In two separate sessions at last week's World of Learning one common theme emerged and that was: are L&D managers asking the right questions when it comes to understanding what business managers actually require from learning and training initiatives?

In his session on performance consulting, business psychologist, and regular TrainingZone contributor, Nigel Harrison told delegates that in order to shift from being what he called 'order takers' to being procative business consultants, L&D professionals would have to start asking much deeper questions about training requirements proposed by business managers. You can see an interview with Nigel here.

Rather than taking proposals at face value he said L&D must start asking business managers what exactly they are trying to achieve and to identify the performance gap and how training would reduce it.

But that is not easy, especially when a business manager believes they have come up with the perfect solution to a performance problem. You will need to ask questions that take that manager away from their current thinking, to reassess and then potentailly explore new proposals - potentailly uncomfortable conversations. This article on asking the right questions to move the conversation forward could be useful here.

And the questions theme was also at the heart of this L&D elevator pitch.

The theme of asking the right questions was echoed by Towards Maturity's Laura Overton.

So, are we really that bad at asking the right questions? It can be difficult to ask the right questions if you are perceived to be, and act like, the order take. One thing is for sure - being able to ask the right questions and show your expertise should gain the respect of any business manager.