Rethinking the Role of L&D: From Order Taker to Change Agent

Feb 9

Workplace learning experts are change agents, not order takers

When our stakeholders come to us asking for training, they are usually thinking of traditional training. So, they treat us, nonprofit L&D pros, like training factories that can easily produce a new training in a day. But we are here to create behavior change, and that takes time.

In this episode, I'm sharing four recommendations that will help you embody the change agent you already are and learn what you need to create real change in your organization.

▶️ Key Points:

00:00 The process of creating real behavior change

05:41 Shift from learning designer to change agent

06:35 Sell real change to your stakeholders

07:31 Simplify the scope of the training request

09:05 Study learning science to get the buy-in you need

Current State of Your Training Intake Process

In the rapidly evolving landscape of the nonprofit sector, a persistent challenge often keeps mission-driven leaders awake at night: the organization is growing, but the people simply aren't keeping up. You may find yourself fixing the same performance problems over and over, wondering how to build a staff that is truly confident and capable—not just individuals who execute tasks, but leaders who know how to drive the mission forward. If you are an L&D professional in this space, you know how difficult it is to get people to do what is expected of them, especially when traditional training approaches seem to fall flat.

L&D professionals today face an unprecedented pressure to “just get it done.” Our training requests are often piled so high they begin to look like a child’s over-ambitious Christmas wishlist—filled with every dream, want, and unrealistic advertisement they have ever seen. People come to us with a loud demand for training, and they expect us to produce it overnight, regardless of the complexity of the problem we are trying to solve.

The Rise of AI and the Trap of the Training Factory

As I share on episode 172 of the Learning for Good podcast, this persistent demand creates a dangerous environment where L&D professionals are treated like a “training factory.” In this factory model, we are expected to churn out content at a moment's notice, as if we are producing widgets on an assembly line rather than facilitating deep human development. This pressure has only been amplified by the rise of Artificial Intelligence. Today, the “just get it done” mentality often comes across as a threat: if you cannot build the training immediately, the stakeholder will do it themselves.

However, we must be the voices of reason who remind our organizations that AI is a tool, not a solution. While AI can undoubtedly save us time in the development process, it cannot, on its own, create change. To create real change, we must apply expertise, and that expertise requires time to implement correctly. You are not merely a producer of slides or eLearning modules; you are a change agent. Training has the power to change lives, change performance, change careers, and change the ultimate outcomes of your mission work, but we must acknowledge that change takes time—a resource that no one in the nonprofit world seems to have enough of.

The Science: Why Behavior Change is Hard

To help our stakeholders understand why a factory approach fails, we must first look at the process of behavior change in our own lives. Consider the habits you have tried to build: waking up earlier, journaling, working out, eating healthier, or spending more quality time with your family. Even with the best intentions, change is incredibly difficult.

For example, I desperately want to be a morning person. I envision a peaceful routine with coffee in the quiet, a walk with my dog, and time to reflect and plan. In the middle of the day, that routine sounds perfect, but the reality changes the moment the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM. When that cue sounds, my motivation is often at its lowest point, leading me to hit the snooze button and roll back over. Change is hard because motivation is fluctuating, and a simple cue isn't always enough to override existing patterns.

When stakeholders demand immediate training, they are rarely thinking about the psychological and physiological requirements of changing human behavior. They are stuck in a traditional approach that prioritizes information transfer and talking-head instructors. They believe that if they just provide the information, the behavior will automatically change. Because many stakeholders view training as a simple transfer of knowledge, they cannot understand why it can’t be done in a single day or why an AI tool can't provide a perfect result.

How to Shift from Training Factory to Change Agent

So what do we do given this mounting pressure? How can we shift from training factory to change agent?

I’m sharing 4 shifts we can make:

The mindset shift from learning designer to change agent
The strategic size of training scope
Relying on learning science and behavior change principles
Getting support and accountability

The Mindset Shift for Learning Designers

The first step in breaking free from the factory model is a fundamental shift in how we view ourselves. We must move away from the title of learning designer and embrace the identity of a change agent. This is more than just a change in terminology; it is a shift in focus that changes how we respond to the world around us.

If you view yourself primarily as a learning designer, your natural instinct when someone asks for training is to say yes. However, when you view yourself as a change agent, you are forced to pause and ask better questions. You become an advocate for what real change actually requires. While learning is the vehicle we use to create change, the change itself must remain the ultimate goal.

Once we have embraced this identity personally, we must sell this concept to those around us.

Our stakeholders are often deeply attached to traditional training because it has worked for them—or appeared to work—in the past. To move them out of the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality, we must learn to influence and persuade.

The word “influence” comes from the Latin word influenza, meaning the power or capacity to change someone’s behavior or development. Interestingly, this is exactly what we do in the field of L&D. We use our expertise to change the behavior of staff; now, we must use that same power of influence to change the behavior of our stakeholders. We must move them away from the “just get it done” mindset and toward a more strategic, results-oriented partnership.

The Strategic Size of Your Training Scope

One of the most effective ways to meet tight deadlines while still functioning as a change agent is to simplify the scope of every training request. Left to their own devices, stakeholders will often turn a simple request into a massive knowledge dump. They want to include every single detail, hoping to fix every organizational problem with one single training event.

As L&D professionals, we know this is not how people learn or change. To prevent the knowledge dump, we must help our stakeholders narrow their focus. This starts with two critical questions in the intake or needs analysis process:

What exactly do you need people to DO?
What do they need to KNOW to do those things?

These two questions alone are powerful tools for cutting through the fluff of a training request. You can read more about that here. By focusing on actions first, we ensure that the training is designed for performance rather than just knowledge transfer. When we simplify the scope, we can move faster without sacrificing the science of how people actually learn.

Navigating Pushback with Learning Science and Behavior Change Principles

Even with a strategic approach, you will likely encounter pushback from stakeholders who are frustrated that you aren't moving at the speed of a factory or conforming to their request for traditional training. To navigate this, you must arm yourself with information that can influence their perspective. You do not necessarily need to go back to school for a new degree or certification, but you must study learning science.

Read the books that explore the mechanics of change, such as James Clear’s Atomic Habits or BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits. Listen to podcasts and follow behavioral scientists on social media to stay updated on what the research says about human behavior. When you understand the science of how people learn and change, you adopt the language you need to change a stakeholder’s perspective.

So the next time someone demands a quick turnaround of talking head slides, you can provide the insight that the human brain and behavior change require specific conditions to be successful. Having this expertise allows you to stand firm in your role as a change agent, rather than a slide-maker.

Getting Support and Accountability with the Power of Community and Collaboration

We cannot do this work in isolation. The nonprofit L&D space can feel lonely, especially when you are the only person advocating for science-backed approaches in a “just get it done” culture. This is why connecting with peers is so vital. Communities like the Nonprofit L&D Collective exist to provide the tools, support, and insights needed to create real change.

By listening to the stories of other L&D professionals who are successfully navigating these same challenges, you gain the confidence to lead within your own organization. You learn that you are not alone in the struggle to balance mission growth with staff capacity. Every insight you gain from the community helps you refine your ability to influence your stakeholders and act as the strategic leader your organization needs.

The End Result? A Shift from Learning Designer to Change Agent

True leadership in nonprofit L&D is about more than just delivering a course; it is about driving performance and fueling mission impact through intentional, science-backed development. It requires the courage to advocate for the time that real change takes and the influence to bring your stakeholders along on that journey. By simplifying your scope, studying the science of change, and connecting with a supportive community, you can provide the proof that your programs create real change.

The end result of shifting from a learning designer to a change agent is profound. It moves you from a state of being overwhelmed and undervalued to a position of confident strategic expertise. When you stop merely executing requests and start diagnosing needs, you build the capacity of your staff and, by extension, the capacity of your entire mission.

To learn more about this important shift, tune into episode 172 of the Learning for Good podcast.

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