Proactive or Reactive
Is your instructional design team proactive or reactive?
Instructional designers must proactively seek out priorities from business partners. Otherwise we are just order-takers reacting to things that have already happened.
Set up a regular cadence to meet with your stakeholders and ask what is coming down the pipeline. Are there any new business deals, or if you are in tech, any changes to the product we should know about?
My team does this quarterly and use the meeting as an opportunity to also highlight some data that tells a story about our impact. This reminds the business that we have something of value to offer.
Of course you can still respond to requests as well and should have an intake process for those situations.
Aligning your roadmap to the businesses upcoming quarter is important because it ensures your work is relevant. It also gives you time to produce quality work because you aren’t scrambling to respond to a change that has already happened.
Get in on conversations about new initiatives or projects that will require an educational component early; you may even be able to influence the planning and be a true business partner if you cultivate those professional relationships and earn a seat at the table.
