We are Leading a Movement to Redefine Talent Development’s Reputation & Impact From “One-and-Done” Training to Learning that Changes the Business
5,000+
Book Readers
1,000+
Practitioners
3+ ATD
BEST Award Winners
We build capability to apply the award-winning Learning Cluster Design model
We cultivate a community of progressive L&D thinkers and doers
We report the proof of impact to build a movement that reshapes Talent Development's role in the workplace
That's why in our businesses we are cost centers, instead of a place for strategic investment
Our Theory of Change
We believe talent development will transform when we apply LCD’s 4 principles as a new way of working for each learning initiative:
Go Beyond One-and-Done
L&D’s new role is to deliver and facilitate access to multiple learning assets, not one asset, per capability gap.
Design the Whole, Not the Parts
L&D’s new role is to deliver and facilitate access to multiple learning assets, not one asset, per capability gap.
Focus on Learner Needs
In the past, L&D had limited tools to deliver learning. Today, we can—and have an obligation—to provide learning when, where, and how the learner needs it.
Change On-the-Job Behavior
L&D can and should be held accountable for improving performance on the job, not just at the end of a classroom training, course, or program.
See the Learning Cluster in Action
Words from Our Users
Our Journey
ATD Requests a New Course
Our First Book Proposal
Didn't land with ATD on the first go around!
Book Proposal Accepted
A Bigger Movement Is Launched
Our Impact Gains Proof
Loc Nguyen, former director at Bluescape, is our first ATD BEST award winner for his team's use of the the LCD model. Our book is translated to Italian and Japanese.
Ongoing Innovation
Meet the Creators
CEO & Co-Creator of the LCD Model
Crystal Kadakia is a global thought leader, organizational development consultant, and co-author of Designing for Modern Learning (ATD Press), and co-creator the Owens-Kadakia Learning Cluster Design (LCD) model.
With more than 15 years of experience modernizing learning, leadership, and organizational systems, Crystal helps Talent Development leaders evolve from course creators into strategic partners who drive performance, capability, and culture change. Crystal has led large-scale transformations across sectors, including national redesigns of learning strategy, collaboration systems, leadership development, and talent mobility.
Crystal brings both rigor and heart to her work—challenging leaders to rethink how learning happens in an AI-accelerated world while staying anchored in human connection, inclusion, and purpose. Through LCD, she is shaping the future of talent development as a strategic engine for organizational resilience and transformation
LCD Model Co-Creator and Advisor
is a global learning strategist, author, and organizational learning expert who blends an engineering mindset with deep expertise in instructional design and learning sciences to create training that drives business performance.
With a distinguished career at Procter & Gamble, Lisa brings a rare combination of technical rigor and human-centered learning design to enterprise-scale capability building. During more than a decade in engineering at P&G, followed by leadership of global training programs, Lisa became a sought-after internal consultant and executive trainer coach.
She led learning initiatives impacting more than 60,000 employees, including enterprise governance systems, LMS implementations, open job posting platforms, and company-wide employee engagement surveys and analytics. Her work helped shape modern learning strategy, infrastructure, and measurement in one of the world’s most complex organizations.
Lisa is the co-author of (ATD Press) and , and the author of . She is also a contributing author to several leading training handbooks. Through her writing, consulting, and coaching, Lisa advances the field of learning toward practical, evidence-based, and performance-driven impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have a question?
What are the benefits I can expect by using the LCD model?
There are many benefits users of the LCD model gain over traditional learning approaches. Here are just a few:
- They shift from being “order takers” (Create me some training!) to strategic partners
- They receive more positive feedback that their work is actually making a difference to learners and stakeholders – and they see on-the-job behavior metrics change
- They receive more funding and resources to continue doing the work
- They have an easier job explaining how what they will be delivering is worth it
- They have more confidence that what they are doing is working
- They have more fun because they aren’t doing the same old thing, using the same old tools for every challenge, and are growing themselves!
- They win best-in-class awards! (see Loc Nguyen, L&D and Customer Education Leader awarded the BEST award for his efforts using LCD model as his foundational strategy)
and many, many more.
See our case studies page for more or hear from these folks on what they think will change if everyone uses the LCD model.
What Would Change If Everyone Adopted The Learning Cluster Design Model?
Do I need to have a learning background to use the model?
No, not at all! LCD model offers emerging practitioners a modern model from the start of their journey. The concepts resonate deeply with people’s intuition about how learning can make a difference and the LCD Tools make it easy to put into practice.
Who can get the most use from the LCD model?
These are just a few of the roles we’ve seen gain value from building capability in the model:
- Training Professionals At All Levels and Roles – from instructional designers to facilitators to training managers to VPs of Talent Development
- Customer Education Professionals – those involved in sales and marketing of a product. After all, every point of marketing involves a point of learning for prospective customers!
- Change Managers & Organization Development Practitioners – Those looking to move beyond traditional powerpoint heavy/training roll outs + communication as the way to manage change, find the LCD model as a crucial way to truly create and implement a long term, long lasting change strategy
- Executives & Leaders — leading a team or organization often involves constantly building capability and a learning culture. Often with the help of our consulting team, leaders use the LCD model as a foundational building block of their strategy, alongside other pieces.
- Educators — Professors, teachers, and those managing the L&D of higher educators are finding the model incredibly useful in our remote learning world to re-imagine classroom learning approaches
- External Consultants – Those who are hired by clients to create learning products are finding that being certified in the LCD model gives a significant competitive edge and new product offering, than the traditional outsourced design firm.
- Education-Oriented Companies and Professional Associations — Organizations who sell training or offer education as their value proposition are reimagining their product strategy from classes and courses to learning clusters
We even see COOs and CTOs finding value in using this model!
Hear from Jen and Karen who share from their perspective from outside the traditional training industry:
How the Learning Cluster Design Model Applies to Professionals Outside of the Training Industry
How is the LCD model different from other learning models and theories?
The LCD model brings five major innovations to the learning field, all emerging from a distinctly new goal: designing multi-asset learning strategies instead of one and done programs.
Crystal and Lisa benchmarked over 50 other learning theories and models and discovered a critical gap. The biggest issue was a fundamental assumption. Each historic model or theory assumed that the goal for a learning designer is to create just one learning asset. This could be a course, an eLearning module, a set of videos, or something similar. While those theories and models certainly help designers effectively build a single asset, they stop there.
Consider:
- ADDIE, SAM, Agile for Learning — these all assume you are creating a single curriculum or program
- Design Thinking for Learning – this assumes you are improving user experience within a single curriculum or program
- Kirkpatrick’s Levels of Evaluation, Phillips ROI model – these assume you are measuring the impact of just a single program or curriculum
- Bloom’s Taxonomy – this assumes you are setting objectives for a single program or curriculum
There was no model to show how to strategically design multiple learning assets in coordination to meet a broader business goal. And this is how we learn, historically and today.
How is a Learning Cluster different from Blended Learning?
Blended learning, while using different ways of reaching and engaging learners, is designed with a particular start and stop, sequence, and often a cohort in mind. In Blended Learning, the learning facilitator retains control of when, where, and how learning will take place.
A Learning Cluster includes learning assets that are independent of time and place, that the learner decides when and where they want to engage. A Learning Cluster may still include formal assets that have a start and stop or time and place, but also includes social (through people) and immediate (accessible 24/7, on their own) learning assets. In these social and immediate assets, we let go of our control as learning design and delivery.
Social, Formal and Immediate are what we call the three learning touchpoints – and an effective learning cluster will have assets in all three touchpoints, addressing the needs of 3-5 learner personas.
We think of Blended Learning as the early 2010s evolution for learning. Learning Clusters is the evolution for the late 2010s and 2020s and beyond.
Do I have to abandon everything else I know and do to become a user of the LCD model?
No, not at all! One of the great things about the LCD model is that it’s an evolution, not a revolution. We want you to use everything you know and everything you observe in your workplace. At the end of the day, you will be designing and developing single assets that make up the cluster — which is what our historically models are great for, especially when paired with AI to accelerate content creation and organization!
In our work, we share how the model works with other models (such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, Kirkpatrick’s Levels of Evaluation, Design Thinking, etc.) in our book, practicum, and other learning assets.
Do You Suggest that L&D Stop Using Other Models? | Designing for Modern Learning Beyond ADDIE and SAM
What credibility backs the validity of the LCD model?
You might be wondering, “Where is the proof?”
We have a lot of evidence (and growing every day) on the impact and grounding of the model:
- We have masters level thesis work and other studies completed that demonstrate the impact of the model. See the Publications page for these resources.
- We have 3 ATD award winners that have reported back how their use of the model led to their success
- Lisa and Crystal, co-creators of the model, started teaching the model in 2015 and have now reached over 1000 graduates
- The Association for Talent Development, the leading global association for the learning industry, published Designing for Modern Learning, Lisa and Crystal’s book showcasing the model. It continues to be a best seller and supported as a new foundational approach for all learning professionals to consider.
- There are many use cases that have evidence of a material difference – you can see these in the testimonials the LCD model has received
New case studies are shared frequently. Stay in touch via our newsletter to see these.
Why was the LCD model created?
In 2015, Crystal and Lisa were asked by the Association for Talent Development to explore modern learners and modern learning and the LCD model became the answer. Rather than orienting learning design to different generations (the expectation), we responded directly to the gaps in traditional learning design when applied in the digital age.
Some of these gaps include:
- Gap #1 One-and-done events or programming – Digital age learners use many different ways to learn and use these ways in different times and places. If all we deliver is one class, curriculum, e-learning, or a set of videos, we are not able to meet the need.
- Gap #2 One size fits all – Traditionally, we think of our audience as a single target audience and feel overwhelmed if we try to personalize or tailor. Yet, for learning to make a difference, digital-age learners look for their unique needs to be met.
- Gap #3 Technology Without a Why – Though there is lots of new technology, learning fails to have a strategic method for determining which technology to invest in and often relies on the same old tools we are familiar with. We also struggle to leverage the full capability of today’s technology, because we don’t have a way of thinking and doing to pair with the tools.
These are just a few of the gaps Lisa and Crystal sought to address. You can learn more about the origin story and what LCD model solves below:
The Learning Cluster Design Model Origin Story | Designing for Modern Learning Beyond ADDIE and SAM
What Does the Learning Cluster Design Model Solve? | Designing for Modern Learning | Crystal Kadakia
The Learning Cluster Design (LCD) Model is a new way of working that is reshaping Talent Development in organizations.
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