The Operations Conversation
Why L&D's Most Important Partnership Might Be Its Most Neglected
Picture this scenario: the operations director mentions that safety incidents have increased this month, expressing doubt about whether training is actually helping people remember what to do when things go wrong. The room goes quiet. We start talking about completion rates and satisfaction scores.
You've probably witnessed moments like this, where the gap between our elegant learning experiences and operational reality becomes uncomfortably clear. While we craft “engaging” content and measure participation metrics, operations teams deal with the harsh reality of whether people can actually perform when it matters. This is as real as it gets, a performance problem that's costing organisations real money and real safety.
If we're not close to our operations teams, if we don't understand what they're facing and how learning can genuinely help them succeed, we're fundamentally failing. This isn't about being nice to other departments. It's about understanding that operations is where learning either works or it doesn't.
The Hidden Cost of the Divide
The numbers tell a story that should make every L&D professional uncomfortable. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that collaborative work now consumes 85% of managers' and employees' time, yet only 20-35% of value-added collaborations come from a mere 3-5% of employees (Cross & Gray, 2016). Fortune 500 companies lose $31.5 billion annually due to failure to share knowledge across departments, with much of this loss stemming from disconnected learning initiatives that fail to integrate with operational realities.
But the real cost isn't just financial. When we operate in isolation from operations, training becomes an exercise in theoretical knowledge transfer rather than practical performance improvement. People complete courses, tick boxes, and return to work environments where the learning doesn't translate to better performance because it was never designed with operational context in mind.
You've likely seen organisations spend months developing comprehensive training programmes only to discover that operations managers are solving the same problems through informal workarounds because the formal training didn't address their actual challenges.
Understanding the Operations Reality
Operations teams live in a world of competing pressures that many of us never fully grasp. They're simultaneously managing throughput targets, quality standards, safety requirements, and cost constraints, often with equipment that breaks down unpredictably and staff schedules that change at the last minute.
When the production line stops because someone doesn't know how to respond to an equipment alarm, that's not a completion rate problem. When quality defects increase because people aren't following standard procedures, that's not an engagement problem. These are performance problems that require solutions designed with operational realities in mind.
Operations managers think in terms of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), cycle times, and first-pass yield rates. They measure success through reduced downtime, fewer safety incidents, and improved productivity. If our training initiatives can't connect to these metrics, we're speaking a foreign language to people who desperately need our help.
The challenge is that operations teams often can't spare people for extended training sessions. They need training that fits into shift patterns, addresses immediate problems, and delivers results that show up in operational metrics. This isn't about being difficult, it's about working within constraints that are fundamental to how operations functions.
Learning Their Language
Effective communication with operations teams starts with understanding their vocabulary and concerns. When they talk about throughput, they're referring to the rate at which their systems produce output. When they mention OEE, they're discussing the percentage of planned production time that's truly productive, with world-class benchmarked at 85% and typical performance around 60%.
Lean manufacturing principles focus on maximising customer value while minimising waste through the eight types of waste: Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects, and Skills (the last one should particularly interest L&D professionals).
Six Sigma methodology aims to reduce process variability to 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
Kaizen philosophy emphasises continuous improvement through small, incremental changes.
These aren't buzzwords; they're the frameworks that guide operational decision-making. When you can demonstrate how your training initiative supports lean principles or contributes to OEE improvement, you're speaking their language and addressing their priorities.
But understanding the language is only the beginning. You also need to understand their daily reality: the pressure of production targets, the cost of downtime, the complexity of managing multiple shifts, and the constant balancing act between speed, quality, and safety.
Building Bridges, Not Barriers
To be effective, we must embed ourselves in operational thinking. We need to attend production planning meetings, spend time on the shop floor, and understand the difference between theoretical knowledge and practical application in high-pressure environments.
Start by asking different questions. Instead of "What training do you need?" ask "What performance challenges are you facing?"
Instead of "How many people need to be trained?" ask "What would improved performance look like in measurable terms?"
Instead of "When can we schedule training?" ask "How does this problem impact your operational metrics?"
Is this simple? Yeah, kind of. But, as always, it’s easy to say or write, but the real world is messy. I’m writing about it, despite how easy it sounds, because I still observe these things being missed the vast majority of the time.
This shift in questioning demonstrates that you understand their world and are interested in solving their problems rather than simply delivering content. It also provides the context you need to design training that actually improves performance rather than just increasing knowledge.
Consider this approach: Spend time working alongside operations teams before designing anything. Understand why they can't stop production for classroom sessions and why people need to access information quickly during actual problems. This embedded understanding transforms how you approach intervention design.
Practical Communication Strategies
Successful operations communication in our field follows several patterns that differ significantly from how we might approach other departments. First, lead with operational impact. When proposing training initiatives, frame them in terms of operational metrics: reduced cycle times, improved quality scores, decreased safety incidents, or enhanced equipment utilisation.
Second, respect their time constraints. Operations teams often work in 24/7 environments with minimal flexibility. Avoid wasting their time, respect their efforts when working with SMEs and line managers, and then propose solutions that work within their schedules: just-in-time resources available at the point of need, or blended approaches that minimise time away from operations. This is a great opportunity to focus on how environmental changes can impact performance, sidestepping the difficulty of rolling individual interventions out in a live operational function.
Third, demonstrate immediate relevance. Operations teams need to see how training applies to their specific equipment, processes, and challenges. Generic training programmes can feel irrelevant regardless of their quality. Customise examples, scenarios, and applications to their operational context.
Fourth, measure what matters to them. Develop shared metrics that track both training outcomes and operational performance improvements. Asd always, all data has value, but ensure you are capturing and considering the data points that the ops team focus on.
Role-Specific Approaches
Start by shadowing operations teams to understand their workflows and decision-making processes.
Design training experiences that mirror actual operational scenarios and provide practice with the tools and systems people use in their daily work.
Use the Successive Approximation Model to create rapid iterations with operations stakeholders rather than developing in isolation.
Any training should be tightly integrated with on-the-job experiences and social learning opportunities that naturally occur in operational environments. Map learner journeys that reflect actual operational workflows rather than abstract training progressions.
E-learning developers need to consider what works within operational systems and constraints. This might mean developing mobile-friendly resources that work in industrial environments, creating interactive scenarios that mirror real operational challenges, or building just-in-time help that integrates with existing operational software.
Note: The classic overlooked consideration here is audio. If someone works in manufacturing, they may not be able to hear the content, and likely can’t put on headphones for safety reasons.
Making It Work
The transition to effective operations partnership doesn't happen overnight, but it follows predictable patterns. Begin with relationship-building: attend operations meetings, conduct listening tours, and spend time understanding their daily challenges. This investment in understanding pays dividends when you need to propose solutions.
Next, develop shared vocabulary and success metrics. Work with operations teams to identify performance challenges that you can help them address and agree on how success will be measured. This collaborative approach ensures that your initiatives align with their priorities and constraints.
Start small with pilot programmes that demonstrate value within operational contexts. Success with focused initiatives builds credibility and provides evidence for broader collaboration. Use these pilots to refine your understanding of what works within their environment and constraints.
References
Cross, R. & Gray, P. (2016). Collaborative overload. Harvard Business Review, 94(1), 74-79.