Episode 26: Build Smarter: How AI is Reshaping the L&D Landscape

Everyone knows that AI is an emerging, transformative force. But that’s not all. How learners actually learn is evolving this year, too. Join Ron Zamir and Jim Checketts, Sr. Learning & Development Manager at Nestlé, as they discuss the changes learning leaders can expect in the coming months — and how AI can be used as a catalyst for embracing disruption amidst these changes, elevating the L&D profession, and paving a new path for innovation that makes an impact on what it is learners actually need to success in 2026.

Top Takeaways

• Balancing Innovation and Demand
• Rapid Development as a Practice
• Shift to Microlearning
• Continuous Learning Journeys
• Repeatable Success in Leadership Programs
• Staying Learner-Centric
• AI for Scale and Speed
• AI Simulations for Practice

Ron Zamir 

Welcome everybody to another podcast on innovation in the learning space. I’m Ron Zamir, CEO of AllenComm, and I am joined today by Jim Checketts. He’ll introduce himself from Nestlé Purina, and we’re going to explore again the issue of innovation. We’re going to talk about AI, and of course, we’re going to talk about our personal journey. So with that, Jim, why don’t you introduce yourself and we’ll get going. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, so, Jim Checketts, I’m the senior manager of learning design and technology for Nestlé USA. I’ve been here with Nestlé, the parent company, for approximately 20 years and deeply involved with learning and development, obviously. 

Ron Zamir 

Well, I’ve been in Allen Comm for 25, so we must enjoy our jobs, Jim. That’s the only conclusion I can take. 

Jim Checketts 

I do, you know, it’s a great space to be in and I think from that 20, 25 years that we’ve collectively been involved with learning and development, the evolution that I’ve seen has been kind of cool. So staying in that space has been a lot of fun to see the journey. 

Ron Zamir 

Well, I would love you to share your journey because like I said, people that have listened to this know mine from archaeology to L&D. Nobody has me beat yet, but maybe you will. What is your personal journey that got you into the space? 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, unlike many who maybe fell into learning and development, I actually targeted it as I was wrapping up my bachelor’s program at Utah State University. So I was exposed to the presentation software. I don’t know if you remember that product that Novell offered at one time, but I really enjoyed using that in my undergraduate program. 

So as I graduated, I started looking for jobs, and anything that I was finding that was in my so-called specialty area with undergrad just didn’t appeal to me. Everything that I was interested in required a master’s degree in technical communication or instructional design.  

So I asked some of the ladies that were working at the Career Placement Center at Utah State University where I could go to get that master’s degree in instructional design. They laughed and they said, well, Utah State has a strong program. 

Ron Zamir 

Yes. Dr. Merrill. Yeah, great program. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, Dr. Merrill. If you can get in. So, you know, the challenge was on, and that’s where my journey really started. I targeted learning and development as a career path in that master’s program and have been with it for the past about 28 years. 

Ron Zamir 

You’re kind of what we love hearing, people that made a decision early in their career that they want to impact people through learning and through education. Unlike you, like I said, some of us come in like a snake path to get to where we are. So it’s great to hear.  

With that journey and looking where you are now, let’s talk about innovation. A lot of our listeners want to hear how we can stay innovative while still serving in a reactive mode to our company. I would love to hear any stories or examples you have of innovation in your role. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, so that’s always a challenge, right? Meeting the needs or the demands of the organization and then trying to innovate within the frameworks we have to work. One that really sticks out to me, we had a project where there was a big transformation happening in the organization. And there was a lot of planning that went into that, obviously.  

The one thing they didn’t plan for well was that time we would need to create learning and really help drive that transformation forward. Planning was solid as far as the things that needed to be done, but we get to the end of the project where we now started training people on what this meant for them and found there wasn’t enough time to execute on creating classroom modules, creating all of these other resources to support that transformation.  

We had to quickly pivot. Using some of the tools that we had, we had to come up with a different way to leverage those to create the materials to support what was going on. Massive, massive change in the way we would traditionally approach that. So we took more of a rapid development approach. Obviously, there are trade-offs that come with that. Some of the formal things that we may create became less formal. But yeah, really push forward with that. That was one example. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, and I think we always have to remember that change management. We in L&D are receivers of other people’s plans. And in the best case, I hope some of our listeners and viewers are involved or get invited to the table.  

But when you’re not, it’s always good to have options, right? Because sometimes the way … and I want to stress for all of us that technology is great, but we can’t shortchange the time a learner needs to absorb, translate, and execute on new areas.  

Are there any stories, even failures, that you think could have been avoided if you had done something differently in that process? 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, well, I think that may be both the success and a failure. Success that we did something, failure in that it wasn’t optimal. So again, it’s this trade off responding to the need of the business, leveraging the technology.  

What came out of that, though, was something that we’ve leveraged on a continual basis. As we have requests that come in to our team, that approach that we took in the rapid development enables us to maybe look differently at some of these requests that come in. They’re not a heavy lift. They’re not necessarily something with a long shelf life, but we can apply that approach that we took in that particular project, kick it out of the door really quickly, and then focus on things that are more of a strategic priority or nature. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, so load balancing our team and our capacity. We are going to talk more about rapid development when we talk about AI in a few minutes. Share a bit, you know, a lot of us, including AllenComm, we do thousands of hours of this type of service work, help clients move to a lot more nimble microlearning or learning in the workflow type processes. 

How has that worked for you guys? And what best practices have you adopted when it comes to segmenting learning in a different way? 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, so I think there were some things, some big catalysts that have really pushed us out of that maybe standard comfort zone that we were in. We realized, first of all, that the audiences we were trying to reach have changed in their preferences for learning and for the time that they’ll commit to sitting still for anything, be it an eLearning or classroom experience.  

The concept of microlearning really started to take off. I think at one time we were considering a 30 minute eLearning as the absolute maximum that people would sit still for. And then over time we’ve seen that reduced. So, you know, from 15 minutes to 7 minutes, whatever the metric we were trying to hit. But we find that the microlearnings being really discriminated in which topic we’re addressing in that learning and then offering that out has really helped us evolve our approach.  

And then like I say, just think differently about how we’re approaching learning. And it may not be an eLearning, it may not be a classroom experience. It could be something else, something that the technology enables us to do that we didn’t have years ago. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, I guess the question that that creates is people still need the time to gain competency, right? Whatever skill sets you’re trying to teach them. Making your learning shorter, more directed, is only part of the answer.  

How do you make sure that the new segmentation of the learning experience still provides the learner with the sufficient exploration, questioning, and practice for them to be proficient in whatever you’re tasked with teaching them? 

Jim Checketts 

I think it really starts with identifying, “What is the outcome that we want?” And then the microlearning, or whatever that experience is, is just one part of it scaffolding. What happens after the experience has really become a big part as well. I think what you’re identifying is it’s not just the first initial thing that we do that actually gets us across the finish line. It’s what do we do beyond. 

So we’ve moved a lot of our programs to cohorts, to informal learning even in between those cohorts, or in between formal sessions, or things that we push out. I think it’s looking broadly and not considering training or learning to be a singular event. It’s more of an end-to-end approach, right? So not just flashing the pan or event, it’s what’s beyond. 

Ron Zamir 

And I think that’s kind of the answer. It’s not about shorter learning. It’s about knowing how to spread out the learning into different modalities and environments that seem natural for the employee. It’s not a learner. He’s an employee. He has noise in his environment. He has things they need to do. And our job is to invade that environment in the right way. It’s almost subsumed in that experience of work versus pulling you out.  

Talk about a success. Something that you did for the first time and then you kept doing within the learning process. 

Jim Checketts 

I think one of our big successes has been with our first time leader program. We did undertake a big project to look holistically at leadership, where we had gaps. We identified those gaps. Our first approach actually was with our senior leaders. We looked at the gaps, had identified what we needed to do or thought we needed to do with that leadership group, and started pushing programs to them. 

Come to find out there was a little bit of a miss. I don’t think we were 100% successful. We didn’t really land where we wanted to approaching that senior leader category for a variety of reasons. But we recognize that if we were to look at what all leaders needed and then take it to the first exposure to leadership, or experience with leadership, we would be more successful over the longer term. 

So that’s been several years ago that we did that. We’re now on cohort 11 with modifications to that program, obviously, as we’ve gone through time. But it’s really been a nice pattern that we followed and something that we’ve leveraged over several years that gets that leadership experience early in somebody’s career and leadership journey. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, I think the insight this brings to mind for me is that I remember being excited after my first instructional design course that, wow, I’ve been given these tools. I can write learning objectives. I can create pathways. I can tie it into behaviors. You know, I had a superpower that nobody else had.  

And I forgot that motivation trumps everything, right? If a learner is not motivated to learn, you can ignite that. It’s not about interactivity. It’s how, what, where do you channel that interactivity to ignite motivation. And to me, what you’re describing is, we knew what button to press to get the process started, right? And that worked for us. So that’s great. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, I think you also hit on something. It’s the experience that you provide the user, the learner. And if they don’t find value in it, if it’s not something that’s engaging to them, they disengage and the efficacy of your program doesn’t go anywhere. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah. It gets thrown into the bucket of, it’s like my compliance training. I just have to do it as part of my job. It really has no relevance. What are these guys?  

And so one small question on that, and I want to go into the AI. How do you ensure as a learning team leader, as somebody who’s 20 years been on this, that you’re connected to what the learners are really looking for? 

Jim Checketts 

That’s a continued struggle, right? Because I think there’s two components we really have to look at. It’s what are the gaps? Empirically, how are we measuring that? How do we know that it’s a true gap? And then I think another component is what do they want to learn? So things that we prescribe from a corporate learning standpoint may not really be in the interest of the audience we’re intending them for.  

So it’s not an either or, it’s an and. How do we meet the immediate need, close gaps, and then look to the future? And then what things may our learners actually be exploring that we don’t have visibility to? 

Ron Zamir 

Do you feel that you’re given the capability through your capacity and your mandate to be the voice of the learner? 

Jim Checketts 

I think in pockets we are. I think sometimes there are pressures from corporate structures that … maybe distracting may not be the right word, but they may have different prioritization. There could be things going on in the business where they say, no, we need to pivot this direction and let’s not pursue this at this time. But overall, we are given quite a bit of latitude in the ability to identify those needs and then go. 

Ron Zamir 

That’s critical. Maybe the answer is technology. And let’s talk about AI for a second. Everybody’s talking about it. We all have our adoption cycles. Talk about what intrigued you about AI when you started being exposed to it and where you’ve been able to integrate it within the governance models of Nestlé Purina. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, so originally as AI started to come on the scenes, the thought that this could be an entity or a tool that could help with some of those processes that we constantly go through, be it getting help with developing something or asking questions and getting answers and having this research tool that goes well beyond what Wikipedia ever had, was really intriguing.  

Then as we started playing around with it, the light bulbs start going off as we start thinking about how we could apply this in a coaching scenario as we’re trying to achieve learning outcomes and move our organization forward. How can we use that? 

And then I think the question is, well, how do we make it good? Right? Kind of like what we saw. And I know you’ve been on this journey too at AllenComm, but if we have tools that enables people to do things quicker … does it enable them to do it better? And that’s been something that we are … 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, that is the test. That is the test. So when you talk about simulations, can you share any tools, both internally to raise your capacity that you’re using, but also some of the lessons you’ve learned within the learning journey? What tools are the learners exposed to that help them get better at their job? 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, so I think the tools the users are exposed to, or anything that we hear about typically through the news, ChatGPT, Copilot, there may be other agents that are out there that people within different job roles are exploring or using that we may not be aware of. So there’s that that’s going on that we see. 

You know, some of the things that we’ve used that have really been a game changer for us are applications like Synthesia, where we can create a video with prompts or with inputs from other things. We don’t have to set up a studio with lighting. We’re still exploring quality and need versus the speed that that allows us to move with. And so far, the evolution of tools like that has been a game changer in our industry. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, we were early adapters of some of the, even the beta with Synthesia. And I think the most exciting part for me is it comes back to that motivation. We can use Synthesia-produced videos, and we’re using others now also from Grok and others to create a much more motivational beginning of a learning journey where the learner sees highly relevant, highly contextualized videos of why or what they’re being trained for.  

Often, our biggest challenge is taking a person that has a very specific job in a company and contextualizing that job in the broader responsibilities that people he works with have, and what that person does influences five other people that he may not know. And I think rich media-developing tools like Synthesia the benchmark we started with for you, Jim, and for our listeners, was we wanted to see 30% better productivity of video production. 

It’s been over 200%. So the leak is pretty amazing. And again, you have to be careful on, are you educating a model? Are you allowed to educate a model? But I think there’s a lot of great stuff happening. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, it’s a cool space. One of our recent applications of that is using that type of an agent to demonstrate outcomes of a scenario. In our program, they’re given a scenario, they have to respond to it, and then the agent can react and say, well, here’s what happened based on the choices you made. And I think that just solidifies that learning that we’ve tried to embed when they actually see a reaction and you can adapt the tone to the scenario that was presented. 

Ron Zamir 

So the visualization is created by the learner’s reaction. It’s on the fly. It’s automated within the learning interaction or the learner interaction with the program. 

Jim Checketts 

To some extent, I mean, it’s a guided path, so it’s not like free play, but yeah, ultimately the agent reacts to what has happened or provides additional context of what’s going on. 

Ron Zamir 

And at least our experimentation has been that you can get that automated personalization. At AllenComm, we’re doing a lot of work now. We have a whole practice around creating simulations or AI-driven simulations for leaders, for sales, for call center people to practice to get to know personas of the customer better.  

So if somebody calls and says, hey, I just want to return this bag of … I know we worked a lot with the dog and cat food part of Purina. The call agent can practice how to react to that. Where did you store it? How can I help? Versus reading off a scenario, a sheet that they’re given.  

Have you practiced any of that stuff with segments of the company using these AI-driven simulation tools? 

Jim Checketts 

I myself haven’t done that directly, but I do know that our sales organization has some tools that they’re using where they can practice sales approach and get feedback on that. I think that’s another one of those areas where there’s a lot of promise and where AI can really step in, especially if you can do things like simulate a conversation with an upset customer. 

I think what’s really cool about that is it takes away some of the fear of doing that with a live customer where the stakes are pretty low, but it’s still high enough fidelity and they get to experience that, including the emotions when some agent reacts. That’s really neat in the space. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, we’re seeing a lot of adoption, and I know, Jim, you’ve been to our Learning Leader Connect. So at AllenComm, we’ve tried to bring, not as a vendor but as a participant, people that are running learning organizations to share what they’ve been experiencing, to benchmark with others.  

And we’re seeing some pilots and implementations of these tools. We’re actually supporting some of those, especially for call centers. So our early adapters are call centers so they can practice reacting and working with the learner and the evaluation models.  

Are they saying the right things? Are they using the right disclaimers? But are they also showing enough EQ to create an atmosphere where they can give a proper answer to a customer? But also for, you know, executives, especially frontline executives, so they can practice difficult conversations. 

It’s beyond the old days of performance review training. Now we can actually give them a way to practice. So I think it holds a lot of promise. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, definitely. Like I said, just seeing where this is evolving is really cool to see where it’s going and then to think about what could we do even beyond that. 

Ron Zamir 

I think again that personalization is the next step where they can actually be highly personalized to a learner.  

Let’s kind of … I think the AI conversation asked itself, where do we see the future of our profession? And I would love to hear from you a little bit about that, and then we’ll wrap up more with the question about what you would tell yourself in the past.  

But let’s talk a bit the future of the profession, 20 years plus. You still have some years in you. Where do you see this profession changing over the next few years? 

Jim Checketts 

I think AI is going to be a really big catalyst in where we go in the profession. When I started in the master’s program at Utah State, we were hard coding things, including websites. We were using not quite WYSIWYG editors, but something close to that. And I don’t think I could have anticipated that you would have an agent or a tool where you could speak to it. And then it would produce an output.  

That was just like, I mean, Star Trek or whatever futuristic type of a movie you wanted. I think right now, kind of near future, it might be that we see the evolution of those tools where I think it makes not only things easier to create but also makes it better as we get better at using these tools. 

What that looks like is they become a support, basically an augmentation to our team. So instead of having five head counts and each of you having a specialty in something, you may have three and you’re just able to do more with less. So I think that’s a big thing. 

As far as what the next big thing is, gosh, in 20 years, I’d sure like to see and be around to see what that is. 

Ron Zamir 

I think you will. I think the test of answering this question is, and I happen to have it real now, I have a kid that’s applying to colleges now, he’s 17 years old, and he asks me, “So should I go into learning design?” or he’s actually in OD, organizational development, and, “Is AI going to kill that job?” For a young person, that’s hitting the nail on the head. 

And I had to reflect because, you know, there’s a good chance I’ll be paying for some of this college. I want them to get … and we all want our kids to be successful. So I look at him and I say, you know, I think this is going to be the most exciting time to get into an OD-type job. Why? Because jobs are changing and we’re at the nexus of helping companies reconstruct themselves, reorganize themselves.  

So now, the human component of any business is really the catalyst for better customer service, for better understanding, for chaperoning the technology, but more importantly, chaperoning the customer to the experience you want.  

And I told them, look, for you, if you take on this profession, this is going to be about being the voice of the employee, not letting AI be the interpreter of what people need, and then using these tools to provide them with the right … I use the word scaffolding, which I love, that’s an old Merrill word also by the way, using the technology to give them a better chance to be successful in their jobs, a better chance to have the skills they need.  

And so I think it’s exciting to be in our profession. 

Jim Checketts 

Yeah, I do too, I think it’s got a bright future. Like you, I have children who are in college, just entering college. I have one who’s actually graduated and that is a question of, “Is AI going to replace me?” It’s a real fear. 

Ron Zamir 

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think AI is going to make us more relevant, stronger, so I’ll be an optimist.  

Let me end with the last question, which is my favorite question. And you’re like the poster child for this question, 20 years. So if you go back now, and I’ve just finished my work at Utah State, my master’s or my bachelor’s, I wish I could have known what I know today. This is what I would tell myself. What would you tell yourself 20 years ago? 

Jim Checketts 

I think reflecting back on that 20 years ago, if I could have anticipated the amount of change that not only I would see, but have to work through, I think the advice I would give myself is embrace that change and be prepared for that. I mean, disruptors are going to happen. And I think the pace of those disruptions are coming quicker and quicker.  

Think about what happened during COVID. Speaking from my own organization, and then what I had observed in many other organizations, COVID was a huge shift for us. I think it forced us to think differently about learning and development where it couldn’t be reliant on an in-person experience. Extremely difficult when you’re trying to do things like soft skills training and then anything that needed that humanistic touch. We had to really look differently at what that might look like and what could replace it, at least in an interim.  

So I would tell myself, there’s some things that you just can’t predict. Change is going to be constant, and it’s not something that you necessarily need to fear. 

Ron Zamir 

We so want to lean into the status quo because it gives us comfort. That’s our comfort zone. Telling yourself consciously to lean into the disruption versus the status quo is amazing advice. So thank you so much, Jim, and I’ll bid goodbye to all of our listeners, and I’m sure I’ll see you again soon. 

Jim Checketts 

You will, definitely. Thanks for having me. 

Ron Zamir 

Okay, right, thank you.