Why Great Learning Design Starts with Strategy, Not Slides.
- Lisa Martin
- Sep 30
- 3 min read
Too many learning programs start with PowerPoint slides instead of purpose.
I’ll admit, I’ve been guilty of this one. Especially early in my career. You spot a gap, sense a risk, or launch a new initiative and before long, you’re knee-deep in slides and storyboards. The problem is, no one has stopped to ask why this learning needs to exist in the first place.
The result? Learners tune out, managers lose faith in training, and the business sees little to no real impact.
It’s easy to jump straight into content creation because it feels productive. But meaningful learning that actually changes behaviour starts long before design begins. It starts with strategy.
The Problem: Falling into the Content-First Trap
When learning is built as a quick reaction to a request rather than a response to a strategy, the results are almost always the same:
Wasted effort and low engagement: Hours spent creating content that doesn’t connect to what people actually face day to day.
No real impact: Training that might look polished but doesn’t drive behaviour change.
Disconnected initiatives: Competing priorities all fighting for the same limited time and attention.
It’s not that the content is bad. It’s just built in isolation from the bigger picture. You’re investing time and money in delivery without investing in direction.
The Insight: Building a Strategic Foundation
A strong learning strategy transforms L&D from a box-ticking exercise into a driver of performance. It connects people, purpose, and business outcomes.
When learning is strategic, it does three key things:
Aligns with business outcomes. What’s the real goal? Maybe it’s increasing sales, improving customer retention, or reducing safety incidents. Whatever it is, learning should directly influence that outcome.
Understands the learner. What’s their day like? What motivates them? What’s really stopping them from doing things differently? Often it’s not knowledge. It’s time, tools, or confidence.
Measures what matters. Define success upfront. What will show that learning worked, such as skill application, performance improvement, or a measurable business shift?
When these three things line up, learning stops being an expense and starts becoming an investment.
The Framework: Diagnose, Design, Deliver
To put this into action, I use a simple three-step process:
Diagnose – This is where the magic happens. It’s about understanding the real challenge before creating a single piece of content. What’s driving the gap? Is training even the answer, or do we need to fix something else like process, communication, or leadership?
Design – Once the problem is clear, we design a learning experience that fits. It could be a microlearning series, a short workshop, or a blended campaign. The key is that every element has a purpose and connects back to the strategy.
Deliver – Strategy becomes action here. Delivery isn’t about uploading a course and walking away. It’s about embedding learning into the flow of work and measuring its impact over time.
The Example: Strategy in Action
I recently worked with a mid-sized Australian business that was struggling with inconsistent adoption of a new internal process.
Their first instinct was to request a three-part eLearning course to “teach” the steps. But when we dug a little deeper, we discovered the issue wasn’t knowledge. It was judgement. The team knew the process but struggled with the grey areas, the situations that didn’t fit neatly into the manual.
Instead of building a long course, we created visual decision-making tools and ran three short, scenario-based virtual sessions.
The result? Process consistency improved by more than 25 percent within the first quarter, and we achieved it with far less development time than originally planned.
By starting with strategy instead of slides, we solved the real problem and delivered measurable business value.
The Wrap-Up: Time to Audit Your Learning Strategy
If your learning programs are struggling with low engagement, poor completion rates, or minimal behaviour change, it’s probably not a content issue. It’s a strategy gap.
The best organisations treat learning as a system that supports their goals, culture, and people.
Before you build your next module, take a step back and ask:
What business result is this learning meant to achieve?
What’s really standing in the way of performance?
How will we know it worked?
If you’re not sure about any of those answers, that’s okay. You’re definitely not alone, and that’s where I can help.
The Call to Action
Let’s turn your learning from “just another course” into something that drives real results.
I help businesses design purpose-driven learning strategies that connect people’s growth to meaningful business outcomes. From strategy and instructional design to communication and visual design, I’ll help you create learning that actually works.
Ready to start?
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