Proving impact and driving results for the business is central to this magazine issue. But how can we apply those concepts to our own careers?  

When you think about career advancement, you’re probably looking for signs of progress such as a promotion, senior title or a step up in the organizational chart. But if your goal is to eventually lead learning at the highest level of your organization, you may be focusing on the wrong signals.  

Instead, consider your career thorough the lens of impact: Is the work you’re doing today building your ability to influence bigger decisions, solve bigger business problems and contribute to bigger business results? 

As Training Industry’s Senior L&D Leader Competency Model, featured in this issue, illustrates, moving into senior leadership requires more than deeper L&D expertise. It requires broader responsibility for areas of strategic alignment, financial management, executive influence and organizational change and building those capabilities requires experience using them to create impact.

I was reminded of this in a recent webinar with learning executives Ann Stott and Kristal Walker. Ann shared how accepting roles outside of the traditional career progression, including moving to the vendor side, expanded her experience across functions, geographies, budgets and team leadership. And it was these experiences that she credits with preparing her to become a chief learning officer (CLO). 

Look for Experience, Not Just Advancement  

As you evaluate your own career opportunities and goals, consider not only whether an opportunity represents advancement, but also whether it expands your capacity to have an impact: 

• Business scope: Look for opportunities to work on challenges connected to broader organizational priorities, not just L&D priorities. That could mean taking on responsibility for a new business unit, working across functions or participating in initiatives where learning is only one part of the solution. 

• Financial responsibility: Senior leaders need to make and defend investment decisions. Opportunities to manage larger budgets, build business cases, prioritize resources or make tradeoffs help to build your ability to connect learning decisions to financial and business outcomes. 

• Influence: Consider whether a role will expand who you work with and the decisions you have an opportunity to shape. Greater exposure to executives, cross-functional stakeholders and leaders outside of L&D can help you learn how the broader business operates while building your own visibility and credibility. 

• Organizational impact: Pay attention to the results that you’ll be held accountable for. Will you have opportunities to lead changes, to solve important business problems and/or to influence organizational strategy? The closer your work gets to business outcomes, the more opportunities you’ll have to demonstrate the value you can bring beyond the learning function. 

Many of the competencies required at the highest levels of L&D are difficult to develop through formal learning alone. You need opportunities to practice them and learn from that practice. So, as you think about your next career move, look beyond title and hierarchy. A promotion may expand your impact, but so might a stretch assignment, lateral move, cross-functional initiatives or less traditional role. 

Over time, pursuing opportunities using this standard can help you prepare for the bigger role and to have impact when you get there.