Meet our Guest

Sara is a lifelong learner, wife to Steve, and proud mom to Krynn. She finds the greatest fulfillment in building strong relationships and supporting the career growth of others. As a Senior Instructional Designer at Border States — a 100% employee-owned company delivering supply chain services nationwide — Sara creates engaging, goal-driven learning experiences that empower both branch teams and corporate departments. 

An active member and board member of the North Dakota ATD chapter, Sara thrives on projects that connect learning to strategic initiatives and emerging technologies.

In This Episode 

🧠 Why "Go-Live" isn't a success metric: How a go/no-go approach prevents last-minute content scrambles.

💡 Training 6X faster: How the went from 48 hours to 9 using a new SME process. 

🛠️  Why you should train the help desk first: What happens when help desk training is left for later? 

How Sara Madsen 6X'd Training Speed at Border States

Background context: Five years ago, Sara Madsen and her L&D team were handed a half-finished SAP implementation and told, "Training launches in 8 weeks."

The system was still changing, the screens weren’t finalized, and the training content? Not even started.

🎤 "We did it, but it wasn't great. We made it work with some creativity and flexibility—but the experience suffered."— Sara Madsen

Since then, Sara has turned reactive chaos into proactive alignment, becoming a critical voice in software rollout planning. Today, project managers and execs ask for her input before the vendor is even selected."When it's an emergency, you don't create engaging content. You create the bare minimum."

Key Insight #1: Add a Go/No-Go Date

Most IT timelines forget about training. Sara fixes this with a simple move: she adds a Go/No-Go date to every project.

That date defines when training can begin—only once the system is stable. If the app is still shifting, training waits. It’s not a delay. It’s insurance. This prevents last-minute scrambles and ensures better learning outcomes.

🎤  "Even one button moving on the homepage can destroy learner trust. If what they see doesn’t match, they assume it’s all wrong.”— Sara Madsen

Key Insight #2: Training 6X Faster

In 2023: An SME builds course in 40 hours. L&D adds 8 hours of polish.

In 2024: An SME records 4 tutorials in 8 hours. L&D polishes in 1.

The difference? Equipping subject matter experts with tools like iorad.

🎤 “Now we go to market faster, the content is stronger, and our SMEs actually enjoy the process.”— Sara Madsen

Free Adoption Template: Software Training Rollout Success Toolkit

The Problem: Training starts before the system is stable, leading to rushed content and low learner trust.

The Solution: Add a Go/No-Go date in your project plan. It’s the official checkpoint: is the system stable enough to start content development?

• Set a Go/No-Go date at the first PM scoping call. 
• Ask IT for a "stable screen" milestone—and hold to it. 
• Plan training creation after that milestone
• Communicate delays as timeline protection, not failure. 

Why this works: 🎤 "Without it, IT delays become L&D emergencies. With it, we get space to create content that actually works”— Sara Madsen