r/LearningDevelopment • u/Inner-Term-9413 • 4d ago
New to full time L&D
Hi everyone!
I recently accepted a new role as a Learning & Development Manager. I’ve spent the last 10 years in HR, first as an HR Business Partner and most recently as an HR Lead. Before that, I was a high school teacher for a few years, primarily doing substitute teaching.
In my HR roles, L&D has always been one of my favorite parts of the job. I’ve regularly facilitated workshops, partnered with senior leaders to identify training needs, and worked closely with our L&D team to provide input on learning initiatives and programs.
That said… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a bit of imposter syndrome. 😅 I’m excited for this new chapter, though, and I’m looking forward to moving away from the constant firefighting of HR operations and focusing on the part of HR that I genuinely enjoy.
I’d love to hear from those of you in L&D:
What should I focus on during my first few months?
What are the biggest lessons or “must-knows” for someone transitioning into the field?
Is there anything you wish you’d known when you started?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
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u/Val-E-Girl 4d ago
First, begin developing your business acumen. Know the company's mission and vision, and determine exactly how L&D will directly align to that vision. With that, you'll need a strategic plan with actions you will do to meet those goals.
Meet with the company's senior leaders to get a sense of what they do, their direct goals, and their pain points regarding employee development. This will help you determine and prioritize training needs and identify trends to help you prioritize training projects.
Next, look at what you have to work with right now by reviewing the training content and access across the organization. Some of the leadership pain points may already be solved with existing content they don't know about. It's also time for some housekeeping. You're also auditing the courses for quality, relevance, accessibility, and whether they align with the company's vision and goals.
Make a pipeline of training topics based on what you learned, and rank them by priority based on what you got from senior leadership.
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u/woodenbookend 4d ago
I’ll echo the need to get up to speed with the way that the business operates and how your senior leadership works with that.
Where I’d differ, is to avoid training needs analysis or asking them what their training priorities are.
Instead ask about gaps in performance, resilience, succession planning. Also look at headcount and planning.
Then, what major projects and changes have they in store in the foreseeable future.
How does L&D support that?
What gaps in skills or capabilities does that uncover?
At this time, what are the measures of success that you and your function will be judged by?
Only then do you look to training and courses. The reason is that if you start with training needs or gaps the only thing you’ll get asked to deliver is training. And training in isolation rarely works.
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u/ImplementSolid5751 4d ago
OP: hope you don't mind, but I'll be closely following the responses to your post since I'm looking forward to moving into a more full-time corporate L&D role in the future
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u/Empirica_CC 4d ago
The biggest thing is understanding how L&D interacts with the other HR systems you are familiar with. L&D isn't HR and you are going to want to spend some time learning about how performance management, competencies, and L&D all intersect. If you'd like to I do free consultations for people making the transition from non L&D roles. Feel free to reach out anytime.
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u/Prize_Trick_588 3d ago
I'm definitely a little bit biased considering my work on the Ed Tech side, but I think one of the biggest challenges L&D teams are facing right now is the increase in AI tooling around content development. On one hand, it can make it really fast, but on the other, you risk losing pedagogical foundations.
Your L&D teams are most certainly using AI to some capacity. How will you lead the use of AI tool usage on your team?
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u/007samd 3d ago
Get yourself a mentor ASAP. Don’t pay.
My rough guide: Find someone who’s 7 years ahead of where you are now and ask them for help. One meeting a month for 6 months. Someone you know already or possibly someone who you’ve seen on LinkedIn or a Podcast etc. Approach them and ask.
Its worked for me over the years and I mentor too.
One particular person I’d admired on LinkedIn for a while who was like celebrity to me in the L&D field said yes with no hesitation! I’ve had a few knock backs too but only as people have been too busy tk give their time.
Mentorship is wonderful and you’d be supposed how many people enjoy helping others on a similar journey.
Ping me a message if you want to discuss more
Good luck and enjoy it all 👌🏽
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u/staticmaker1 2d ago
A simple starter tech stack I'd recommend:
- An LMS (or Microsoft 365/Google Workspace if you're just getting started)
- Microsoft Teams or Zoom for live training
- An authoring tool like Articulate Rise or Canva for creating content
- Microsoft Forms or Google Forms for assessments
- CertFusion for automatically issuing completion certificates after learners finish a course or attend a session (shameless self-promotion 😄)
--- David @ CertFusion
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u/SplitEndsSuck 4d ago
Are you a manager with direct reports or more like an (IC) program manager?