What if we had no budget for training? If we couldn’t spend a cent on workshops or courses, how could we still help people grow, perform, and develop in our organisations?
This bold thought experiment shifts the focus from formal learning to organisational design—exploring how we shape environments that guide behaviour, improve decision-making, and build capability without traditional training.
We’ll challenge assumptions about how people learn:
- How much of learning is really just adapting to the systems and culture around us?
- What if the workplace itself could be designed to teach, guide, and support growth?
- If we focus on designing for better behaviour and decision-making, what role remains for structured training?
Without formal training, what levers do we have to develop people?
- Recruitment & Selection: Hiring for adaptability, curiosity, and teachability rather than just technical skills.
- Performance Management & Enablement: Shifting from rigid assessments to dynamic, real-time feedback and performance coaching.
- Coaching & Mentoring: Encouraging knowledge transfer through structured peer coaching and leadership mentoring.
- Artisanal & Apprenticeship Approaches: Learning by doing, with master practitioners guiding less experienced employees.
- Job Design & Rotations: Structuring roles to expose employees to diverse experiences that naturally develop their skills.
- Technology & AI Tools: Leveraging digital solutions to provide just-in-time learning and decision support.
This is not an argument against training but an exploration of how design and development should work together. By first stripping away training, we reveal what can be built into the organisation itself—so that when training returns, it is more targeted, impactful, and deeply integrated with real work.
Join us as we explore how to make learning an ongoing, embedded experience—not an event, but a way of working.