Training shouldn’t fire blind.

A question from my Become an L&D Professional course that belongs before any training programme.

In 2020, I finally made time for the Become an L&D Professional course. It brought together contemporary approaches to adult learning in a concentrated format. The time and effort were worthwhile.

What stayed with me most was the connection between two worlds: what the organisation needs to achieve and what a particular person needs to be able to do. Strategy on one side, everyday work on the other. Learning should connect them.

That is the kind of development I value: purposeful learning with room for enjoyment too. Enjoyment alone, however, doesn’t explain what the programme is for.

Before choosing topics or building slides, try asking: what should people do differently at work afterwards? It isn’t as glamorous as a catalogue of the latest trends. It can save quite a lot of firing blind.