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Empower Frontline Workers and You’ll Power Your BusinessFrontline employees are the backbone of every organization. They’re the grocery clerks, manufacturing workers, call center representatives, hotel housekeepers, and retail associates who keep the world running. Yet, despite making up 70 to 80 percent of the global workforce, they are often treated as an afterthought. The Frontline Enablement Playbook is here to change that.Written by JD Dillon, founder of LearnGeek and passionate advocate for the frontline, this book is a practical guide for HR, L&D, and operations professionals who want to do better by their deskless teams. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience and insights from over 100 global practitioners and actual frontline workers, Dillon delivers the first-ever playbook designed to help you build a frontline experience that’s resilient, adaptable, and human-centered. Inside, you'll dive deep into six parts that redefine frontline support: Understanding who frontline workers really are—and what they needArchitecting a modern enablement ecosystemEmpowering frontline managers to empower their employeesHelping frontline workers do a great job todayFostering future opportunities for developmentEvolving your entire strategy to get that all-important buy-inThis book is packed with tools and tactics that work—whether you’re looking to improve training, manage change more effectively, enhance communication, or support manager well-being. Modular by design, you can read the entire story or pick and choose specific sections to address timely needs. You’ll find frameworks like the Modern Learning Ecosystem, stories from the field, and letters from frontline workers themselves.Stop just saying your frontline is essential and start proving it. Because when your frontline thrives, your business does too.

The Frontline Enablement Playbook

Designed for experienced L&D professionals who are ready to lead. Gain tools to shape learning strategies, develop teams, and advance the business through talent development. 

Leading in Talent Development Certificate

Gain essential skills for managing talent development teams by mastering the core competencies of an emerging talent development leader.

Managing in Talent Development Certificate

Create and implement a high impact leadership development program. Nurture high performers and prepare them to take on new leadership roles. Enroll today!

Creating Leadership Development Programs Certificate

Middle managers must make strategic energy choices.

The Silent Crisis: Why Middle Managers Are Burning Out at Record Rates

Uncertainty is no longer the exception in business; it’s the rule. Whether it’s economic shifts, technological disruption, or organizational change, managers are often tasked with keeping teams steady in the storm. Yet for many, uncertainty breeds one common response: resistance.When people feel a lack of control, their instinct is to push back, protect the status quo, or retreat into familiar patterns. While this resistance is human, it can quietly stall progress, erode morale, and make the road ahead feel even harder.The role of a great manager is to transform that resistance into resilience, helping teams adapt, refocus, and keep moving forward with confidence. In Lead In 30, we call this creating movement: the ability to identify the scripts, narratives, and barriers holding people back, and then shifting them into new patterns that drive progress.So how do you, as a manager, lead your team from resistance to resilience?Acknowledge the Uncertainty Out LoudThe worst thing a leader can do in uncertain times is ignore what everyone already feels. Silence breeds fear and speculation. Great managers instead lean into clarity, acknowledging the unknowns while providing a grounded picture of what is certain.You don’t need to have all the answers, but you do need to communicate consistently. Even saying, “Here’s what we know today, here’s what we don’t know yet, and here’s how we’ll keep moving forward” creates confidence. Clarity reduces noise and allows people to focus on what matters most.Reconnect the Team to PurposeWhen uncertainty rises, motivation often falls. Resistance can look like disengagement, blame, or simply slowing down. To counter this, managers must help the team reconnect to the why behind their work.This is where Team Key Results (TKRs) come in. Setting a few measurable, relevant priorities and showing how they connect to the organization’s mission gives your team something solid to rally around. Purpose is the antidote to paralysis.Shift the Script From Victim to OwnerChanging the narrative is one of the most powerful ways to build resilience. Instead of letting the team fall into "The Excuse Trap, “We can’t because…”, great managers ask, “What’s in our control, and how do we own it?”This is where alignment becomes essential. Invite the team into the process: What obstacles are we facing, and what shifts need to happen to keep moving forward? When people participate in writing the new script, they become invested in living it out. Ownership transforms resistance into resilience.Model Optimism and EnergyHuman energy is contagious. If a manager projects fear, exhaustion, or pessimism, the team will absorb it. However, when you choose optimism, even in uncertainty, you create a different kind of culture.At Lone Rock Leadership, we often say optimism is a choice. It doesn’t mean ignoring challenges, but deliberately focusing energy on solutions and what can be influenced. When leaders show up energized and optimistic, they recharge their team’s batteries, giving them the resilience to keep moving.Learn to Guide Through UncertaintyResistance is natural, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. With clarity, alignment, and movement, managers can guide their teams through uncertainty and emerge stronger, more adaptive, and more resilient.Uncertainty will always be part of leadership, but great leaders don’t just weather the storm; they help their teams grow through it.

From Resistance to Resilience: A Manager’s Guide to Navigating Uncertainty

Manager Development: Driving Organizational Success

Manager Development: Driving Organizational Success Whitepaper

One of the biggest challenges of leadership is creating a culture where employees feel safe to share their ideas, concerns, feedback, and suggestions. Many have worked for organizations where leaders talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. They ask their employees to speak up but seek only praise and approval themselves.Great organizations develop employees by developing leaders. Leadership is more than a title, it’s a mindset. Joseph Grenny, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Influence, once defined leadership as “intentional influence.” Coauthor Kerry Patterson adds, “At the end of the day, what qualifies people to be called ‘leaders’ is their capacity to influence others to change their behavior in order to achieve important results.”Here are four ideas that can help you develop an influencer and manage employee contribution.Solicit SincerelyIf you don’t want their ideas, don’t ask for them. Little contributes to a culture of silence more than insincerely soliciting feedback. So, if you already know what you’re going to do, be sure not to hold a perfunctory brainstorming session.Also, some people want to be seen and heard, but everyone wants to be valued. Employees share their ideas to contribute value. If those ideas aren’t sincerely valued or appreciated, the employee won’t feel valued.You can solicit ideas sincerely by focusing less on being right and more on getting it right. When you gather input and perspectives from others, you expand your pool of meaning, which leads to more informed decisions, actions, and results.Establish ExpectationsMake sure your employees understand that not all ideas can or will be implemented. Establishing proper expectations can help minimize frustration. Let employees know that while their ideas may not be implemented, they do inform the final decision. Their contributions may confirm current thinking or spark new ideas for a better course of action.It’s important that employees know that while they may not be a part of the decision-making team, their contribution as part of the data stream is invaluable. They are often closest to the problems you are trying to solve. Additionally, when employees serve as contributors, they are more likely to adopt the new solution (even if it’s not their own) and serve as champions to encourage others to do the same.Communicate ConstraintsWith limited insight into organizational constraints, employees often share ideas that are beyond the scope of what the organization can do. What resources are available? Is there a budget? What’s the timeframe or the level of quality required? Communicate your constraints so employees can offer suggestions and share ideas that work within them. When suggestions aren’t implemented, it’s generally not because they are bad, but because they are outside the constraints. Communicating constraints will lead to a greater chance of implementation. It also offers transparency and allows employees to see clear reasons should their ideas not be implemented.Reveal ResultsMore often than not, employees realize that all their ideas won’t be implemented. When people get frustrated or angry, it’s usually not about implementation but more likely because they feel their ideas were not considered. So, when people contribute ideas, let them know where things stand. If their idea was not implemented, explain why. Remind them of the expectations that were established and the constraints that were shared.Encouraging employee innovation and creativity is key for organizational success, as well as for engagement and retention. Managing the process can be challenging, but healthy organizations will always have more ideas than they can implement. Creating a process built on safety and rooted in sincere solicitations, established expectations, clear constraints, and transparent results will aid your efforts.

Working With Employee Input

Companies with flattened structures squash current employees and future leaders. 

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