categorizing here. L&D does contribute to strategy, but as part of a wider picture. Representation at the executive level must have a focus on strategic outcomes not just making sure that various interests are represented.