The 5 Habits of High-Impact L&D Teams

Every organisation trains. But not every organisation transforms. The difference? High-impact Learning & Development (L&D) teams. These aren’t just teams who tick training boxes, they’re teams who build capability, drive behavioural change, and unlock real business performance.

At the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy, we’ve seen the difference a well-equipped L&D team can make. The best of the best? They all operate with five powerful habits, and they all understand how people actually learn.

If you want your team to go from good to game-changing, here’s where to start.

1. They Start with the End in Mind

High-impact L&D teams never begin with a course; they begin with a challenge. They ask: What do people need to do differently? How will we know it’s worked? Then they design learning experiences that drive that exact change.

This habit aligns L&D with strategy, ensuring that every programme contributes directly to performance goals, not just to knowledge acquisition.

Takeaway: Define success in terms of behaviour and performance, not just learning outcomes.

2. They Use Brain-Friendly Design

High-impact teams know how the brain works and how to design for it. Forget information overload and death by PowerPoint. These teams use principles of brain-friendly learning to create sessions that are engaging, spaced, emotionally resonant and anchored in real-world context.

At the L&D Academy, we show teams how to use storytelling, multisensory input, and retrieval practice to boost retention and recall. Because when training respects how the brain learns, learners don’t just enjoy it, they remember it.

Takeaway: Design learning that’s emotionally engaging, spaced out over time, and easy to apply.

3. They Design for Action, Not Just Awareness

Knowledge is only half the battle. High-impact L&D teams are obsessed with what people do differently after training. They use hands-on practice, real scenarios, and active learning methods to drive application not just understanding.

The focus is always: ‘How will this show up in their day job?’

Takeaway: Prioritise skill building over content dumping.

4. They Follow Up (Because Brains Forget)

Here’s the science: within a week, most learners forget up to 90% of what they hear unless it’s reinforced. High-impact teams build in follow-up that’s brain-friendly: spaced repetition, prompts, nudges and performance coaching.

Learning doesn’t stop at the end of the session. That’s just where it begins.

Takeaway: Create a post-training pathway that keeps learning alive.

5. They Measure What Matters

High-impact teams don’t just count the delegates on seats. They measure behavioural shifts, business impact, and learner confidence. They know how to show value in both data and stories, and they use it to constantly improve.

Takeaway: Track outcomes, not just outputs.

Let’s Build a Brain-Smart, High-Impact L&D Team

If you’re serious about developing a training team that drives lasting change, you need to move beyond content and into capability. That’s where the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy comes in.

Ready to upgrade team’s habits, mindset and impact? Contact me today matt@twentyoneleadership.com and let’s build a brain-friendly, high-performance L&D team from the inside out.