Podcast Summary - Why Trust Matters in the AI-Powered Future of L&D with Frankie Robinson of TrainingPros
From Classroom to Corporate
Frankie Robinson didn’t “fall into” learning and development, she designed her way into it. She started as an elementary school teacher (kindergarten and second grade), the job she’d aimed at since age five. Curious and relentlessly growth-minded, she became an early tech adopter in her school (think: Google Classroom before it was cool), which opened a door to a stint in front-end development. She missed education, though, so she blended the two worlds: earned a master’s degree in Learning Design & Technology, freelanced, then moved into corporate roles.
That path: teacher ➜ tech ➜ corporate L&D now lands her at TrainingPros as our newest Learning & Enablement Strategist. Fun twist: Frankie used to be a TrainingPros client, so she knows both sides of the table. Her career advice to aspiring L&D pros (especially educators making the jump) is simple and actionable: don’t just “network,” become memorable. Join communities (ATD, meetups), collaborate on real projects (nonprofit gigs count), and put work in front of people so your name pops into their head when an opportunity appears.
Building Trust That Sticks
Frankie’s leadership development experience sharpened her point of view on trust. She uses a research-informed lens: employees tend to judge a leader’s trustworthiness across three perceptions: integrity, benevolence, and competence. What moves those perceptions? A blend of scheduled behaviors (1:1s, team meetings, alignment sessions) and unscheduled behaviors (quick check-ins, “saw this and thought of you,” jumping in when there’s a fire).
Translate that to external consulting and you get a practical playbook:
- Scheduled: predictable status cadences, roadmap reviews, clear deliverable checkpoints.
- Unscheduled: proactive nudges, “I noticed this risk” messages, friendly human touchpoints that show you care and know your client’s context.
To Frankie, that consistency is how consultants earn durable trust, not through claims, but through repeated, visible behaviors.
Why Training Sometimes Misses the Mark
When initiatives flop, Frankie doesn’t blame “the client” or “the learners.” She looks at stakeholder dynamics. You need executive buy-in, yes, but you also need the highly influential people inside the target department (formal or informal leaders) engaged early. Those ambassadors keep the flame alive months after the workshop: “Remember that job aid?” “It’s in the Team site here.” “Let’s reuse the intake script.” Frankie pulls these voices into analysis and design, so the solution has on-the-ground champions long after the kickoff buzz fades.
How Frankie Uses AI (Today & Tomorrow)
Frankie is bullish on AI’s role in L&D with human guardrails. She’s especially excited by platforms that merge learning, knowledge, and performance support in one hub. Her favorite behavior: ask a natural-language question (“What code do I use for X?”) and get an answer with links to the relevant training and documentation. That single source of truth shrinks the distance between knowing and doing.
She’s also hands-on with AI for practice and coaching. One standout project: an AI-driven negotiation simulator where learners “call” a persona, hold a real-time voice conversation, then get targeted feedback mapped to the tactics taught in the course (mirroring, labeling, probing for constraints). She’s built similar simulations for consultant intake calls, proving you don’t need a giant budget to create high-impact practice reps.
The Most Critical Skill
If Frankie had to pick one capability that separates average from exceptional in L&D, it’s trust-building through consistent behavior. That shows up in how you schedule and show up (cadence), how you respond in the messy middle (reliability), and how you make people feel seen (benevolence). Pair that with courage to get out of the background, raise your hand, be visible, share the work, and doors open faster.
Books & Resources Frankie Loves
Frankie’s go-to is 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. She uses it as a practical lens for project leadership and personal sanity. Habit highlights for L&D folks:
- Be Proactive: Own your inputs and your response, especially when projects wobble.
- Begin with the End in Mind: Anchor designs to business outcomes and observable behaviors.
- Put First Things First: Prioritize stakeholder engagement and enablement (those ambassadors!) alongside content creation.
She also leans on Covey’s Circle of Control/Influence model when anxiety spikes (hello, modern work). It’s a quick reset: what can I control, what can I influence, and what can I let go of. That mindset keeps teams focused on levers that actually move results.
Bottom line: Frankie brings a rare blend: teacher empathy, technical curiosity, and consultant discipline. She’s here to help clients (and our own team) ship learning that sticks: trusted by stakeholders, supported by smart AI, and measured by what people do differently on the job.
What Skills Do Learning Leaders Value Most in 2025?
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