Empowering Workforce Growth through Strategic Learning Initiatives

Kaleb Willis, Director of Learning and Development, National Nail Corp

Kaleb Willis, Director of Learning and Development, National Nail Corp

Dorene Henley is Director of Learning Development and Operations at Dairy Farmers of America, where she leads enterprise learning strategy. She focuses on scaling consistent, high-impact training programs that align with business goals while improving performance, employee experience, and operational effectiveness across the organization.

Aligning Learning and Development with Business Strategy and Culture

You have to meet the organization where they are regarding learning and development. What I mean by that is you must fully understand the organization’s mission, vision, strategy, and culture. To do this, you have to immerse yourself in the business. Meet with key stakeholders, not just executive leadership, but leaders at all levels, as well as individual contributors and learn what they do and how their teams impact the business.

Dig in to find out what they do well and where there are opportunities for improvement. Don’t just focus on the areas for improvement. You must exploit (in a positive) way what they do well and continue to develop those positive behaviors. Learning & Development is not just for those who need help it is also for those who excel in organizations.

Designing Engaging Learning Programs for Diverse Adult Learners

I have a few strategies that I prioritize when building effective and engaging learning programs:

a. Every adult learner learns differently. You have to consider all learning styles (auditory, kinesthetic, visual, read/write), commonly known as the VARK Model, when building training. This means having a combination of presentations, reading content aloud to a group, group discussions, and hands-on skill practice.

b. We are living in a very digital age where our thumbs do a lot of work with smart-phones. Developing micro learning that is easily accessible from a phone or tablet. Provide learning in short, direct, and concise bites. This keeps the content easily digestible. Encourage leaders to have conversations with learners to discuss what they have learned and how they plan to incorporate those learnings into everyday practice.

c. Today, we have multiple generations in the workforce with a wide range of past experience and prior knowledge. Engage all generations of employees as subject matter experts. Record their knowledge and teachings, have them facilitate in-person sessions, learners respond well to learning from their peers rather than a “trainer” or an executive.

Evolving Workforce Expectations Shaping Modern Learning Strategies

I feel that employees today are not just looking for training, they expect growth, flexibility, and significance – and they want all three of these things quickly. Learners don’t want a one-size-fits-all sophisticated curriculum; they want on-demand, bite-sized content. They want AI-driven recommendations (kind of like how your favorite streaming app suggests shows you may enjoy).

“Today, we have multiple generations in the workforce with a wide range of past experience and prior knowledge. Engage all generations of employees as subject matter experts.”

There is a desire for just-in-time learning that solves their problems immediately. Employees, especially the younger generation, want meaningful work and alignment with company values. They want to know that the company and the leader they work for really care about them and their development. Finally, today’s workforce values development as a path to advancement.

Driving Continuous Learning through Leadership Accountability

The biggest challenge I face in driving continuous learning and measurable impact is not what happens in a training room or online curriculums in a Learning Management System, but getting leaders to understand the importance of reinforcing content once a learner has completed training.

It is not just a post-training conversation about key takeaways, it is a conversation about what you learned, what you want to implement back in your daily work, and holding them accountable for those changes. Look, change is hard and it becomes more difficult the older we get. Adult learners need to be held accountable by leaders to take action once an investment in learning has taken place. Why would a leader not want to ensure they are getting a solid return on their learning investment?

2. What advice would you offer to professionals looking to grow in the learning and development field?

Often times I feel that those wanting to get into the learning and development field think they need to know everything about a business before they can actually facilitate training. The misconception that the L&D professional is the subject matter expert on all things company related is not realistic. You must learn how to facilitate training (guide learners through a educational process), rely on others to provide company specific knowledge. Act as a “guide on the side” rather than a lecturer. You must be able to encourage engagement, discission, and active participation regardless of the training format (in-person or self-paced). With self-paced learning, technology has come a long way towards developing learning content that can be engaging with active participation. Finally, I would say develop yourself, read books, engage with other learning professionals, find a mentor or a coach. L&D professionals are a fun group of people to hang out with. Creative, lots of energy, and a passion for the development of others.