Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2024 - 64

CASEBOOK
HOW L&D IS LEADING LEARNING
TRANSFORMATION FOR A GLOBAL
RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANY
BY MIKE ALLEN, CPTM
The renewable energy sector has
seen unprecedented growth over
the past several years, with federal
investments in renewable energy and
the increasing demand for lithium
ion batteries, spurred in part by the
popularity of electric vehicles.
It's not surprising that Deloitte lists
workforce reskilling as among the top
five key trends impacting the industry
in 2024.
To better understand how learning
and development (L&D) leaders in the
green technology sector have been
enabling their organizations to meet
these growing challenges, I talked
to Drew Krajewski, M.Ed., CPTM,
chief learning officer at EnerSys - an
industrial technology leader serving
the global community with stored
energy solutions.
A GEOGRAPHICALLY DISPERSED
COMPANY, GLOBAL CHALLENGES
EnerSys has 10,520 employees
worldwide, with employees located
in 35 different countries and who
speak 18 different languages. " We
support the organization with an [L&D]
team of 19, " Krajewski says. " We are
geographically dispersed as well, with
team members in the USA, Mexico,
Argentina, UK, France, Germany, Italy,
Poland and Singapore. "
Krajewski's day-to-day responsibilities
are centered around directing all
64
of the training
within
that
the
takes place at
EnerSys: " My regular responsibilities
include representing the L&D
team
larger
human
resources (HR) Leadership Team, "
says Krajewski, a responsibility that
involves calculating and charting
key performance indicators (KPIs) for
senior leadership, prioritizing training
requests, participating in audits, ensuring
adherence to the company's mission
and vision and generally " acting as a
conduit between senior leadership
and our geographically diverse team. "
SHIFTING L&D DEMANDS IN A
CHANGING WORLD
In the past, training at EnerSys was
largely focused on compliance and
safety, but shifting market forces are
requiring new L&D approaches
to
keep up. " We are now moving toward
a culture of skill development, " says
Krajewski, a change that has come as
a result of emerging upskilling needs
at EnerSys' manufacturing locations.
Specifically, the L&D team has focused
on skills development training for frontline
supervisors, making sure that
they're equipped to handle the safe
manufacturing of new tech, and all the
processes that come along with it.
FAMILIAR CHALLENGES
The challenges Krajewski faces at
EnerSys can be broken down into two
main categories: " The first is being
recognized as a consultative partner, "
Krajewski says. With such a large and
dispersed organization, it's no easy
task to keep everyone on the same
page. Despite the team's best efforts,
there are still parts of the organization
that
develop
and
launch
training
programs on their own or seek out and
engage with vendors before aligning
with the L&D department.
LIKE EVERYONE,
EVERYWHERE, WE ARE
BEING ASKED TO DO
MORE WITH LESS.
The second challenge, and one that
Krajewski says will be familiar to most
readers, is a lack of resources: " Like
everyone, everywhere, we are being
asked to do more with less, or at least
with the same ... Even though we have
a team of 19, we probably have work for
25. " In light of this, Krajewski is focusing
on developing his team's skills in areas
like prioritization, project management
and change management, which have
become essential to L&D success for
2024 and beyond.
GAINING ALIGNMENT
One of the core skills of a learning
leader is the ability to align your
training efforts with the business goals
of the organization. Krajewski's team

https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2024/03/06/biden-harris-administration-invests-23-billion-projects-expand#:~:text=Today%27s%20announcement%20includes%20the%20first,have%20access%20to%20reliable%20electricity https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2024/03/06/biden-harris-administration-invests-23-billion-projects-expand#:~:text=Today%27s%20announcement%20includes%20the%20first,have%20access%20to%20reliable%20electricity https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-in-batteries https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-in-batteries https://trainingindustry.com/glossary/key-performance-indicator-kpi/ https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/renewable-energy/renewable-energy-industry-outlook.html https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/renewable-energy/renewable-energy-industry-outlook.html https://trainingindustry.com/articles/content-development/developing-front-line-leadership-skills-by-integrating-coaching-into-training-design-part-1/ https://trainingindustry.com/articles/content-development/developing-front-line-leadership-skills-by-integrating-coaching-into-training-design-part-1/

Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2024

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