We talk to HR and L&D leaders in manufacturing and distribution every week. And one of the most common things we hear sounds something like this.
“I’m the only person overseeing training and development for all of our locations.”
One person. Multiple facilities. Dozens (sometimes hundreds) of supervisors who need development. Custom training being built from scratch. Fires to put out. Travel schedules that don’t stop.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And you’re probably feeling the weight of it.
Here’s what we see happen in organizations where one person is carrying the entire training function on their back.
1. Proactive Development Gets Pushed to “Someday”
When you’re the only one responsible for training across the organization, you spend most of your time reacting. Somebody needs onboarding. There’s a documentation issue. Two supervisors got into it on second shift and now you need to build a module on difficult conversations.
All of that is necessary work. But it means the bigger, more strategic stuff (building a real leadership development pipeline for your frontline supervisors) keeps getting moved to next quarter. Then the quarter after that.
We recently talked with a training leader who supports nine distribution centers. He had the vision. He had the buy in from her VP. He even had the budget. But between creating custom content, putting out fires, and managing day to day training needs, the leadership development program just hadn’t made it off the whiteboard yet.
That’s a capacity problem.
2. Training Quality Becomes Inconsistent Across Locations
If you’re the only person who can deliver leadership training, one of two things happens. Either you’re flying to every site and delivering it yourself (which is expensive and exhausting) or different locations are getting different experiences. Maybe one site has an HR manager who’s a natural facilitator. Another site has someone who’s never led a training session in their life.
The result? Your people in one facility get a great experience. Your people in another facility sit through something that checks a box but doesn’t change behavior.
We see this a lot with multi-site operations. The intent is there. The consistency isn’t.
3. There’s No Reinforcement After Training Happens
This one is the quiet killer. Even when training gets delivered, nobody follows up. The supervisors go through the material, and then… nothing. Their managers don’t know what was covered. Nobody asks them about what they learned. The workbooks go on a shelf and collect dust.
Reinforcement is where the real behavior change happens. But when one person is already stretched thin just getting training out the door, building a reinforcement plan feels like a luxury.
So What Do You Do About It?
The organizations that solve this do something pretty simple. They stop trying to do it all themselves.
They certify internal trainers (usually their site level HR managers or strong operational leaders) to deliver a proven program. That way, the training leader isn’t flying to nine locations. The on site people deliver it. They know the culture. They know the team. And because they’re delivering the material, there’s a level of internal accountability that you can’t get from an outside trainer who shows up for a day and leaves.
The training leader shifts from being the person who does everything to the person who oversees the system. That’s a completely different job. And a much more sustainable one.
One of the things we’ve built our model around is exactly this. We train your people to deliver the program. We give them everything they need. Facilitator guides, slide decks, activity kits, participant workbooks. The facilitator guide is detailed enough that a solid trainer can pick it up and run with it.
From there, you just order materials as you need them. New cohort of seven supervisors? You call us, we ship, you’re good to go.
Here’s What That Looks Like in Practice
Let’s say you’ve got 150 to 200 supervisors across multiple sites. You’re not going to train them all at once. You stagger it. Maybe one site runs a cohort in the fall. Another starts in Q1. Your certified trainers deliver the material on site, on a schedule that works for the operation.
And because the program includes manager summaries (one page overviews of each module with coaching questions), the leaders above your supervisors know what’s being taught. They can reinforce it. They can ask real questions in their one on ones. That’s where retention happens.
You go from one person trying to hold it all together… to a system that runs without burning anyone out.
If This Sounds Like Where You Are
We work with manufacturers, distribution companies, and industrial organizations that are trying to build real leadership development without hiring a full training department to do it.
If you’re the person responsible for training across multiple locations and you’re looking for a way to scale it, we should talk. We’ll walk you through how the program works, what Train the Trainer looks like, and whether it makes sense for your situation.