As a newly appointed content manager on a professional learning startup project, I joined a team of about 60 recently hired individuals. Despite clear goals and some great leaders, our team lacked cohesion. Our subject matter experts worked diligently but without established systems, processes, or quality standards—all heading in different directions with the best intentions.

I quickly discovered that what I initially perceived as a re-entry job—my return to the workforce after five years of focusing on my daughters—was more challenging than I anticipated. However, I am thankful for the experience. It was a role that enabled me to grow, lead, empower, and shine.

Developing a learning strategy

Early in my career, I learned I was—and am—replaceable. Leaving my first leadership role was a humbling experience, as the team continued to manage without me. While it’s natural to desire a sense of indispensability, my perspective has evolved over time. I’ve become a legacy planner, striving to create systems and strategies that endure beyond my direct involvement.

My learning strategy was born from both a legacy mindset and the fact that I had so many systems, processes, and ways of working. I couldn’t visualize and categorize all the parts of the work, much less communicate them to my team.

Developing a strategy enabled me to see the interconnectedness of my company’s systems and, in terms of legacy planning, enabled me to document how my teams operate, ensuring continuity even in my absence.

Communication is key

Startup culture works at a frenzied pace with an occasional lack of clarity regarding roles and working norms. Conflict that happens within and among teams often revolves around decision making, inadvertently excluding key stakeholders, and a lack of clear communication.

I was lucky enough to learn the following decision-making model at the beginning of the startup project.

Create clarity

The new method of documentation that I introduced brought clarity and alignment for my work, but more importantly, it brought clarity to my teams about roles and responsibilities as well as who can provide input, who gets to make the decision, whom to keep informed, and who can override the decision. The strategy, which resides in a Microsoft Excel workbook across five tabs, serves as a framework for determining our team’s actions and methods. The spreadsheet illustrates the instructional system in which my teams work and provides a road map for our future.

The framework has been instrumental in helping my team and myself to visualize the complex system we’ve co-created. It provides a clear understanding of our work, how we do it, and the standards for which we aim.

Structure. I define structure by asking “What is the widget?” In other words, what are the instructional outputs we produce? The answer will vary for all L&D teams based on current responsibilities and future plans.

Your team may develop videos, virtual or augmented reality environments, job aids, e-learning, instructor-led training, or learning paths. Clarify what your team produces; spend some time with team members documenting the requirements of each instructional product.

For example, if I asked my team to create a video, team members should know what intro and outro music to use, what music to embed, and what photos are on brand. They know the process to create the video, what roles the project requires, and who has the right to make decisions for each part of the process.

Planning. How do you decide what to produce, and how do you prioritize development? All instructional development should align with your organizational strategic goals. If you use a project overview or project charter to capture a project’s vision, include a statement about how each project supports the company’s goals and how you will measure success.

For example, if your organization wants your team to learn about project management, consider the pros and cons of creating assets internally versus using pre-made external resources. If the company doesn’t have proprietary techniques, what do you gain by building them from scratch?

The goal of strategic planning is to develop a one- to two-year road map informed by data that details the team’s priorities from a micro level (as in, your personal goals) to the macro level (as in, the company’s and leadership’s goals). Share the plan with stakeholders to foster a sense of trust through transparent communication.

Operations. What comprises the internal systems tools, processes, and procedures? Which tools does your team use to author content and collaborate with each other? Are you using Zoom, Google, Slack, Microsoft, a learning management system, or a project management system?

Define and document the norms your teams have created and adopted. Norms are part of any working culture and support the onboarding and legacy of your team if you codify them.

Onboarding and training are part of operations. When you orient and support your team, they can all work in the same direction, with the same norms, toward the same goals.

I include data tracking and visualization tools in this tab of the spreadsheet. Other users may want this to live in a different part of their strategy or prefer to create a sixth tab of that part of the strategy.

Communication. Establish how, when, and what to communicate. Most leaders understand the importance of great communication, but using strategy to inform communications and knowing the difference between push and pull communications can further benefit teams.

Create a place where all users can find information on demand. Providing just-in-time communications (such as emails, project updates, and marketing campaigns) pushes relevant information to recipients.

Generate a communications campaign to keep people informed of project milestones. Take inventory of what projects are in motion and communicate with stakeholders at each stage.

Quality. This component is the difference between enabling your workforce or requiring yet another training course. Address quality via style guides, quality assurance checklists, alignment to industry standards or credible research, and adherence to branding guides.

Ensure accessible features that address the needs of a diverse workforce. How does your content support the physical, cultural, economic, cognitive, and language needs and perspectives of the populations you serve?

Iterate and adapt

Our journey toward equity isn’t a finish line. It’s a bit more like laundry: critical, continuous, and enables us to show up as our best selves. Humans have so much to learn—more than is possible in a lifetime—but we can leave a legacy of doing better and leading with empathy, compassion, and a willingness to remain curious about the things and people that are differently beautiful.

The framework has added value for my teams. They have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and know whom to approach for questions about a particular part of the system. Not only can we easily adapt to changes and identify how the framework will change, but I’ve delegated ownership of specific framework elements to team members.

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