Human Connection: The Skill Defining L&D's Future with Peter Plumlee of Ball Horticultural Company

Speaker A: All I hear from people is I want to be in person. I want to connect. The number one thing everyone said about this workshop was it was so good to hear stories from my peers. And it was really an awakening to see them be vulnerable with us.

Speaker B: Thanks for joining us for the latest episode of Learning Leader Spotlight interviews with corporate L and D leaders. You'll find links in the show notes to any resources mentioned on today's show. If you're enjoying our podcast, please subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave us a five star review.

Speaker C: Hi, welcome to Learning Leader Spotlight, the podcast where we interview the learning leaders of today to help the learning leaders of tomorrow. I'm your host, Leeann Langford. I'm the president of Training Pros. Training Pros is a woman owned L and D contract staffing company where we like to say, when you have more projects than people, let us find you the consultant to start your project with confidence. I'm excited about my guest today. This is someone I've spoken to multiple times and I think you guys will really enjoy this conversation because every time he and I talk, it's been a fun conversation. So please join me in welcoming Peter Plumlee, the chapter president of ATD Chicagoland. He's also a talent development manager at Ball Horticultural Company. Welcome, Peter.

Speaker A: Thank you, uh, so much. I'm really excited because it is always so much fun to chat with you and looking at the previous guests. It's an honor to be here.

Speaker C: Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you, Peter. Yes, we've had some really great people on, but honestly, people are going to really enjoy this podcast as well. So you're going to be one of the people we refer to as. Oh, I loved that podcast. It's an honor to be on the call.

Speaker A: Well, I sure hope so.

Speaker C: I think you have a lot of great things to tell us. So first of all, why don't you share with our audience a, uh, quick overview of who you are and what you do.

Speaker A: Sure. As you know, Peter Plumlee Purple Peter Plumlee people love the alliteration. So I'm m wearing purple. Purple is my go to. I am the talent development are at Ball Horticultural Company. It is a tongue twister. We are a, uh, flower designer, developer and uh, seed distributor. So I get to work around these amazing people that are taking care of, uh, the private garden and here in hr showing up to support people as well as getting just a few steps to walk over and see the people that are doing gene editing. All in this one campus were international 17 countries and it's really complex because I'm a single contributor, and it's not just a ball. We have an armada of several businesses under us that I have the pleasure of getting to support in everything, talent development. And I guess I decided that being new here wasn't enough. So at the same time of starting at ball, I also stepped into the role as president of the ATD Chicagoland chapter, which have been challenging, but also really joyful and great experience as well.

Speaker C: So I love it. It sounds like you get to work with a really broad group of learners. You know, it's not just all scientists and it's not just all the marketing or the distribution. We've got everything going on. My favorite thing about atd, because I've been a. I was a solo contributor for like 20 years, and ATD gave me colleagues. And I think that it's a beautiful thing that you are really in the center of making that chapter be so successful.

Speaker A: It's really what drives me. I mean, community is so deep and important to me. I. I've been doing this also for 20 years now. And I kept doing things and joining events, and I had a community, but they were all in the UK. Shout out to the UK L&D environment because they're rocking it. But then I would come back home and I'm like, all of my friends are 8,000 miles away. And I turned to ATD Chicago and found that community. And, um, have that here. So I. I just really love trying to drive home. We're a community. We're all in it together. No matter what you do, like, we're going to be here.

Speaker C: That's amazing. I think it's wonderful. This is a question I love to ask everybody. What was it about L and D that brought you to the field?

Speaker A: So many people will say it was an accident or, you know, uh, I discovered I really liked learning. And I thought about this as people ask over the times. I think it really started very early. You know, I'm older, so when I was in elementary school, maybe it was just my teachers. If you misbehaved, which I did, I'm chatty. Um, I like to do things as a punishment. They would remove you from the class and put you in the room with the special needs students. And after a while, I never really felt like that was a punishment. Maybe I misbehaved on purpose because those teachers were always so wonderful. And, uh, then I ended up starting to create a bond with these peers and being able to see them out on the playground. I got into high school, and as a junior, I became a volunteer teacher's aide in the special needs program. I went through about 14 years of social services. Just so incredible to think, how can I make this accessible for someone else? How do I ensure they're successful regardless of what barrier is in their way? I think everyone I met in social services as clients who had a diagnosis, they are some of the most impactful people on my entire life. And, uh, getting burned out from social services, uh, wow, it was really hard. I put everything into it and I just hit a wall. I took a hiatus and after a year, found my way into corporate learning and development. And, uh, I, uh, still really enjoy it. Yes, I love seeing people be successful. I also love the problem solving. Somebody comes to me with a problem, I need to learn this. It's like, well, do you need to learn it or do you need to learn how to do it a different way? Is the process broken? And then we'll teach you how to do the new process. Every day is a new day, and I get a privilege of learning and getting paid to be nerdy.

Speaker C: I love it. I think that's a great origin story. I find it interesting that a punishment would be that you go and work with the special needs kids, because back when I was in school, that was like, a reward for being more mature. Like, you had to go and, like, read, uh, to the class to get break.

Speaker A: You know, hopefully it was just my school. No one else has to have that experience. It turned out beautiful for me, but it's not something that should happen.

Speaker C: Well, you've been in L and D for a while. What's the most impactful change you've seen in learning and development in the last few years?

Speaker A: It's a really hard question. There's a bit of me that feels a little crunchy and sharp, uh, like that granola that gets stuck in your teeth. Because it's like a lot has changed, but a lot of the change has just been we're putting a new spin on things. We're just going to call it a new name, market it as brand new so that we can have value. And it's always this hyperbole on social media of, uh, L and D. You have to be valuable. You're not doing enough to be valuable. Get that seat at the table. I think right now the biggest shift is that interpersonal. Put it in perspective, you do have value. It's not you have to make value. You have to be at the table. And hearing more and more of people accepting the how do I bring value and understanding? It's their human value, right? Yes. We still have a lot of tools and frameworks and ways to improve on what we're doing. But I think especially with the world of AI, it's what makes me human. And what does that value? I think I definitely show up to work every day as who am I and how am I going to come as myself to be able to help people solve problems? I do. I feel like that is a shift that's starting to happen. Some people are starting to be a little bit more outspoken about it. It's hard to have a difficult conversation and it's hard to say, stop telling everyone they're doing a terrible job in L and D and start supporting them. I feel we're our own worst critics. We support everyone and then in our own communities and circles, we tell everyone you're not working hard enough.

Speaker C: That's interesting. Wow. You know, may have to do some self examination after that and think about it. Am I too critical on other L and D people?

Speaker A: I mean, of course we are. When I see someone standing up, facilitating, I'm like, oh, well, I would have asked this question. I, uh, wouldn't have done that. You said too many times. But I know that's just because I want to be up there.

Speaker C: That's fantastic. I love it. So where do you see L and D going? I mean, not only in your job, but also in your volunteer role. You're getting to look at what is the future going to be. Where do you see L and D headed?

Speaker A: I think L and D, it's a little bit of. I have a friend who said sometimes you have to go back to the past in order to move into the future. I think it indefinitely. We have all these tools. I just feel like is such the human connection. There's going to be tools, there's going to be AI, there's going to be things that are automated. So we have courses that are created quicker and platforms that automate the assigning. But it's really about how do you show up. So we have to be the human connector. That's my favorite part of networking. It's what I love about not just being in ATD Chicagoland community, but being to be in the presidential role of meeting so many people and connecting them. What skills do you have? What are you communicating? What is the emotion that you're bringing to it? We really have to be storytellers, not of what are we pitching. What was the success? The storytelling is how is this person going to show up as a human. How are you as a leader and an employee going to connect on that human level? How are you going to continue connecting to your customer? Whether that customer is internal, my customer is all of our employees, or if your customer is external, a distributor, a buyer, somebody at the register, we got to go all the way back to. Yeah, we've got tools that's there, but we're human first and foremost. So how are we showing up that way?

Speaker C: I love it. That's an interesting spin on all the changes we're going through. And I think that'll be very valuable to a lot of people.

Speaker A: I mean, some may disagree. I'm not perfect. My husband loves when I say I like to be wrong. It's not an original thought, but being wrong means I have an opportunity to learn and grow or have a passionate agreement or disagreement on a topic. I mean, I love technology. I use it each and every day. My chro even sometimes is like, whoa, you came in with a platform. What are we solving for? Like, oh, yeah, I just wanted to play with a toy, but

Speaker C: love it. Well, I have a special question. Because of your volunteer role, you are now leading a volunteer organization. I have been part of ATD volunteering for, uh, I did about 20 years of it. So I know what you're dealing with and I wanted to hear from you about it. Everybody that you're leading has a full time job that's not with you. How is it different leading in a volunteer organization than leading a team at work?

Speaker A: First thing that comes to mind is just to say, it is hard, y'.

Speaker C: All.

Speaker A: It is hard. You know, gotta be honest, it is hard. But it's hard because when you are a leader or part, uh, of a team at, uh, your job, whether it's hourly salary you're getting paid, there is a organizational strategy and goal. People know I have to show up because I'm getting paid to. I have these expectations a volunteer led organization is founded on. I am showing up because I really want to make an impact on a community and being able to not just find people with that energy and have them come to the table, but to try to sustain that energy and that drive while still doing their day jobs, taking care of their families, uh, doing their hobbies, to balance their own wellness and being a member of the community. It is really, really hard. I come in with a lot of excitement and a lot of energy. I have sky high, bluest skies in the world, goals and dreams. And a lot of my team is like, well, let's Do a reality check. I love the reality, but let me live in a colorful world and let's have the goal and just like try and see what happens. But the community is great, as hard as it gets. And there may be disagreements, which I love about having a board is the insights, the voting. It's not just, uh, I'm a leader. I said, yes, we're going to do it. You're not really a leader. We're representatives of the 300 plus members that we have. And knowing that anytime I go to an event and I get to talk about ATD Chicagoland, I have so much pride about it and looking at the numbers too. It's not just Chicago. We say we do support Broadway across the entire state of Illinois. When we looked at that's nearly 100 different communities that 300 people live in. So it's not just the city, we're reaching individual communities and um, it gets crunchy and granular. But I'm like our community making an impact on the communities that we work and live in. That's somewhere I really want to get. Of course I want to support our people, but I want to see them getting back out and saying, we're going to help volunteer here to help veterans transition or I know you've done work with Habitat for Humanity and what a beautiful way for people development professionals to give back to develop people's lives.

Speaker B: This episode is brought to you by Training Pros, the award winning contract staffing agency that works exclusively with learning and development professionals to match the right consultants to client projects. If you're in corporate L and D and have more projects than people, let the industry practitioners at Training Pros provide you with the right L and D consultant to start your project with confidence. Find out how we make finding quality consultants easy by scheduling a consultation@www.trainingpros.com.

Speaker C: i consistently encourage people to join their local ATD chapter for a lot of those reasons that you said. And you know, one of the biggest draws that we had in the chapter I served in was the community service and we required you to be a member to do the community service because we had people say, no, that's all I want to do. I don't care about being, well, you've got to be a member to do her community service and so that we joined just so they could do that.

Speaker A: Yeah, I'm going to say a lot of, if not all ATD chapters because I, um, had a chance, not just as a member, but now as a president to meet a lot of the other President elects and past presidents and we all share these same sentiments of God. That was really hard. It was so hard getting started. I felt so behind. But the community and when we have to think too of um, well, we're non profit. We are 501c3. We have to raise money in order to support these people. And we're competing with all of these other platforms and subscription models and cool kids clubs that might offer more. I always come back to yeah, but we've got the community. They may have a really nice little lunch for 40 people with a $10,000 speaker and it's $15,000 a year to be a member or $100 and you get to have a community instantly connected and attend events just to be with people. That's my difference with ATD and our chapters is you're getting a community, not just a program.

Speaker C: I think that that's exactly it. You can take the courses online, you can join ATTD national or training magazine or something and watch the webinars. That's the local chapter is where you get a community and you meet people and you get to know them and you have colleagues then that you can talk to all the time.

Speaker A: Yeah. I felt so alone for so long. I'm like, am I the only one doing this? At the time I worked in South Barrington. Now we work in West Chicago. And like, how am I the only one, uh, doing this? And then I joined ATD Chicagoland. I joined a coffee and connect. I said where I was, not just Chicagoland area. I was like, I am in South Barrington. Two people messaged me and were like, oh my God, I'm in that area. Let's have coffee. There's real people binding. Yes,

Speaker C: it's wonderful. Let's shift gears now. And I want to find out who was your most influential professional mentor.

Speaker A: Oh, you know, I got three. I'm not going to say they're in a order of importance. I kind of touched on a share honestly, the individuals that I worked with in social services, across education, medical, the residential, the workshops, major impact on my life. I still like check in on a lot of them. Um, and just so impactful. I would say definitely it's not just to support but my chro Monique is, I call her a unicorn. She's just so supportive. I love being able to see her work and it influences me on everything I think about like she does is how can I set the stage for that person to be successful, not how do I fix a problem. I've only known her for nine months. Just seeing her work and the way she connects is really impactful. What I would say, like, what got me to my confidence and my, uh, current place in my career is a really dear friend, Mike Collins. I met him when it was just loop online training with three O's. And, uh, now he oversees European customers for 360 learning. But through and through, no matter if we've just been on a call or sitting at the bar, I've always asked them, like, man, like, you give so much to me, or you reach out and say, hey, here's this opportunity. I just want to give back. Like, I had opportunities and I don't want to give someone else them. And that definitely sticks with me. And why I try to also, uh, find those connections when networking of I don't want anything from anyone. Sometimes I want sponsorships, give me sponsorships. But I want to be able to say, like, hey, you too have something in common and you can make something work. And, uh, I think about Mike all the time. We're still friends. I still chat with him. He's one of my friends that's 8,000 miles away. But WhatsApp, uh, helps keep that mentorship going. And some people have said it, and I think it's a really good reminder is that mentors or anyone like that it's relationship based. You can be paired. ATT Chicago has a mentoring program. People always give it rave reviews. But the biggest part is knowing this person's not right for me. I don't have to be here. I can walk away from this and find someone I do have a relationship with. Otherwise, you've just got 12 months of a program you don't like. And, um, it should be 12, 24, 48 years of a really solid friendship that goes both ways.

Speaker C: I couldn't agree more. I asked that question because I think mentorship is absolutely critical for getting going in your career. And then once you are going, I feel we owe it to be mentors to others, whether through a formal program like you have at ATT at Chicagoland, or the way I've done it, which is I, uh, meet someone young and they're eager, and I'm like, you know, I really want to help this person.

Speaker A: We have a mentoring program here at Ball Horticultural Company as well. And it happens so many different ways. We do have it set up of if you want to be a mentor or a mentee, submit this application. We have a committee of, uh, people throughout the entire organization that we have an average tenure of 13 years. So people get to know each Other and we can really think about, okay, whose energy is going to work with each other so that we can try to make sure we set up that relationship to work, but we repair. I get emails a lot. Hey, I've worked with this leader before, and I really like them to be my mentor. Can they. I'm like, yes, of course. And ask them, I'll be there to help create, uh, that comfort level for you to do that. And I've had leaders come to me and say, I really want to mentor this person. Is that okay? And they've had it for a while. I'm like, everyone should know. That's okay. Yeah. You can say, hey, can I be your mentor? Hey, will you mentor me? Okay.

Speaker C: I agree. It's okay. And it's rewarding.

Speaker A: Very.

Speaker C: Last year, I interviewed one of my mentees who is now a director in a large corporation in L and D. How satisfying is that?

Speaker A: Like, look, that's amazing.

Speaker C: Yes. It's like, you know, you know, my

Speaker A: baby grew up somewhere along the lines. I gave them some nuggets and grains and prepared them with a pocket of salt to get through it.

Speaker C: Exactly. Not take any credit for her success, but it still just feels good. It's like, uh, I had some part in helping her get out of the gate, you know, and get going. Okay, so skills are very popular topic these days. What do you think is the most important skill in the workplace right now?

Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, I feel like I beating a drum and, ah, it's just. It's so important to have that human connection. And it's. It's wild how people just get lost in. I. I do it too. I have co workers that are 10ft away. We still send each other a team's message, but trying to get up and go over there more often or calling someone and saying, hey, I have this problem. As I'm looking at the amazing culture that Ball has and the amazing community that ATD Chicagoland has, all I hear from people is, I want to be in person. I want to connect. There's so much to being human. A large part of it is empathy and being vulnerable. I just had a leadership workshop here last week for two days, and I asked leaders to show up on day one to share stories. And I said, I really want you to show up being vulnerable. You're going to be with a hundred other leaders that are your peers. They need to hear it. I was so impressed that they all showed up with it. And in feedback surveys and face to face, the number one thing everyone said about this workshop was, it was so good to hear stories from my peers. And it was really an awakening to see them be vulnerable with us. And they then felt more comfortable being vulnerable. Like, yes. And as leaders, we should be vulnerable and human and say, I don't feel right with that. I messed up to an employee to a point, so that they can feel comfortable doing the same thing. AI does not have empathy. It won't for a very long time. Very, very, very long time. Really. We gotta focus on what makes us human, because that's what's connecting us throughout the world is just being human. Right?

Speaker C: Human.

Speaker A: Human, human, human. I'm gonna have a tattooed on my.

Speaker C: That might be going a bit far, but.

Speaker A: Yeah. No face tattoos. Yeah. I think my husband would say no to a face tattoo.

Speaker C: I think he would. Okay, now here's the big question that I always let people think about ahead of time. What is the one book that everyone wanting to be a learning leader should read?

Speaker A: I am, um, going to say a book that I think is unconventional. It does not have anything about readership in the title at all. And probably not by an author that anyone knows. I forgot the name of the author, but it's one of my favorite books. And, uh, that is the Secret Life of Trees. I love trees. It's a great audiobook. I know you love audiobooks. I suggest this because I like learning in different ways. And, uh, going through school, I was always told, that's wrong. I'm like, no, there's three ways to do everything. And I did it the other two ways. So I think when you listen to or read a book like the Secret Life of Trees, it speaks so much to the power of community. The way that these trees are slow to communicate, slow to feel things, but they know this tree is weak. It's not getting what it needs. I'm going to reroute my nutrients to their soil to help them. Not even the same species of trees. Like, they're just so interconnected and build these communities and the way that they work and feel, I turn that into, how can I have a community like that where without having to say, I need help, people know I'm going to put my resources over them because I have enough. I can give that to them. And I think that's so important as a leader, to know that you've gotten to a place where you were given a lot of resources. You may not feel like you have a lot, but you do as a leader. And you should be that coach. You should be able to say, I've got these team members. I'm going to redirect some of my nutrients in the workplace to you to support you to grow and make sure you get some sunlight and your sprouting gets to grow. That. That's my book recommendation. Very crunchy. I love it.

Speaker C: So, you know, if it's a good audiobook, when I finish the, uh, the last one recommended to me by one of my Learning Leader guests, I will download that one and listen. I actually really do love learning, listening to audibles just because it's something I can do while I'm doing physical things that don't require my mind so much. It's a great way to digest some books. So you have been an amazing guest today. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your stories and sharing great information with us. As our thank you to you. Trading pros with our company is that, uh, we plant trees around the world Today we've planted more than 5,500 trees and we want to plant five of them in your name as our thank you to you.

Speaker A: My favorite book is about trees. We just talked about tree ring growth last week at our workshop. As you say that and I love it. Have anyone maybe. Can I match that? Can I also plant some trees with you?

Speaker C: Absolutely, yes.

Speaker A: I would love that.

Speaker C: Uh, ten trees in your name. And I'll talk to you about it after the show. No problem at all. And I love it. And I'll even talk to you afterwards about how you can learn how to do that for other people as well.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker C: You're welcome. So that's it for this week's episode of Learning Leader Spotlight. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Peter and we hope you join us again next week to hear from another learning leader in another industry.

Speaker B: Thanks for joining us for the latest episode of Learning Leader Spotlight, interviews with corporate L and D leaders. You'll find links in the show notes to any resources mentioned on today's show. If you're enjoying our podcast, please subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave us a five star review.