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In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Heidi Kirby, Founder of the Useful L&D Community, to discuss how learning professionals can escape the order-taking trap and become strategic business partners inside their organizations.
Heidi reveals why “completion is a useless metric” and explains how to use everyday data to prove impact—even without a dashboard. We also dive into evidence-based instructional design, like Mayer’s Multimedia Principles, that you can implement immediately to improve training retention and reduce cognitive overload.
If you're a learning strategist, customer education leader, or instructional designer looking to increase your internal visibility and deliver measurable value, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.
💡 FREE RESOURCE: The 5-Step Strategic Pushback Framework - book.iorad.com/adoption-curve-episode-9
SOCIALS:
👨💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/
👨💻 Connect with Heidi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidikriz/
🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com
⏰ TIMESTAMPS
00:00: From NASA to community founder: Heidi’s L&D journey
03:09: How to be seen as strategic (before you get the title)
06:15: Avoiding the “order taker” trap in L&D
08:25: Tactfully pushing back on bad learning requests11:45: Using "invisible data" to measure learning ROI
14:50: How customer education can drive down support costs
18:44: Evidence-based design with Mayer’s Multimedia Principles
24:14: Why course completion ≠ success in training
26:49: Teaching only the 20% people actually use
33:00: How to measure confidence, autonomy, and true adoption
34:29: Cross-functional buy-in for successful tech rollouts
38:31: Why L&D pros should network—without needing a reason
#LearningAndDevelopment #TechAdoption #InstructionalDesign #TrainingEffectiveness #EmployeeEnablement #CustomerEducation