Learning Ourselves: Building an Adaptive, Skilled, and Culture-Driven L&D Team in Times of Pressure and Change
During my time leading teams of learning consultants, designers, and programmers at IBM, I noted with some frustration that finding learning programming or learning paths for my teams was often a difficult, if not futile, effort. At IBM, much like other organizations, L&D professionals were expected to keep up with industry best practices, new approaches to design, technology, and capability on their own, in often unstructured and inconsistent ways.
In every corner of the enterprise, L&D is called upon to help others navigate complexity. We design reskilling programs, enable cultural change, and deliver learning to help people keep pace and boost performance. But one uncomfortable truth lingers: while we enable learning across the business, we frequently overlook our own.
As HR and L&D leaders, we’re under pressure to respond to sweeping change—from AI disruption and hybrid work to shifting expectations of speed, value, and impact. Yet even as the learning mandate grows, many of our own teams remain under-resourced, skill-constrained, and too busy delivering to focus on their own development.
According to the 2024 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, only 27% of L&D teams report that they significantly invest in their own upskilling. Even more striking, Deloitte’s 2023 Human Capital Trends report found that just 22% of L&D functions rate themselves as “highly prepared” for the future of work, despite being responsible for preparing others.
It’s time for us to break this cycle. In moments of disruption, our ability to lead learning depends on our willingness to live it.
Impactful, demonstrable L&D in 4 simple steps
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Why L&D must turn inward to move forward
When our teams are skilled, responsive, and energized by a strong culture, we’re positioned to lead, not just deliver. We can prototype learning in real time, respond creatively to business needs, and influence organizational transformation. But without time and space to reflect, upskill, or stretch, even the best L&D teams risk becoming order-takers in a moment that calls for leadership and becoming trusted advisors.
We must make the case, not just to our organizations—but to ourselves—that, now more than ever, internal L&D investment isn’t a luxury. It’s a strategic imperative.
Culture first: building a team that learns by doing
Culture isn’t a side effect of development—it’s a precondition. To build a team capable of innovation under pressure, leaders must foster:
- Psychological safety: Normalize sharing unfinished work, learning in the open, and naming uncertainty.
- Reflective practice: Use retrospectives after programs to ask, What did we learn—not just about the business, but about ourselves?
- Transparent development goals: Make individual and team learning goals visible and aligned to business outcomes.
As an L&D leader, culture starts with what you model. Show your own learning process or resources. Celebrate experimentation. Share failures, not just wins. This doesn’t weaken leadership—it strengthens team trust and clarity.
Skill second: upskill for responsiveness, not just readiness
An effective L&D team today needs more than instructional design, program management, and facilitation. We need skills that stretch across business acumen, analytics, and agility. Prioritize:
- AI and digital fluency – Understand how tools like AI, automation, and learning analytics can transform learning operations.
- Consulting and influence – Help L&D operate as trusted strategic advisors, not service providers or order takers.
- Design agility – Shift from fixed programs to iterative, responsive solutions.
These priorities don’t require a major overhaul. Try launching short, internal learning sprints. Pair team members on stretch projects. Use free AI tools to build shared literacy. Build a habit of small, consistent upskilling that aligns with the team’s work.
Case in point: One L&D team I worked with began embedding AI tools into their design cycles only after investing in their own internal learning series, led by their most curious (not necessarily most senior) team members.
Make room for it: protect time and budget for learning
Great intentions die in crowded calendars. As we have learned from our internal learning audiences, if learning isn’t protected, it won’t happen. As leaders of L&D teams:
- Dedicate time – Carve out 10–15% of team bandwidth for learning, innovation, or community-based skill building.
- Secure budget – Invest in tools, platforms, and experiences designed for L&D professionals.
- Measure what matters – Track not just course completions, but team growth, capability, adaptability, and cross-functional effectiveness.
Research from RedThread (2023) shows that high-performing L&D functions are 2.4x more likely to have structured programs for their own development. That correlation isn’t accidental. It’s also a fundamental precept of the L&D Maturity Model introduced by David James and 360Learning as a way to better understand your L&D function’s capabilities and how to level up L&D’s performance across several important functions to become more high-performing teams.
As an L&D leader, I chose to introduce the concept of reserving one week a year to go “offline” for nothing but urgent client demands in order to hold a “think week” that was curated by the team and focused on items people wanted to learn, teach, and had personal interest in. My role was to clear hurdles with stakeholders and upper management to give the event legitimacy and inspire the team to reach deep for topics that would move us forward in our collective skills.
Reframe partnership: learn with, not just for, the business
The business doesn’t just want learning—they want to be part of it. Use that momentum:
- Invite business partners into co-design sprints.
- Use real challenges as development moments for your team.
- Share your learning journey with business stakeholders to build transparency and credibility.
Let them see you doing what you're asking others to do. When the business sees L&D growing, adapting, and iterating visibly, they’re more likely to trust your solutions and your strategy. At first, my team’s stakeholders weren’t sure how to react to our ThinkWeek effort. But when they observed our dedication to team development and our team’s changing attitudes and approaches to learning development, they supported and encouraged our offline time.
Lead the change by living it
At this moment of inflection, we need to lead differently. That starts with a simple shift: treating our own L&D team’s development with the same urgency, rigor, and creativity we bring to the rest of the organization.
You can't teach what you don’t live. And in this era, your credibility—and capability—as a functional organization is essential to your growth, impact, and performance.
If this resonates with you, don’t wait for permission. Start with what you control:
- Run an internal skill or needs assessment for your L&D team.
- Schedule a quarterly “learning lab” where your team pilots tools or techniques or comes together to explore new design ideas..
- Make space on your team calendar for one meaningful upskilling activity each sprint or month, or quarter.
And then, share your story. L&D deserves to learn out loud. Let your stakeholders know that your team is continually “sharpening their saws”, as Stephen Covey put it. They will appreciate your dedication to supporting them.
Let’s turn the lens inward. Let’s learn ourselves.
Because when we do, we don’t just develop better L&D teams—we develop better organizations.
If you want to network with others on this topic, join the discussion with other L&D leaders in the L&D Collective and share your perspective.
Resources to support your team’s development
Here are a few trusted, publicly available resources to help you and your team begin or deepen this internal development journey:
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