Learning · Knowledge · AI Transformation

When performance won't move,
something deeper is in the way.

I diagnose what's really blocking results, capture what your best people know before they walk out the door, and help organizations adopt AI in ways that actually stick — one methodology, three connected disciplines.

See the Work About Me
Kimberly, Founder of LearnSmith

About

I diagnose why performance stalls — then build the system that fixes it.

LearnSmith is built for L&D and capability leaders, operations and knowledge-management teams, and consulting firms building out an AI-transformation or learning advisory practice — organizations trying to make training, institutional knowledge, or AI adoption actually stick, not just launch. I bring the same diagnostic and systems-design approach to all three: find the real root cause, design for how change actually happens, build the system, measure whether it worked. You'll see that play out across the case studies below — financial services, manufacturing, professional services, and operations organizations of every size.

Built for: mid-market and enterprise organizations.

That approach was forged over 15+ years in learning and capability architecture — instructional design, coaching, and evaluation-system design inside a national, multi-site organization. Different sector, same underlying problem: people don't change what they do because a program launched. They change because someone designed for it. AI helped me build the tools on this site faster; the diagnosis, the design decisions, and the business logic are mine.

15+ yearsin learning & capability architecture
Learning Forward & ASCDnational conference presenter
Change Management, KM & AI-Enabled Learningcurrent scope of practice

What I Do

Three Ways I Help

One methodology — diagnose, design, build, measure — applied across three connected disciplines.

Learning & Development

Build systems people actually use

Coaching, onboarding, and performance frameworks that turn training into a measurable business outcome, not a checkbox.

See case studies →
Knowledge Management

Capture what your best people know

Map institutional knowledge risk, capture it before someone walks out the door, and get it into a searchable system people actually use.

Explore the dashboard →
AI Transformation

Make AI adoption actually stick

Treat AI rollout as the change-management problem it is — champions, governance, and role-specific training, not just a license and a kickoff email.

See how it works →

Methodology

How I Work

1

Assess

Structured interviews and a data review to find the actual root cause, not the presenting symptom.

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2

Design

A blueprint: competency frameworks, pathways, governance, and the measurement plan that goes with them.

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3

Build

The artifacts themselves — curricula, coaching structures, champion networks, dashboards — built for your team to run.

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4

Measure

Role-based reporting that ties activity back to the business metric the work was meant to move.

Three ways that work gets packaged, depending on where you are and how much you want to own yourselves.

Diagnostic

For when performance is clearly stuck but the cause is contested. Structured interviews and data review, ending in a written findings report and a prioritized plan you can act on with or without me.

Design & Build

The full arc for a specific capability gap or rollout: framework, curriculum, enablement, and the dashboard to track whether it worked. Delivered so your team can run it after I step back.

Advisory

For teams doing the build themselves. Architecture review, coaching for your L&D leads, and course correction as the rollout meets reality.

Every engagement is scoped to the organization. Timeline and cost depend on scale and are agreed in writing before any work begins.

Try It Yourself

Live Interactive Dashboards

Clickable, role-based demos — no login required.

Competency-Led Development System

Assess competency maturity, track coaching effectiveness, and predict incident risk.

Open dashboard →

Safety Performance & Compliance Hub

Connects training completion, compliance, and incident-prevention metrics with role-based access.

Open dashboard →

Learning Operations Dashboard

Multi-modal learning across locations, tying learning outcomes to business metrics.

Open dashboard →

Knowledge Risk & Transfer Hub

Maps institutional knowledge risk by holder and tracks transfer-to-successor progress, role by role.

Open dashboard →

AI Adoption & Champion Network

Tracks ADKAR adoption stage, champion coverage, and shadow-AI risk across every practice group.

Open dashboard →

What I Build

Custom AI Agents for Your Context

Working agents, not mockup screenshots — examples of what I can build for your organization.

Each of these was built to carry a specific piece of consulting work: structured intake, root-cause diagnosis, a behavior-change assessment. They run on sample scenarios here so you can see the reasoning in action. In an engagement they would be built around your roles, your terminology, and the decisions your team actually has to make. I own the diagnosis, the architecture, and the business logic; AI handles the scaffolding and the interface.

Free · 5 minutes

AI Readiness Snapshot

Fifteen scenario questions that locate which stage of change an AI rollout is actually stuck at — awareness, desire, knowledge, ability or reinforcement — and what to do about that specific one. Scored in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

Take the snapshot →
Diagnostic

LearnSmith Diagnostic Agent

Conversational diagnostic grounded in change management research. Surfaces root causes, maps gaps, and generates a sequenced action plan and handoff checklist for the client.

See how it works →
Site Visit Intake

Site Visit Intake Agent

A conversational intake for on-site visits — org context, the problem, current and desired state, constraints — that exports a ready-to-use action planner.

See how it works →
Behavior Change

Behavior Change Diagnostic

An ADKAR-structured interview that pinpoints which stage of change a rollout is actually stuck at — awareness, desire, knowledge, ability or reinforcement — and what to do about it.

See how it works →
AI Course Builder

ISLA — AI Course Builder

Tell ISLA what you want to learn. She interviews you, designs a personalized course, and delivers it with structured lessons, quizzes, progress tracking, and a completion certificate.

Open ISLA →

Proof, Not Promises

Case Studies

Performance Management at Scale

High-performer turnover

25% → 15%

Coaching-driven competency

Explore →

Scaling Onboarding in Hypergrowth

Time to full productivity

6mo → 3mo

Role-based learning pathways

Explore →

Safety Culture Transformation

Incidents per site, per quarter

8-12 → 2

Behavior-based safety

Explore →

Operational Readiness Framework

Platform adoption rate

60% → 93%

Platform adoption & efficiency

Explore →

Measuring Learning's Impact

Return per $1 invested in L&D

$2.50 : $1

4-level impact model

Explore →

Leadership Development

Leadership promotions per year

3 → 16

Succession pipeline

Explore →

Knowledge Management at Scale

New-hire ramp time

9mo → 4mo

Institutional knowledge capture & transfer

Explore →

AI Transformation at Scale

AI tool adoption rate

19% → 65%

ADKAR-based AI adoption & champion network

Explore →

Background

Credentials & Speaking

15+ years In learning and capability architecture — instructional design, coaching, and evaluation-system design inside a national, multi-site organization.
National conference presenter Learning Forward and ASCD, on evaluation system design and building capability at scale.
Published white papers On the design of teacher and leader evaluation systems — the research base behind the competency frameworks in this portfolio.
Current scope of practice Change management, knowledge management, and AI-enabled learning strategy across L&D and operations.

Insights

What I'm Writing

In progress

Learning Architecture with AI: From Strategic Vision to Execution

A practitioner's handbook on designing learning systems in an era where AI collapses the cost of building them — and where that makes the diagnosis, the architecture, and the measurement matter more, not less. It covers the same diagnose → design → build → measure discipline behind every engagement on this site.

Ask about early chapters →

Next Steps

How an Engagement Starts

No forms, no discovery funnel. Three steps, and you can stop after any of them.

1

Send a short note

A few sentences on where performance is stuck and what you have already tried. That is enough to start.

2

A scoping conversation

Thirty minutes to pressure-test whether the problem is what it appears to be, and whether I am the right person for it. Sometimes the honest answer is no.

3

A written scope

What I would do, what you would get, what it depends on, and what it costs. You decide from there.

Ready to explore how these patterns apply to your organization?

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LearnSmith is a Summit Finders LLC company.
Drawn from real engagements. Details and industry context have been adapted to protect confidentiality and illustrate applicability across sectors.