Co-Authoring Success: How L&D Partnered with AI and HR to Elevate Frontline Leadership

Heather Frommack, Learning & Talent Development Leader, Titan America (NYSE: TTAM)

Heather Frommack, MS, CPTD, leads Titan America's learning and talent development function. Driven by a mission to help individuals reach their full potential, she spearheads strategic initiatives that foster leadership growth, employee development, and inclusivity across diverse cultures and business units.

The story is familiar to many HR professionals: skilled individual contributors are promoted to frontline leadership yet find themselves unprepared for the complexities of leading people.

Frontline leaders oversee 80% of the workforce, driving engagement and efficiency, yet they are often overlooked for leadership development. In fact, a staggering 67% of frontline leaders report improvising due to lack of training (Training Industry, 2024), and many struggle with the "Buddy to Boss" transition as they shift from peer to leader.

Titan America, a prominent heavy building materials company on the American Eastern seaboard, decided to tackle this challenge by creating a scalable, high-impact program for over 200 frontline leaders across 100+ locations, and multiple business units.

With tight deadlines and limited resources, our lean L&D team, in consultation with the Titan America executive leadership team, partnered with local HR business partners and Generative AI to amplify capabilities, customize content, and extend reach, collaboratively co-authoring the program.

The result was BUILD (Building, Upskilling, Inspiring, Leading, Developing), a customized, cost-effective, and agile development program designed to equip our frontline leaders with the skills they need to succeed.

BUILD: A Strategic Framework

BUILD incorporates a strategic framework for a new approach.

• In-House Design Expertise: Our L&D team owned the instructional design in partnership with AI, ensuring alignment with Titan's leadership competencies and maximizing cost efficiency.

• Six-Month, Six-Module Curriculum: A six-month, one-module-per-month program blended in-person training with hands-on-learning and on-the-job reinforcement.

• Participant Waves: BUILD is structured with one wave per year, engaging 80 frontline leaders across the organization in each cohort to maximize reach and impact.

• HR Facilitation: Local HR leaders, the "BUILD Team," facilitated the program onsite, building trust and fostering relevance for participants.

• Strategic Reinforcement: Participants received tailored job aids to support on-the-job application, while managers were provided with monthly virtual updates and resources to sustain learning and reinforce leadership growth.

"Our L&D team needed an innovative solution and we partnered with invaluable co-authors, like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI. The result was BUILD (Building, Upskilling, Inspiring, Leading, Developing), a customized, cost-effective and agile program designed to equip our frontline leaders with the skills they need to succeed"

AI Co-Authors: Using ChatGPT and Perplexity for Customizing Instructional Design

Leveraging ChatGPT and Perplexity as co-authors allowed us to accelerate content development, enhance customization, and free up valuable L&D resources.

ChatGPT and Perplexity AI served different instructional design functions:

• ChatGPT: Content Generation and Personalization: We tasked ChatGPT with:

• Generating role-playing exercises and real-world examples.

• Editing facilitator scripts and discussion questions.

• Suggesting modifications to tailor content based on unique learning personas.

• Perplexity AI: Research and Information Curation: Perplexity generated:

• Up-to-date research on industry trends and leadership challenges.

• Insights into industry best practices in leadership development

• Learning metrics and impact analysis tools to measure training effectiveness.

The Prompting Process: 

We developed a structured prompting methodology:

Ask AI to "adopt the persona” by including specific key details including:

• Leader role (e.g., “plant supervisor,” “leadman”)

• Operational context (e.g., “a cement plant during a high-demand production run”)

• Desired learning outcomes (e.g., communication, conflict resolution)

• Human Review and Refinement: Our L&D and BUILD teams reviewed and refined the AI-generated content to ensure accuracy, relevance, and alignment with Titan America's values and policies.

Results: Tangible Business Impact

BUILD delivered strongly positive results:

• 86.8% CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score): Surpassing the 70-90% industry benchmark.

• 39% NPS (Net Promoter Score): Indicating a strong, positive response to the program.

• 81 Leaders Graduated from Wave 1: Demonstrating the program’s reach and scalability.

• Low Cost Per Participant: Achieving highly efficient use of L&D resources.

We continue to track BUILD’s long-term impact with metrics such as Training Transfer Rates (TTR) and Performance Improvement Scores (PIS).

Key Takeaways: Lessons Learned

Just as our leaders continuously grow and adapt, BUILD will also evolve to meet their needs. Wave 1 provided valuable insights for improvement.

• Broaden Reach: Word of BUILD spread and sparked interest beyond operations. We’ll expand to additional business areas.

• Shift Facilitation: As our L&D team grows, we'll take on facilitation while continuing to partner with the trusted BUILD Team, whose credibility and enthusiasm remain invaluable to the program's success.

• Reinforce Learning: Program implementation is just the first step. Developing scalable post-program support is essential to ensure lasting impact.

• Measure Impact: Continued measurement is needed to track BUILD’s business impact, guide improvements and demonstrate ROI.

An Actionable Blueprint for Success

As we continue gathering data to refine our approach, the BUILD framework ensures Titan America develops well-equipped, people-centered leaders who drive lasting impact.

For HR and L&D professionals seeking similar results:

1. Prioritize frontline leadership development – make it a strategic imperative.

2. Design for scalability from the outset – consider AI-driven solutions.

3. Leverage AI - for customized content, industry best practices, and data analytics.

4. Empower L&D - to drive impactful, scalable initiatives. By intentionally investing in our people and strategically embracing technology, we can all write a better leadership story for our organizations.

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