Navigating Change and Innovation in L&D with Avinash Chandarana

How do you build, brand, and reinvent learning & development through constant change, while working with the same partners and delivering real performance impact? Avinash Chandarana has led MCI Group's L&D team for more than 25 years, and has steered it through continuous change since.

Starting programs from the ground up, tackling severe budget constraints and the COVID pandemic, and adapting to a widely dispersed remote team, Avinash’s career provides valuable insights for any modern L&D leader.

In a recent podcast episode, we discussed the major transformations in L&D over the decades, the persistent hurdle of shifting stakeholders’ mindsets beyond simple training demands, and the role AI is playing in shaping workforce development’s future. Avinash also shares his guiding principles for maintaining relevance and helping his team do the same.

Listen to the full episode below, or keep reading for the key takeaways from our conversation. 

Evolving from training to strategic thinking

Learning and development is in constant evolution. Today, the profession is moving from a fixation on delivering courses and materials—responding to individual requests—to becoming a strategic, value-added business transformation unit. 

Avinash has seen and lived this progression firsthand. “When you've been at L&D for a while and you're in the traditional zone of creating courses and resources, you can stay in that mode and that behavior for a long time. That's your output.”

The shift comes when you think critically about what you’re trying to achieve, and push yourself and your team to be more strategic. 

“It comes down to our purpose and our relevance in terms of our function. How do we continue to evolve to meet those expectations? And how do we move away from stakeholders coming to us asking for more and more training?"

Budget cuts and new expectations have forced all L&D teams to evolve and rethink our role in organizations. 

“That's constantly on my mind: how do we remain nimble and efficient, and ensure that we remain relevant as a value-adding transformational unit, versus just an order taker?”

How to empower performance as an L&D function

Demonstrating value requires focusing on purpose and impact, linked directly to business needs. Instead of asking what training is needed, L&D teams must focus on identifying business challenges, desired behavioral changes, and capabilities needed. 

“Every time we launch an initiative, a course, or any type of program or framework, it's not just because we need more content or more resources. It's always looking at first and foremost: why are we doing what we're doing? What’s the impact of what we’re offering here? And that has to come from a business need.”

Again, this requires stepping out from the order taker role. L&D should be a driving force both in creating positive change within an organization, and anticipating headwinds and hurdles to come.

“These are open conversations you have with key stakeholders. So you’re not just talking about training, you’re talking about real business challenges or opportunities and saying, ‘here's how we can support that process to help you and your team.’ I think that elevates the concept of what we do. It's going from transactional to transformational.”

The goal is to be seen as an "empowering performance" function, as reflected in the MCI Institute's tagline.

From classrooms, to webinars, to communities

Like so many L&D teams, MCI Institute’s delivery methods have changed over time. “In the early days, we were doing a lot of in-person [learning]. The first KPIs were bums in seats. There was no learning strategy. Then we started live webinars, and were doing 100 per year, 130 per year, and measuring attendance.”

Event-style learning was a good, quantitative way to measure impact as the function grew. But now, Avinash points to the more qualitative value of connecting through community, and the stories learners can tell about their progress. 

“Our mentorship programs are so powerful, and those are real human impact stories which show performance as well. We've got great stories saying, ‘because we went through a mentorship program, this helped me with a promotion,’ or ‘this helped me move someone from one position to another in a different direction.’ 

“Those are small but powerful stories that show that learning and development is more than just courses, or even just resources sitting in a system.”

Three principles for managing remote teams

MCI’s L&D team is split between Brussels, Chile, and Spain—a common setup for modern units. Avinash shares three key principles to help remote or distributed teams work effectively: 

• Clarity: “Making sure that every one of us knows what success looks like. Why are we here? We always have three key business priorities, which are linked to the business and the vision of the company. Every week we talk about each of those three priorities.”
• Trust: “If you're micromanaging, you're certainly doing it wrong, in my opinion. Autonomy is key.”
• Connection: “Without structured touch points, people will drift. Once a week without fail, we always have that meeting. But throughout the week, if there's anything urgent, then of course we'll touch base.”

We’re increasingly seeing calls for return to offices from leaders. Many believe it's easier to manage teams you can physically see. Avinash’s principles help him keep the team engaged and accountable, without falling back on presenteeism.
“Clarity, trust, and connection let us lead with outcomes, not by hours logged into a system. If we get that right, then working in a remote team is highly effective.”

Fostering learning in the L&D team

With so much focus on wider organizational learning, we often forget to talk about the need to develop and upskill within our own departments. This is something Avinash cares deeply about. 

“Our roles are all about learning and helping others learn. Learning isn't optional for us as a team. Do we go through a lot of certifications and programs and structured training? No, but it's that open mindset and curiosity that I instill in myself that I also try to instill in my team.”

The emergence of generative AI is a good example of this in action. Organizations need to build skills and fluency with these tools quickly. And L&D teams must come first. 

That was another pivotal turning point: how we would introduce generative AI into learning and development. That started with buying into a new platform, a new learning management system. Within three months we had found and signed and launched a new system, which was AI first. 

“Everyone is using AI for content creation. But we went much further than that, and we really looked at what are the other functionalities? This is where human intelligence—our creativity—came into mind. We started looking at AI simulations, role plays, coaching with AI, and using AI narration. And we’ve localized learning and development across our multiple offices around the world. 

“That has enabled our offices around the world to lead the way in localizing learning and development. With very little support required from the global HQ team.” 

Listen to our full conversation in the player below.

About Avinash Chandarana

Avinash Chandarana is an L&D leader with over 25 years of experience shaping workplace learning. As Global Learning & Development Director at MCI Group, he founded the MCI Institute in 2008, transforming employee development for 2,500 staff across 60 offices in 31 countries.

A recognized Fellow of the Learning & Performance Institute (LPI), Avinash combines human-centered design with cutting-edge technology, including AI, to optimize learning experiences and drive business impact. A true global nomad, his career spans the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with successful projects in 33+ countries. Beyond leading L&D, he is a sought-after speaker, facilitator, and moderator, holding credentials from MIT Sloan and INSEAD in neuroscience, leadership, and management.