In Conversation with Learning Leader Leslie Simek

Conversation With a Learning Leader ft. Leslie Simek

0:06
Hi there. Welcome to the e-learning Champions podcast brought to you by CommLab India. I'm Shalini, your host for today, and I'm delighted to have with us Leslie Simek. She's Product Compliance Program Lead at Ecolab, and she has been there for 17 years. Ecolab is a global sustainability leader offering water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services that protect people and the resources that are vital to life. Most recently, Leslie was a training manager on the Commercial Enablement team, empowering the team with skills and competencies. Leslie is a certified professional in training management, she's also a certified corporate storyteller coach. So welcome to our podcast, Leslie. Thank you so much for joining us.

1:01
Thank you, Shalini. It's great to be here.

1:06
So Leslie, I'd like to just dive right into the first question. We all know that the effectiveness of training happens only when we align our L&D initiatives with our organization's goals and priorities and the business results. So how do you go about it? Can you share something based on your experience?

1:34
Right. So even something I learned as a CPTM is aligning the business goals to L&D goals is so important and makes such an impact on the organization. One of the things in regulatory is that we're always having to decipher complex technical information. So, we have groups of chemists, toxicologists, engineers, and they're used to taking this information and analyzing it. But part of our role is going back to the business and really telling them what that information means. And that's somewhere regulatory can struggle with connecting with the business if it's too technical. So one of the things that we've aligned with our business goals this year is we worked with Articulus to do an impactful business communication session.

That session was an hour and a half of training showing us how we can have these impactful conversations with the business, but we just need to use a template and get things aligned into a three-step process. And that way we can all be on the same page with our messaging and it doesn't get too technical. One of the other things we've looked at has been corporate storytelling. As you mentioned, I'm a coach for corporate storytelling. So we've really wanted our associates to get persuasive messaging on board and influence a call to action. It's not just getting your point across but making sure that your audience really wants to be engaged and do what you want them to do. So that has been key to communicating with the business and showing them that regulatory is not this red tape function. We are key to their success when they're working with their customers.

3:20
That's really very interesting that in something as technical as regulatory training, you've employed a corporate storytelling approach because when one thinks regulatory, one doesn't automatically think storytelling in your conversations with business leaders. So, that's really interesting. So how was this received?

3:45
Very well. We've only been able to train a small subset at the time. But what we have been doing is, talking to our teams and getting that message out so that they understand what corporate storytelling is. And hopefully next year with budget, we'll be able to train more people on that.

4:03
And I hope we get a sneak view of what happens behind the scenes in a later podcast.

So, Leslie, there are very serious implications for non-compliance. As far as regulatory training is concerned, there are so many legal aspects, and so on. And digital learning has stepped in in a huge way to meet the need for really increasing awareness and imparting the required knowledge and whatever is needed for teams to be compliant. So, where do you see the role of digital learning? It is obviously here to stay, but can you share something on your views about where you think it is most impactful and where you think it's not very impactful?

5:05
Sure. So, you know, with the pandemic, I think we all sprinted to digital learning because it's all that we could do in order to be remote and continue the training. And we've seen that lead to some kind of burnout. People say, oh, another digital learning session, and I'm just going to click through for 25 minutes, and I took the training. But are they really understanding what that training was about? That's where I think it can get difficult.

5:32
And so our guidance on that is when there's training that's required, it's really to figure out who needs the training and what format may be best for that those learners. So, a recent example is we've done counsellor salesperson training through Wilson Learning. We have internal instructors here at Ecolab who facilitate that training, and we were able to leave that in a virtual instructor-led training session, VILT, and that allowed us to bring together multiple regions within regulatory who may not normally connect with each other and participate in breakout sessions and be present for the learning in a virtual environment.

So I think we found that as a nice segue between ‘just go take this digital learning’ and ‘face-to-face in-person learning’. But I will say our plan is always to prioritize face to face. There's such big benefits with being able to network and be in person and learn things from learners together versus just being online and doing the training.

6:41
Absolutely, absolutely. In fact, there is no substitute really for face-to-face training. It's interesting, you mentioned the pandemic and how we all had no other option but to adopt digital learning because we were doing remote work and that called for remote training as well. And I remember this project we had done for Ecolab in fact, where we used something like a flipped classroom. So this was for first time managers, and CommLab India worked with the stakeholder at Ecolab.

7:15
There was a time when we were a bit hesitant about using e-learning for building behavioural skills or anything to do with soft skills or leadership or management training. So this I remember, was a three-tier program with the first level being asynchronous online courses, followed by virtual instructor-led training, which was reserved for skill practice, skill building. And there were two levels again.

7:47
So I think that really worked well setting the foundation, the theoretical, the knowledge foundation through self-study, and then following it up, making use of that valuable face to face time on a virtual session. So is that common, Leslie, in compliance training as well?

8:10
I'm not sure that we moved so much to integrate all the platforms together, but it's definitely something that could be seen as a benefit with the move to digital learning that you can integrate things together and do that type of learning. I think we've done some of the remote learning where you're just going through a module and then combined it with VILT, but we haven't necessarily had that in-person practice session as well.

8:38
Right, right. So where would you say digital learning, not just e-learning, but there are various other digital formats, such as video-based training and your micro learning. So are all of these formats a part of your overall L&D toolkit?

9:08
Yes, that's something that we've heard. We send out surveys to our teams and ask, what engages them and what would they like to see? And I think those type of micro learning sessions where you would maybe have a longer training session and then a few weeks after, you would follow up with some type of micro learning to ensure that training continues to be something that you keep in mind and you're continually doing. Because we all know if we go to the training and if it’s just a one-time thing, we're not going to continue doing it unless were asked to.

9:41
Thank you. So coming to one of the most popular topics for any L&D professional, which is measuring impact. So, Leslie, could you share some of your views or your best practices on how you measure the success and impact of learning initiatives, both on individual employee performance as well as the overall business outcomes?

10:10
Yeah. I think for Ecolab, like others, this is the challenge. There's a lot of different learners. They're at different paths within their journey. Our training program on regulatory affairs is only two years old, so it's hard to be in that mode where you're creating training and measuring it and showing the impact all at once. We can keep track of the number of people who do training, but at the end of the day, that's really not the impact. So I would say that we're still working on defining that.

Recently, I was at a local conference and heard from the L&D detective. So Kevin M Yates, he's on LinkedIn as the L&D detective and he had a very nice presentation about a case scenario to understand measuring the impact of training and learning. And it doesn't just start oh, we finished the training now, where are we measuring? You really have to start at the beginning when you're planning out the training and you integrate that measurement into your training plan.

11:13
I think you've touched upon a very key aspect Leslie, because a lot of times, in our hurry to get training rolled out, we forget that certain things have to happen right at the beginning. A strategy for measuring impact. You have to think it through before you even begin to get into the design of your learning initiative. So what kind of metrics do you typically keep in mind when you're evaluating the success? I know that you said that this is 2 years old, the regulatory piece, but along the way, are there any ways in which you get a sense of how well this program is equipping learners, equipping teams?

12:07
Sure. So earlier I talked about the impactful business communication session. After that training, we had sent out a survey to find out how that resonated with our teams. We had very positive comments from that, to hear that we're providing things that the team wants. And as I mentioned previously, we keep those surveys coming out. That helps us to understand, is this hitting the mark or are we needing something else that needs to shift? So I think that engagement's important with the team right now until we can really find a way to create some type of dashboard and measure the impact once we have more programs going.

12:47
So are these surveys sent out only to individual employees or to their managers as well?

12:56
It goes to our entire regulatory affairs team, about 300 associates, all different levels. We even integrate our contractors into that survey as well.

13:06
OK, that's interesting. So thank you, Leslie. This is really a big piece, and I think a lot of organizations are still finding their way in this area. And as you mentioned earlier, the first, the surest way to guarantee that there is an impact is to align the L&D initiative with the intended business results. I think that's the key thing. And once that is aligned, then one does expect, and one does see that there is a tangible result at the end of such aligned L&D initiatives. So, Leslie, coming to another popular topic. There's just so much happening. There are so many trends in the L&D domain. There's so many best practices. So, how do you stay abreast of industry trends and best practices in L&D and how do you incorporate them into your L&D strategy?

14:21
When I came into the training role, I didn't know much about trends or even training per se. And I was like, I guess I'll learn how to deliver training, but I didn't know there was this whole other thing about understanding the ties to business goals and learning about what's next on the horizon, such as AI. So for me, I think it's best to gather a variety of sources. One of my favorites honestly, is LinkedIn because it's just kind of quick, quick things that I can see and learn from what others are doing. And you could follow or connect with people very easily on that platform. And in addition to that, I think LinkedIn learning, they always point out courses that have the latest trends and the things that are coming next on the training horizon. So those have been impactful for me. In addition, I would also say with my CPTM, I'm part of the training industry, so they work with a bunch of vendors and even host their own events and webinars. So those can really help with, one of the things that we focused on this year was upskilling our employees. I saw like in a couple weeks they have an upskilling webinar coming out. To find those things that are connecting with what your challenges or opportunities may be on your team is really great, that they have that available for us to find out more.

15:50
Yes. I think these communities of practice are an excellent resource to stay up to date and keep up with all the trends out there.

And even here at Ecolab, we have our own learning community of practice. So that's been very helpful to network with training associates throughout our organization who I would have never ran into otherwise.

16:15
Right, right. Absolutely. And along with trends, I mean, one can't talk about trends without touching upon AI technology and AI tools. So how do you perceive this evolving landscape of L&D within this broader backdrop and context of AI tools and technologies?

16:39
We now have access to those tools at Ecolab. And recently, our learning community practice hosted an internal training on AI last week. That gave people an overview of what AI is and the tools that we're looking at and have access to. So there's been a lot of buzz around AI. But I also think that we have to get our teams engaged to understand it and its practical uses, right? And not that it's here to replace jobs, but it's here to be an addition to your job and make you work more effectively and streamline things for you.

And there is a cost to it. I've read some recent articles that talk about putting something into AI generator is gonna give you like the cost of a bottle of water. So you enter a question in ChatGPT and there's a cost to that. Things just aren't free to do that. So for our team, we have Microsoft Copilot and it's been interesting. I've used it to translate some documents, to easily take something from English and transfer it to Korean. Having that read by somebody in the native language, they said it was a pretty good translation. So that saved time for us. And also streamline things so that they can read them in their native language. I think the other side to it is, you could clean up your inbox. For instance, I was in Outlook, and I said organize my emails and find anything I need to reply as an action item. It found about three things, but I know there's more than three things in my inbox I need to reply to. So I think it can be limited in the sense that it can't get into the real complexities, right? If you're looking for something quick, a quick summary, it can give that to you. But by no means is that the best way to write a paper or create a presentation or whatnot.

18:40
I totally get what you say. Recently just two days back, I'd used Copilot to give me a plan for my work week, OK? I fed in all the data about the kind of deliverables and the kind of support tasks for me to be able to meet those deliverables. It actually came up with a pretty solid plan. But then of, there was some manual tweaking. So as you said, it can help you to some extent, but you always need that human touch to make sure it is sound.

19:15
I recently had it help me with, well, I thought it was helping to find some information. We have some registrations that have to be done in different counties in California. There's almost 60 counties, and I thought it would send me all the websites for each of the counties, but it basically just listed all the counties for me. So, I think it might be that you have to go back and kind of give it more information, because it's computer generated and just doing what it's asked to do.

19:49
But I think what you touched upon about the use of AI in translations, it really is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And once you have the initial draft of translated content, it's easier to run it past a professional translator rather than just give the entire source and ask them to translate. So it really does bring a lot of process efficiencies. Also when it comes to AI narrations, we are finding that a lot of our customers now actually prefer AI voice overs. This was unthinkable a couple of years back because they all sounded so robotic and unreal.

20:28
But now we have such realistic narrations using AI tools that it's almost impossible to make out the difference between a human narrator and AI voiceover.

20:39
So, yeah, I've narrated some training sessions and people are like, I recognize your voice. So, the AI voice over is probably a good idea. Just so the training session stays where the voice is similar in tone and can't be recognized.

21:00
So Leslie, you recently moved into this current role, right? Although you were on the commercial enablement team, and you were empowering your team with skills and competencies. So do you have any advice that you can share with L&D professionals who want to grow their career, especially if they're moving into a relatively newer field?

21:33
Sure. I think just general career advice is networking. That was something that maybe I didn't do 5-10 years ago, cause I thought, why would I invest the time talking to a bunch of people I don't know, right? But I've seen the invaluable benefits of that. You might meet people who become professional mentors to you in a sense, but then some also become personal friends of yours as well. So finding a combination of people for your professional and personal network is really key. And then combining that with always having a plan of what's next for you, right? You don't know when that ‘next’ may happen. And it's always good if somebody asks you, hey, what do you want to do next? I have this opportunity and see if it aligns with what you're thinking and be open and adaptable to things that come your way. One of the things I found helpful too is an informal discussion. So if you're interested in a role, just asking what it's about before you commit to sending in your resume and having to interview, make sure it's really something that you want to invest time in and that the person who's hiring should invest the time in talking to you. So I think all those things combined and just never knowing where networking is going to come into play for you. LinkedIn's been a great tool for me for networking. I don't even think I had much of a profile maybe two years ago, and now I've got over 500 connections.

23:06
I know exactly what you mean. I have a similar experience. I don't think my account was even active to two years back. But then the amount of learning that has happened as a result of being out there on LinkedIn and also being able to communicate, to connect with, you know, our L&D community, share insights, share best practices, it's been rich learning and LinkedIn learning, as you said, they have some pretty good resources out there.

For a company as big as Ecolab, it's hard to know what people are doing in other areas and divisions, but as they share things on LinkedIn, you learn about things, and you see what potential there is at the company as well.

23:53
And yeah, thank you, Leslie. That was a very valuable tip indeed about networking and reaching out to people informally outside of the HR interviewing and outside of the sending of the resume to HR. I think Ecolab is very high on internal mobility, right?

24:12
Oh, for sure, obviously encourage to move within the company and take on new opportunities, right.

24:19
So I'm sure that makes people more forthcoming when you reach out to them for an informal conversation on what the role entails when you're evaluating your fit. So since you have that culture in place, I'm guessing that it's easier to get this kind of information.

24:44
Yes, for sure. I think you could just have that quick discussion with someone and you might decide that's not for me. There's certain places I would probably not work just because it's not the right fit for my role at the time. But you never know if that'll come back in to be something you're interested in a few years down the line as well.

25:06
Well, thank you so much, Leslie. It's been really great hearing from you. And thank you for sharing all these insights and best practices and giving us a sneak preview into what's happening at Ecolab and also this regulatory piece that you spoke about. I wish you all the best.

25:31
Thanks for the opportunity.

25:32
Yeah, and thank you listeners for tuning in. And please do stay tuned in for our upcoming podcasts as we have other L&D professionals like Leslie give us a glimpse into what happens behind the scenes in L&D. So thank you once again. Thank you, Leslie, once again.

25:54
Thank you. Have a good day.