Community Choice Credit Union

Stacey Ferris

Knowing When Training Is Not the Answer

Earlier in my career, I thought about Learning & Development primarily in terms of what people needed to know and how we could create an effective learning experience to help them get there. Over time, I realized that sometimes the most important thing an L&D professional can say is, “I don’t think training is the answer.”

That realization really changed my perspective. Today, I see L&D as an important part of a much broader organizational development strategy. When someone comes to us with a performance challenge, I want to understand what is actually happening before we build anything. Is there a knowledge or skill gap? Or are we dealing with unclear expectations, a process issue, leadership, communication, engagement, competing priorities or resistance to change?

My focus has shifted from simply asking, “What do people need to learn?” to asking, “What does the organization need people to be able to do differently and what is preventing that from happening today?” That is where I believe L&D becomes organizational development. We are still developing people, but we are doing it with a much broader understanding of the organization around them.

Starting with the Business Problem

For me, it starts with understanding the “why” behind the request. I encourage my team not to be order-takers. If someone asks us to build a training course, that does not necessarily mean a course is what we should build. We need to understand the business problem, the desired outcome and what success should look like.

That requires L&D professionals to know the business. We need to understand organizational goals, operational challenges, employee and leader feedback, performance expectations and where the organization is headed next. I have also found that some of our best work happens when we are brought into the conversation early. When L&D is involved after every decision has already been made, we are often asked to communicate or train to a solution. When we are involved earlier, we can help shape how that solution will actually be adopted by people.

That philosophy has shaped how I approach larger learning strategies as well. In 2025, our team’s work was recognized with an Association of Talent Development (ATD) award. While I was incredibly proud of the recognition, what was most meaningful to me was what it represented: learning designed around a true organizational need, with an intentional connection between developing our people and creating value for the organization. That is a very different role for L&D and I believe it creates significantly more value.

Preparing People for the Pace of Change

One thing I have learned is that organizations can move much faster than people can process change. A project team may have spent months discussing a new system, process, structure or strategy. By the time it reaches the intended audience, those closest to the project have already had significant time to understand and adjust to it. Employees outside of the project team may be hearing about it for the first time.

“Our job is not to fill a learning calendar. Our job is to help employees perform, grow, adapt and succeed while helping the organization do the same.”

Organizational development helps us remember that difference. Employees need to understand what is changing, but they also need to understand why. They need clarity about what it means for their role, what will be expected of them and where they can get help. I also believe strongly in preparing leaders for change. Employees experience a great deal of organizational culture and change through their direct leader. We can create excellent communications and training, but if a leader cannot confidently talk about the change, listen to concerns or reinforce the new expectations, adoption becomes much more difficult.

Change management, leadership development, communication and learning should not operate as separate activities. They are all part of helping people successfully move from where the organization is today to where it needs to go next.

Measuring What Changed After Learning

I think we have to become more comfortable moving beyond “How many employees completed the training?” and items like cost per learner, training development hours, facilitator utilization, vendor spend and hours saved through eLearning/process improvements. These metrics have a place, but they cannot be the end of the conversation. Before we launch an initiative, I want to understand what we expect to be different because of it. Are we trying to improve leadership effectiveness? Reduce errors? Increase employee confidence? Improve engagement or retention? Shorten the time it takes someone to become proficient? Support adoption of a new process or technology?

Then we can identify measures that actually connect to that goal. At the same time, I do not believe every learning initiative needs an elaborate ROI calculation. Sometimes we can overcomplicate measurement. I generally come back to three questions: Did they learn it? Did they use it? Did it close the gap? If we cannot answer those questions, completion data alone does not tell us very much about impact.

Learning the Business Beyond L&D

Learn the business, not just L&D. Learn how your organization operates from top to bottom, serves its customers or members, measures success, makes decisions and sets priorities. Understand what keeps your leaders up at night. The more you understand the business, the better you become at connecting people strategy to what the organization actually needs.

I would also encourage professionals to stay curious and become comfortable asking questions. You do not have to walk into every conversation already knowing the solution. Some of my most valuable conversations begin with, “Tell me more about what you are seeing.”

And finally, do not define your value by how much training you produce. Our job is not to fill a learning calendar or create courses simply because there is space to fill. Our job is to help employees perform, grow, adapt and succeed while helping the organization do the same. When you begin looking at the work through that lens, L&D becomes much bigger than training. It becomes a strategic part of how an organization develops its people, strengthens its culture and prepares for what is next.