What should we call ourselves?

There's a conversation happening in the L&D world right now about what we should call ourselves, in light of our changing job description as Instructional Designers, Facilitators, Trainers, and more.

I've seen a few different suggestions: Performance Enablement, Talent Enablement, and so on. I think our role, as individual contributors and as a team, goes much deeper than this.

First, "enabler" has a problem. In everyday language, and especially in healthcare, an enabler is not a compliment. Rebranding an entire department around a word with that kind of cultural baggage seems like a significant oversight.

But my bigger issue is this: most of these suggestions are still focused on what we deliver, not what we do.

What we actually do is work across departments to identify gaps and opportunities to grow our employees, students, faculty, leadership, and the organization's potential. We align learning to organizational goals and to where each person is trying to go in their career.

That's not just delivery or enabling. That's diagnosis. That's strategy. That's partnership.

So here's my suggestion: Strategic Performance Support.

It honors both sides of the equation, the organization's goals and the learner's trajectory. In corporate, higher ed, and healthcare alike.

L&D at its best isn't about courses. It's about trajectory, and supporting the learner along the way.

I'm ready for the pushback. What do you think we should call ourselves? More importantly, how does that change how we work, what meetings we attend, and what part we play in our organization's strategic plans and goals?