In this episode of "The Stand," host Terrence O'Hanlon speaks with Jeff Smith, a CRL Black Belt and veteran reliability leader. Jeff breaks down the new, tiered training curriculum for the Uptime® Elements framework, introducing a key distinction between "badges" (knowing) and "belts" (doing). He explains that while badges prove you have deep knowledge of a specific domain, belts are earned by completing a validated, real-world project—the crucial 70% of learning that happens on the job.

The conversation emphasizes that the greatest challenge in reliability is the "human part," and that success depends on communicating the "why" to your team. Jeff shares his enthusiasm for the new training content, which is being built with AI-enabled avatars and video to be more accessible and engaging for the "digital native" workforce.