What Small Teams Need to Know About Learning & Development
… Because PowerPoints and Passive Training Aren’t Cutting It!
Here’s a fun fact no one asked for: Most people forget 90% of training within a week (aka Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve).
It’s not that they don’t care. It’s that the way we teach and support learning at work is often... well, not working.
But here’s the good news: Small teams are actually in the best position to build a culture where learning is part of the everyday. Not with a “program” necessarily, but instead with how you do business.
Let’s break it down:
Learning Culture = Leadership Culture
If people don’t feel safe asking questions, giving feedback, or admitting they don’t know something – you don’t have a learning culture. You’ve got quiet quitting waiting to happen.
A real learning culture looks like:
“Hey, I messed this up. How can I fix it?”
“This is new for me. Can you walk me through it?”
“Can I try leading this next time?”
Upskilling vs. Reskilling (a.k.a. Growing vs. Shifting)
We love a good distinction:
Upskilling = leveling up within a current role
Reskilling = learning a totally different one
For example:
Teaching your kitchen staff to manage inventory = Upskilling
Helping a front desk person move into social media = Reskilling
Knowing the difference helps you plan better, and support your people without stretching them too thin.
LMS Talk (Don’t Worry, We’ll Keep It Short)
Let’s get this out of the way: You do not need an expensive learning platform to be a “real” business. If your team is small, your systems are simple, and most learning happens side-by-side or on the job, you’re probably fine with a shared Google folder or a pinned Slack thread.
But if you:
Keep repeating the same training over and over
Want to track who’s done what (especially for safety or compliance reasons)
Are hiring regularly or planning to grow
…then an LMS could be a solid investment.
Just remember: An LMS should support your culture, not replace it. If you invest in a system but ignore what your team actually needs to learn, it’s just another subscription collecting dust.
Coaching > Courses
Formal training is fine. But what really sticks?
Someone saying, “Hey, I’ve been there. Let me help you figure it out.”
Peer mentorship, quick feedback loops, and ongoing convos beat one-off trainings every time.
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