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E1B2 x Equal Time Presents: The Learning & Development 8-Part Special Series · The Business of Alignment - Powered by The E1B2 Collective

0:01
Hello and welcome to the Equal Time Podcast.
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I am so pleased to be here today with Ryan Human.
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He is the Director of Learning and Development at America's Car
0:10
Mart and he has been there for over 7 years and has a wealth of
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experience in learning and development and educational
0:18
settings. And we're really, really honored
0:21
to have him here. Join us and learn a little bit
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from his experience and from his expertise in what he has
0:29
implemented, what has worked well and what challenges he has
0:32
overcome. So Ryan, thank you so much for
0:36
joining us today. Thank you, Rachel.
0:38
I appreciate you having me here today and I am very excited for
0:42
the opportunity to get to speak with you today.
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Thank you. So just to kick things off, can
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you tell us how did you get into learning and development?
0:50
How did you find your way into that field?
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Well, it's an interesting journey, that's for sure.
0:58
Initially it was not the plan or the intention.
1:01
I actually was finishing up school and didn't know what I
1:05
was going to be doing next, and it's kind of interesting the way
1:08
things work out. A lot of the influences along
1:11
the way. I was very fortunate.
1:13
I had two parents that both were in education and it kind of
1:16
instilled a lot of things in me, even though I didn't necessarily
1:19
know it at the time. And I got the opportunity I I
1:23
was actually cleaning golf shoes on the weekend for for money as
1:27
I was finishing up school and I was able to make some
1:30
connections and I've got an opportunity to to go into the
1:33
car business. And what's interesting about
1:35
that is I know absolutely nothing about cars and so but it
1:40
really opened up a lot of doors for me to learn new things, get
1:43
exposed new things. From a business standpoint, I
1:46
spent my first several years with the organization.
1:49
Really in operations and but it gave me so much perspective
1:53
about what if we did this or what if we tried that and get to
1:57
see these different ideas. And then naturally throughout
2:00
the course of it, the inner, I guess the passion for learning
2:05
and development really kind of came out.
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And then as I got opportunities, be it with projects or
2:10
initiatives about within three or four years, I had the
2:14
opportunity to actually step into a learning development
2:16
role. And from there it really kind of
2:18
took off for me and it was really all about the passion,
2:22
even if I didn't know it at the time, that was the direction I
2:25
was headed. Well, thank you so much.
2:29
That's a really relatable story. I'm sure a lot of people can can
2:33
connect with some aspects of that.
2:37
Cool. So one topic which is really
2:38
relevant to a lot of our listeners is first time manager
2:44
training. So it can be really hard to move
2:46
from an individual contributor role to becoming a people leader
2:50
for the first time. So the question is how do you
2:53
prepare your employees for that step and what do you do in your
2:59
capacity or your organization overall?
3:02
How do how do you prepare first time managers for for that big
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step? Well, it's a great question and
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it's a very relevant question, especially nowadays.
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There's a journey for all of us and there's not a direct path
3:17
that we all follow. It's not like taking the
3:19
Interstate from point A to point B.
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There's all these different highways and and side roads that
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are out there and it's really what's finding the best route
3:26
for each individual. And I think when we take a step
3:29
back and start approaching it from a one-on-one standpoint and
3:33
a personalization standpoint. We can find the most efficient
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route and for us we have a learning development program
3:41
that really focuses on first time managers and we know some
3:44
of the common challenges and hurdles, obstacles they might
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encounter. But they also come with unique
3:52
skills based upon their own experiences and background and
3:56
personalities and finding where they are at individually.
4:01
And then what do we need to do to bridge that gap for where
4:04
they want to go? Because it could be also a
4:06
different destination as well. But I think whenever we look at
4:11
on a one-on-one basis and customize it to the individual
4:14
and what works best for them and their aspirations, we also see
4:18
the buy in the ownership. But as well as start to unlock
4:21
the passions that really are key components of success.
4:27
Yeah, I think that's so key touching into the the individual
4:32
individual nature of learning and development and what
4:35
individuals are passionate about.
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So kind of top connected to that I guess how do you think about
4:43
like the balance of sort of self direction with learning you know
4:47
what an individual is interested and passionate about, but also
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what the business might need and kind of the guidance that or
4:55
support from their manager or from the organization overall.
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How do you think about balancing those two?
5:02
Well, even when you think about adult learning principles, it's
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so important that we connect the dots.
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And there's so many different things out there that are
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opportunities from a leadership or even a personal development
5:14
standpoint. But each of those should also
5:17
serve a purpose, not just for personal aspirations, but where
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does it intersect with the organization and so?
5:24
When it comes to leadership, a lot of the basic principles we
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think about such as effective communication or active
5:31
leadership where you're actually demonstrating these behaviors
5:33
and the correct things, they're all going to be relevant.
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And one thing that I've found in my experiences, a lot of the
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principles of leadership are not exclusive to my business or just
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your business or anyone particular business.
5:47
The collateral can change. But the principles of leadership
5:50
in the way that we treat and interact with one another really
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for the most part are universal. And so it's taking that approach
5:58
and focusing in on what are the principles in the leadership
6:01
competencies or capabilities that are most impactful to an
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organization. But then also showing the
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impact, how that can help elevate the individual but as
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well as the organization, I think attaching it to business
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outcomes. But also being able to show that
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individual how it can impact them in a positive manner as
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well. So it's dual purpose and and it
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needs to be because otherwise the buy in the ownership from
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the individual standpoint, are they going through just to check
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off the box for the organization or are we in this boat together
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and this is elevating us both. Yeah.
6:37
So well said, so well said, yeah, well and I I think that
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speaks to so many issues that are now relevant in today's
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times and sort of it's not a top down only mentality, but really
6:53
bottoms up and kind of a collaboration really between
6:56
employee and employer. So kind of building off of that,
7:04
I'm, I'm curious kind of we talked about this a little bit
7:08
before, but how when in your role, how do you think about
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introducing technology? I mean, I know there's a lot
7:17
that's changing now. There's new things coming from
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the field of AI that are coming into the workforce and so much
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is changing in the last even one year or two years.
7:30
So how do you think about preparing your entire employee
7:35
base, and what kinds of technology and tools are you
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using and implementing? That is a wonderful question,
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and especially right now because most likely by the time we
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started this conversation this morning, by the time we get off
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here, there's going to be something new that's already
7:51
come out. It's moving that quickly, but it
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it's very exciting. There's a natural hesitancy to
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to be concerned or to be reluctant to embrace the
8:02
unknown. But really, there's so much
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opportunity in these things as well.
8:08
AI is a very hot topic at the moment and but it's really
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unlocked the doors for so many things.
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But technology in general, the way that we're interacting here
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today, podcasts have become a major thing.
8:22
If you Fast forward or rewind 10 years ago, it was there, a
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podcast out there, but the FM radio was still a very common
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thing also at that point. And they both are means of
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communicating and be it ideas, music or even interaction.
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And so a lot of the concepts are still in place for why we use
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these things or why we utilize them or what we can draw from
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it. It's the delivery mechanisms in
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the channels a lot of times that we see where technology can
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really elevate. And so we're in a decentralized
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organization from a learning standpoint and so.
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Technology is a very, very important thing for us,
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especially to be able to bridge the gap where we might have one
9:06
location or you know an individual going through a
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training program that could be on the other side of the
9:11
country. Well, we're able to have face to
9:14
face interaction and still make those connections.
9:17
Some of the individual strategies and techniques and
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approaches might change and how we connect those dots, but such
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as video calls or webinars. There's things that we can do to
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really bridge the gap and it also, from an expense
9:31
standpoint, it saves time, money, efforts, all kinds of
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different things. But we're still able to put out
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those resources for them. And when you think about, again,
9:40
the way that individuals learn, well, there's so many different
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learning styles. And this is really another thing
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that we can add to that tool belt or that arsenal that can
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really help connect the dots for a lot of individuals out there.
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And so it's really all about embracing the unknown.
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Yes, there's going to be things that's new that you have to
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learn and that they're going to be growing pains, but that in
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itself is what learning and development is.
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And so it's just taking that leap.
10:08
Yeah, no, awesome. That's really, really good
10:11
insight. So another topic that I know is
10:16
very relevant to America's Karmaard and you've even won
10:19
some awards for what is diversity and inclusion.
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So I'm wondering if you can speak a little bit about how you
10:27
think about that in the workplace and what types of
10:31
education you provide to your your staff, your employees
10:35
there? It's definitely been a topic
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that's been brought a lot more to the forefront in in recent
10:41
years, and I was very proud of our organization.
10:45
We had a lot of opportunity to formalize a lot of these things
10:49
and once we got into it, we started to find out that a lot
10:52
of these things were occurring naturally.
10:54
Before we even got to that point, however, it's still
10:59
there's a lot of things when we started formalizing be it
11:01
programs or committees and and different focus groups, but we
11:06
also learned a lot of new things in the process as well.
11:10
And so when we think about having this a diverse workforce,
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it's not so much about checking off the list that yes, we have
11:18
diversity, it's what are we doing about.
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And that's where the focus groups and the the different
11:24
groups committees, but also allowing them to have a voice
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because that's what allows us as an organization to elevate and
11:32
improve. And it's amazing the things that
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we can learn when we just take the time to listen from a
11:37
different perspective. And that's when you really start
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getting different ideas and and concepts and.
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Going back to what we were talking about earlier, the
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importance of having two way communication channels out there
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to where it's not just top down but it's been an ongoing process
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for us like I'm sure it is for many organizations and it should
11:58
continue to be. That's what creativity and and
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inclusion really is about. But it's having everyone not
12:06
just a seat at the table, but also a a voice environment where
12:10
they feel comfortable sharing that perspective.
12:13
And why would we not embrace it? Yeah, no, you're right.
12:17
I mean that's what spurs innovation is you you need a
12:20
safe place to to hear ideas. I'm wondering can you maybe give
12:24
a couple of specifics for our listeners of what are some of
12:27
those maybe tactics or or suggestions or ways that you
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implemented that? Because I think it sounds great
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and people have the best intentions, but they need some
12:38
specifics of what what ideas they might be able to implement.
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Well, so the first thing that we did actually started with just a
12:46
general steering committee of going out there to find out what
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do we not know. And then when we tried to do
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that, we actually found out there's a lot of things out
12:55
there that we thought we had in place that didn't exist.
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But there's also some things we had in place that were really
13:02
strong and things that we could leverage.
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So that's where we kind of started with it.
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We started also with our upper management.
13:09
Being out in the field from an operation standpoint because we
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want their buy in but also their understanding to be able to
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reinforce these concepts to our associates out there in the
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field. And so there was some natural
13:22
hesitancies though out there initially with individuals and
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even kind of small groups with it and stuff.
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There also was perhaps some things that we encountered
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where, hey, this is just another thing, next quarter this will be
13:36
gone and done away with. And so reinforcing it from a
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leadership standpoint, but we went in and actually put
13:44
together programs. We partnered even with a couple
13:47
different third party organizations to help us put
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together things from unconscious bias training to recognize
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before we go into this, OK, well, what are some of the
13:56
biases that I inherently have that if I'm not aware of that
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and I don't recognize that, well, it's going to continue to
14:02
influence me. And so from there, we've gone
14:05
out and over the last couple years, matter of fact at our
14:08
annual meeting this last year, we launched our first ever all
14:12
Women's Leadership Council. And that is something that's
14:15
continuing to be with monthly kind of calls, but also
14:18
quarterly sessions where they get together.
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And it's not meant to just look at ideas and explore things that
14:24
are working, but also looking at the next wave of talent and how
14:28
do we help elevate them? To not only join the the ranks
14:32
of where these leaders are at, but even take it a step further
14:35
down the road as well. And so it's there's not going to
14:39
be in my opinion a set. This is a the cookie cutter path
14:44
and approach that you take to get to where you're wanting to
14:46
go. It's more so going in there and
14:49
figuring out what do you currently have in place, what do
14:52
you, what do you know, what are the things you don't know, you
14:56
don't know. And the only way that we find
14:58
that out is going by asking our associates and listening and
15:03
then from there trying to connect the dots but having them
15:06
a partner along the way as well. Yeah, no, I think, I think you
15:12
said that listening is so crucial and I think that's
15:15
that's a really important piece and and peeling back the layer
15:18
of what you don't know that you don't know.
15:20
So you can start to learn yourself as an organization and
15:25
and move forward. So that's really important and
15:28
very interesting, right, to see the connection between learning
15:30
development and diversity and inclusion and how they kind of
15:33
fit together. OK.
15:36
So wanted to ask you sort of switching gears a little bit,
15:39
but around accountability, that's another topic that we
15:44
encounter a fair bit. So how do you think about
15:49
accountability as a theme in learning and development?
15:53
Or do you think about it at all? And how do you set KPIs, you
15:57
know, to measure that ROI that you're trying to see?
16:02
So to me, KPIs are very, very important and it's not something
16:07
that we had really had in place up until the last year or two or
16:11
at least from a learning development standpoint and even
16:13
on several other kind of departments within our
16:15
organization and. One of the biggest challenges
16:18
you'll probably hear this, and I have heard this from many
16:21
learning development leaders, the challenge of connecting it
16:25
to ROI. And for each organization, it's
16:28
going to be a little bit different.
16:30
But there's going to be things that is going to influence and
16:34
it doesn't have to be the direct influence and everything.
16:38
So when you think about making the perfect cake, for example,
16:43
well, you can take out the sugar.
16:46
And it's still probably going to look like a cake when it's all
16:48
said and done, but it may not taste as this same.
16:51
So it's about having these different ingredients and
16:54
learning development is one of those ingredients that can
16:58
really influence at the end of it, does it look and also taste
17:01
the way that it should? And so now the accountability
17:05
component of it, absolutely. It's very important, but it's
17:09
not just accountability, it's who has that accountability.
17:13
So if it's me holding the members on my team accountable
17:18
as well as the associates going through our development
17:21
programs, well, yes, it's important to have that
17:24
accountability, but it's not the most important accountability,
17:27
it's the self accountability because I want associates to be
17:31
doing this for them And the way that we do that is we find out
17:36
what it is they're wanting to do.
17:38
What are their aspirations? What is it that they need to
17:42
know? If someone's an expert in
17:43
something and we have it as a component as part of a
17:46
development program, but we don't need to probably spend
17:49
hours and hours or days and weeks focusing on that because
17:52
it's not moving the needle for them.
17:54
I want to find out what's moving the needle, but also move the
17:58
needle for where they want to go with their individual
18:00
aspirations. And there's a variety of routes
18:03
and places that could be within our organization, but whenever
18:07
they start having the buy in. Because it's not the program
18:10
that was given to them or the route they were told they have
18:12
to go, but it's the route they want to go.
18:15
Well, that's how you start to develop that personal
18:18
accountability because this is their game plan and I'm here to
18:21
support that. And so by us doing that, you
18:24
start to develop the self accountability.
18:27
And to me that's really the important component of it, is
18:31
that self accountability. They're doing it because they're
18:33
passionate about it. But also it's their plan, right?
18:37
It's it's helping them get to where they want to go.
18:40
Their destination, which may be at the organization or maybe in
18:43
five or ten years or whatever, it's going to be somewhere else.
18:46
But it's their their life and their their direction.
18:50
Absolutely. And that's OK.
18:52
I think for the longest there was really this big stereotype
18:55
that if we develop someone and then they become very successful
19:00
what they're doing, they get an opportunity to go elsewhere that
19:03
that's a failure and that's not. If anything, they've probably
19:06
left the position that they're in in a better spot.
19:09
But we've helped elevate them and given them a platform to do
19:12
it. And then what they're also going
19:14
to do is start building a brand to where others that they may
19:18
encounter can talk about their experience.
19:21
And then who knows? We see a large portion of
19:23
associates that actually circle back and come back just because
19:28
of that and that's OK. That really is.
19:31
It's something that I feel that we should embrace as opposed to
19:33
to have a negative stereotype on.
19:36
Yeah, that's great. I like that.
19:38
And you know what? It comes full circle.
19:39
People wouldn't come back if they didn't love the workplace.
19:42
And as you said, I like that analogy of baking a cake.
19:45
And you need the sugar, you need every component.
19:48
But it's it's hard to measure exactly what the difference is.
19:52
If you don't have something cool.
19:56
Well, I do want to touch on I know this is a topic that you're
19:59
really passionate about. So the the idea of allowing
20:04
everyone to have a seat at the table so it's not just certain
20:09
select people who get a chance to have a promotion or a
20:13
managerialist position, but how do you really bring that idea
20:16
across that that there there is opportunity for for everyone?
20:24
First off, we have to promote it and talk about it and and bring
20:27
awareness to it. But it's more than just that.
20:30
It can't be something that we just put out a newsletter on or
20:33
a poster on a wall. It has to be reinforced.
20:36
But we have to build an environment where our associates
20:39
feel that that's a real thing and that there is an opportunity
20:43
there that we're not just doing it to to check off the list.
20:47
And they'll say that, yes, that, you know, we talked about this.
20:50
I don't want to just talk about it, I want to actually do it
20:52
because when everybody does have a seat at the table, well, now
20:55
we are getting different perspectives and different
20:58
ideas. And if we didn't do things like
21:01
that, well, how would we ever innovate?
21:03
And from a creativity standpoint, you know, we were
21:06
talking about the technology piece earlier.
21:08
Well, that's really flipped the whole L&D world upside down in
21:12
the last two or three years. There's a lot of things that
21:16
come to AI, that, or even some of the things.
21:19
Virtual reality training, for example.
21:22
I am not an expert in that, but there are people who are.
21:26
There's also people that have ideas about how we could use
21:29
this to unlock different things. And so by allowing everyone to
21:33
have a seat at the table, but not just a seat there, but in an
21:37
environment where they feel comfortable sharing their
21:39
opinions and their ideas and perspectives, well, then we
21:43
start expanding as an organization and as a group, our
21:47
ideas and perspectives to allow us to get the best possible
21:51
outcome. And so to me, it's a numbers
21:54
game as well. I want the different ideas and
21:57
perspectives. And when you have a diverse
22:00
workforce with associates, have different backgrounds and
22:04
passions and skills and things that they bring to the table, to
22:07
me it's a no brainer. Why would we not want to
22:10
leverage that? But that also builds engagement
22:13
on the back end of the process as well, because they're a part
22:16
of this process. They're not just someone there
22:19
that's meant to go through the routines.
22:21
They're actually helping build this and you start to get some
22:25
of that ownership, but also the engagement.
22:27
And they're a part of something that's different, I guess you
22:32
would say, and that they're not just there to to go through the
22:34
motions. Yeah, no, I love that.
22:37
I love that. That's.
22:38
And it's so important to make it real.
22:40
Not just a slogan, but really something terrible.
22:43
Absolutely. So, cool.
22:46
Well, I wanted to also ask you on the challenges side or
22:49
obstacles, what it what has been one of the toughest obstacles
22:55
that you've had to overcome in your role in L&D and and how did
23:00
you overcome it? Well, so this would actually
23:05
probably go back to early on my first couple of years with
23:08
learning development. We hadn't had the the huge boom
23:12
yet, especially from COVID to where it was.
23:15
Everybody was almost forced to go embrace a lot of technology
23:18
things, but also the video conferencing that hadn't
23:21
occurred just yet. So I had always had enjoyed
23:25
different parts of technology and I also had the benefit of
23:29
one of our key major development programs here I had gone through
23:33
as a participant. So I had all these ideas in my
23:36
head about my experience and what I thought wouldn't work
23:39
best to enhance and elevate this if I ever got that opportunity.
23:43
So then when I got that opportunity, I went and started
23:46
trying to make enhancements and elevate things based upon my
23:50
experience. Problem was, and it took me a
23:53
little while to realize that not every experience was like mine.
23:58
And so I went and and really we kind of pushed an agenda.
24:02
It was going to be my ideas on a lot of things.
24:04
I would would, it was open to other things and I and I thought
24:08
that I was listening to them. But in hindsight, there were so
24:11
many good things that I missed out on or even if things that
24:14
maybe we wouldn't have gone that route ultimately.
24:18
But the opportunities to elevate and enhance others being on my
24:21
direct team or even on some of their teams along the way were
24:24
missed opportunities. And So what I found was after a
24:28
little while, we were very effective at implementing the
24:31
best program for me and that wasn't necessarily the best
24:35
program for our organization. And so by going through and
24:40
experiencing some of the challenges and seeing some of
24:42
the different perspectives, really there was an unconscious
24:46
bias there that I wasn't aware of.
24:48
And so, but by being able to recognize that in time, well,
24:52
that's really when we started expanding this approach, that
24:55
there's a general direction, but there's so many ways to get
24:58
there. And I we want to be able to
25:00
provide the resources and the routes, the opportunities for
25:04
really any type of path to customize it to what's going to
25:08
work best. But for me, it definitely was
25:12
realizing there's other perspectives and mine is
25:17
honestly, it's usually not the best.
25:19
It's having the good people, but also different ideas and
25:23
embracing those and encouraging those.
25:28
Well, I love that, Yeah. Like having a little dose of
25:30
humility and realizing maybe different learning styles or
25:33
different directions it from everyone's perspective is maybe
25:38
a little bit different than your own.
25:39
So that that makes a lot of sense, taking your own medicine,
25:44
as they say or yes, yes, even if I didn't know it at the time,
25:48
yeah. Well, Ryan, thank you so much
25:52
for your time today. It's been an absolute pleasure
25:54
to get to talk with you and I know our listeners are going to
25:57
love what you had to say in your perspective on learning and
25:59
development. Is there anything that you
26:02
wanted to leave everyone with or any last words before we wrap
26:06
up, really. Honestly, I am a huge advocate
26:11
for a dynamic learning or just a continuous learning mindset
26:15
really because it's been so impactful for me and my journey
26:18
and we'll continue to do so. And to me, that's really the one
26:21
thing that we can all embrace, regardless of the role or
26:25
capacity you're in today or even what you're aiming for tomorrow.
26:30
And so everything that's going to occur, we can look at it kind
26:33
of from one or two perspectives. It's a challenge, is an obstacle
26:37
or it's an opportunity. And when you look at these
26:40
things out there that are the most challenging and the things
26:43
that really could stress us out the most or like I don't know
26:45
how I'm going to do this. If we change our mindsets just a
26:49
little and see like when I get past this, think of the
26:53
experience, the prospective, I will gain.
26:55
And those are the most impactful leaders out there, the ones that
26:59
have experienced a lot of those things.
27:02
And so embrace the challenges, not for the challenges but also
27:06
for the opportunities they are. And really the Sky's the limit
27:11
for what we can accomplish. It really is just changing that
27:14
perspective a little bit. So never stop learning.
27:17
Thank you so much, Ryan. And yeah, thank you for your
27:20
input and we really appreciate it here.
27:23
Thank you so much. Thank you, Rachel.
27:25
I appreciate you having me.