Why “We Need Training” Is Usually the Wrong Starting Point

There’s a pattern I see again and again.

A problem shows up. Performance dips. Tension rises. Something isn’t working.And eventually, someone says the familiar words: “We need training.”

But more often than not, that request isn’t a solution, it’s a signal.

A signal that harder work upstream hasn’t happened yet.

When Training Becomes the Safest Option

In many organisations, training is reached for because it feels decisive and visible. It creates the appearance of action while avoiding more difficult conversations.

Unclear expectations remain unspoken. Decision rights stay fuzzy. Standards vary. Processes creak. Feedback loops are missing. Leadership conversations are delayed because they feel uncomfortable or politically risky.

In that context, a course feels like progress.

When L&D is invited in late, learning is asked to patch behaviour rather than shape conditions. Training becomes a response to deeper issues that are structural, cultural or systemic.

The Human Cost of Late-Stage Learning

People feel this immediately.

Skills are pushed onto individuals to compensate for broken systems. Empathy training is deployed instead of addressing workload pressures. “Dealing with difficult people” courses appear instead of tackling accountability or role clarity.

Frustration builds on all sides. Leaders feel disappointed by the lack of impact. Employees feel blamed for problems they didn’t create. L&D gets judged on outcomes it never had the power to influence.

At that point, learning isn’t enabling performance, it’s absorbing organisational anxiety.

What Changes When L&D Is Involved Earlier

When L&D is involved upstream, the conversation shifts.

Instead of “what course do we need?”, the question becomes “what actually needs to change?” Expectations are clarified before they harden into habits. Misalignment is surfaced while it’s still cheap to fix. Decisions are examined through the lens of people, systems and processes — not just delivery.

This is where learning moves from content delivery to diagnosis.

And this is where influence starts.

Building the Capability to Work Upstream

This is exactly the capability gap many L&D teams are grappling with.

Being invited upstream isn’t just about organisational maturity, it’s about how L&D shows up. Strategic influence requires confidence in diagnosis, the ability to challenge assumptions, and the skill to work across systems, stakeholders and data, not just content.

TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy

That’s why I created the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy.

The Academy is designed to help L&D professionals and L&D teams move beyond order-taking and delivery, and into genuine learning partnership. It builds the mindset, confidence and consulting capability needed to influence earlier conversations, shape better decisions, and design learning that actually sticks.

For individuals, it develops strategic thinking, diagnostic skill, and the confidence to influence without authority. For L&D teams, it builds shared language, consistent ways of working, and the collective capability to operate as a strategic function, not just a service provider.

The focus isn’t on more tools or theory. It’s on how L&D operates day to day, in conversations, in decisions, and in moments where influence really matters.

Email me matt@twentyoneleadership.com