4 Classic Mistakes That Kill Your Learning Projects

Don't fall down that hole...

Author

Ross Stevenson
November 25th, 2025

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 TODAY’S THOUGHTS ☠️

Hey there 👋,

Social media and company all-hands convince us that AI is the magic pill.

But you’re smarter than that.

AI can help in many ways, yet there’s much it can’t save us from. I’ve seen some classic ones in both my corporate and now independent career.

Today, we’re exploring the 4 classic mistakes that kill L&D projects and how to fix them.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

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 IN THIS DROP 📔

  • Classic mistakes to avoid

  • Why the best learning experience doesn’t always win

  • Steal my problem-solving framework

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 THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

4 Classic Mistakes That Kill Your Learning Projects

Why Me Crying GIF by Team Coco

When your precious creation doesn’t land

You might think I’m being mean (even crazy), but I’ve found this to be true.

The best learning experience doesn’t always win.

It stings, and I’ve felt that sting many times before. I’m sure you have too.

So how do we solve it?

Many factors come into play for success. Some are beyond your control, and others you couldn’t foresee. Yet, we can look across the industry for signals.

Where do projects fall flat? Why, and most importantly, what can we learn from this?

Here’s 4 classic mistakes that will derail your work

1/ Building in silo

Don’t spend 6 months in your monk temple building something that people no longer need, or at the very least, can’t remember why they needed it in the first place.

Too many good and great L&D/HR projects have died behind closed doors.

You need to collaborate. We’re human after all.

What I’m not saying here is for you to take an order from stakeholders to go and build. That never ends well. Instead, partner with them like a consultant.

I know it’s easy to say, and not so easy to do.

This guide on why performance consulting is so important for L&D will help you with that.

2/ Drop and hide

The old build a product and tell no one about it.

This is a classic L&D pitfall. Launch the best thing since sliced bread, but tell no one about it. Only to bemoan why no one is using it.

Madness.

This can easily be avoided.

Here’s a few guides to help you get the engagement you want:

3/ Spray and pray

This one always makes me chuckle.

You build an experience because a senior leader says a team desperately needs this. You don’t talk to the end users because you take the leader’s words as truth.

You then build an experience based on this only to discover at launch, the end users have no idea why they need this.

This is what I call a spray and pray tactic.

You build something based on an assumption and hope it works. Only to be left with your time wasted and your experience in the graveyard.

Two things I want to share with you to help with this 👇

  1. The performance consulting cheatsheet for L&D pros (8 questions you need to ask)

  2. How to ask better stakeholder questions for solution design

4/ Not solving a real problem

Ever built a solution and wondered WTF is this actually solving?

Me too.

In this age of my career, the first question I ask without fail is “What are we solving for?”. It’s amazing how those five little words can change a conversation.

It causes the recipient to think deeply about whether they are seeking:

  1. A training solution aka an engagement event, to make people feel good and tick a box. No performance improvement objective here

  2. A performance solution focused on enabling a skill and/or behaviour change that improves the team, business and individual.

80% of the time, I find it’s number 1.

Nothing wrong with that. Just be clear with your stakeholders on the outcome being sought.

🧰 The Fix: I’ve pretty much given you the answer already. Ask why and get super clear on it. Everything else means nothing without this.

L&D is no longer about design alone.

Final thoughts

There we have it, friend.

Success is built on an interconnected hive of choices and investments. So, while AI tools promise to do it all, we still have actions we must take.

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A MESSAGE FROM MENTIMETER

Draw a straight line from learning to results

Use Mentimeter to link activities, behaviors, and outcomes. Co-create the logic with stakeholders. Start now with our free templates.

 VIDEO THOUGHTS 💾

How I Approach Problem-Solving

Here’s a little BTS (behind the scenes) look into how my mind works.

I’m often asked about my solution design process, and I find it hard to articulate as it’s a very organic process I think little about, and just do. This is my best attempt at documenting some of this in the hopes it can help you.

Enjoy 😊.

Till next time, you stay classy, learning friend!

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