This isn’t the first time that I’ve made reference to what I call Storyline’s ‘secret weapon’. A Storyline ‘advanced’ feature that gets buried away in the background because it’s not very ‘sexy’ nor particularly easy to market. Yet learning to use it can transform the e-learning courses you build.

In case you are wondering? I’m talking about Storyline variables.

However, the purpose of today’s post is not to write extensively about Storyline variables. (If you are interested, I have written about Storyline variables here).

What interests me today is the fact that lots of software/technologies often have some kind of ‘secret weapon’. In other words, a hidden something that a majority of users don’t know about, which is incredibly powerful or useful but somehow never gets the attention it deserves.

Typically, the hidden something is conceptually abstract or technically a bit complex; so, it takes some care and effort to explain it clearly and easily. And it often takes some care and effort by software users to really reap the benefits of it.

Which usually leaves it friendless. Tucked away in an obscure corner of the interface by UX and UI designers. Shunned by the marketers (just not ‘sexy’ enough). Glossed over by the technical writers and technology evangelists.

And you can understand why. In the push to get a piece of software or a technology widely adopted as quickly as possible, the most popular and easiest to use features are, inevitably, going to get the most attention.

And in lots of ways, that is a good, user-centred approach. After all, if the software or technology in question isn’t obviously solving some kind of problem or making it easier or possible to do something that was previously difficult or impossible to do, what’s the point?

But this also misses an important point. Hiding that more difficult-to-explain feature probably results in inferior user output. Returning to the example I opened with, this is absolutely true in the case of Storyline variables. It’s not that you need to use them in every single course that you create. But never using them at all will absolutely reduce the creative potential and the effectiveness of your instructional design.

So, why am I obsessing about all this, at the moment? Well, you may already know that I’m working on a new software tool for L&D called PerformaGo. And the AI technology that this software is designed to help L&D folk like yourself unleash, definitely has its own buried treasures. (Something I’ve been writing about here). In essence, it’s about how you provide specific knowledge to your custom GPT so that you get reliable, accurate output when it’s being used by a learner.

Which means that this particular ‘buried treasure’ is going to play a very significant role in making the PerformaGo tool a success. The question of how that specific knowledge is packaged up and accessed can’t be glossed over, in the hope that some users will find it and work out how to use it. It needs to be front and centre.

And that will be a challenge. Because in some respects this element is a bit abstract. It will definitely require some careful thought around how it is presented and explained to users within the software interface itself and in any related ‘help’ content or software onboarding.

But once you consider the benefits for L&D folk of getting this ‘buried treasure’ front and centre, the challenge of achieving that goal seems small by comparison.

If any of this interests you, or you like the idea of becoming an early adopter or pilot user of PerformaGo or you would just like to find out some more about the tool, why not join our early-bird waitlist.

And you can follow a more ‘behind-the-scenes’ take on the journey to build the PerformaGo software tool in my online diary.

I think there are many people in an L&D role who spend their days quietly tearing their hair out in frustration. They are what I call the order-takers. They came into the profession, like most of us do, because they like and care about people. They believe that learning can (and should) make a meaningful difference in someone’s professional life and career. Perhaps they experienced this in their own lives and wanted to help others achieve the same.

But somewhere along the way, something went horribly wrong. The job they thought they would be doing wasn’t the job they actually found themselves doing.

They became a harassed (and not very well-respected) internal supplier. Taking orders for courses and workshops others demanded from them. Courses and workshops that satisfy the demands of the order-giver but don’t do much to benefit the learners or the organisation they work in.

Perhaps this describes your situation right now. Or perhaps you’ve been there, done that and escaped to pastures new. Either way, being caught in a cycle of delivering training that doesn’t really solve problems and doesn’t really improve workplace performance is deeply frustrating and ultimately, very demotivating.

I’ve worked with scores of L&D teams over the years and witnessed people caught in the order-taking trap in a variety of sectors and industries. Almost everyone wants change. But how? How can we make the impact and build the influence that we keep saying we want, if just delivering excellent training is not enough.

The truth is, we need to get better at enabling performance. Which means getting much, much closer to our learners’ real moments of need. For example, when someone is:

• facing a new challenge on the job
• making a decision under pressure, or
• trying to apply a skill they should remember, but can’t quite recall

Those are the moments where performance can either bumble along as always or start to excel given the right support. Things like a timely nudge; a helpful prompt; a short, smart answer that moves someone forward, in the flow of work.

I learnt the importance of supporting those moments of need about 15 years ago, during a workshop run by Jim Kirkpatrick. And since then, I’ve spent years deeply frustrated by the fact that the concept is simple; but effective implementation of that concept is not.

However, that frustration is no more. Right now, I’ve finally found a way to do something I’ve wanted to do for years. A way to help L&D professionals design and deliver intelligent, contextual support for those very moments of learner need just described above.

This is not about trying to replace the learning experiences we already do well. It’s about adding a layer of performance-first thinking that gives our work more credibility, more relevance, and yes, more respect.

The future of L&D isn’t about smarter content. It’s about smarter integration with how workplace performance actually flows.

So, this is my new mission. And over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more about the journey that’s got me here — and the tools we’re building to help others add that layer of performance-first thinking.

If any of this resonates and you’ve felt the same frustrations, then I hope you’ll come along with me.

And if you would like a more personal take on this new mission of mine? I’m keeping a ‘behind the scenes’ diary of this new journey. You can follow the story here. 

What I really want, what I’ve always wanted, is for L&D to actually make a difference.
To stop being side-lined. To stop doing good, hard work that goes unrecognised.

L&D professionals genuinely care about helping others grow. We want to have impact. We want to make a difference. But time and again, we share the same frustration:

“We’re doing all this work and the business still doesn’t recognise our effort.”

It’s a painful feeling. One I’ve heard expressed countless times across countless courses and workshops. But over the years, I’ve also had to face up to an uncomfortable truth:

That lack of respect feels unfair but sometimes, it might be the symptom of a deeper problem we haven’t fully acknowledged.

What do I mean by that? Well, people come to us with a ‘training’ need and ask us to create a course. If we see ourselves as the “training people” then, naturally, we want to oblige. So, we design workshops. Build e-learning. Roll out programmes. And then we wait for results - that rarely come.

And the reason those results rarely come? Because, I believe, we’re focusing too much on delivering learning solutions… rather than supporting workplace performance.

It’s not that training we are providing is bad. Far from it. But training alone doesn’t move the needle - especially when people forget most of what they’ve learnt before they get a chance to use it. What actually makes a difference is what happens after the training: in the messy, unpredictable reality of work. The part L&D rarely reaches. The part where support and follow-up could really make a difference.

Now, let’s be honest, the idea of supporting learner performance in the workplace is hardly a new idea. In fact, it’s been around for decades. And we are already very familiar with this kind of ‘just-in-time support’ when using apps and systems.

But the ways and means to make this kind of support simple, scalable, and genuinely useful in other areas of the workplace just hasn’t been there. Until now.

Because the arrival of AI, I believe, completely changes the performance support game.

Of course, AI is being widely used in L&D already. But most of that use is focused on content production. Quicker instructional design. Faster course creation. Automating aspects of e-learning production.

Useful? Absolutely. Transformational? Probably not. Because speeding up training design and production doesn’t fix the core problem. We don’t need more training, created more rapidly. We need smarter workplace support.

We need tools that help people in the flow of their real work, not just when they happen to have time for a course.

We need smarter ways to support problem solving, decision-making, and action-taking
right at the moment of need.

Over the last 12 months, I’ve become a bit obsessed with all this and with thinking about how we can turn this new technology into a practical, performance focused solution. One that L&D teams can deploy easily. One that’s practical, low-friction, and grounded in the work people are actually doing.

So, I’m working on a new approach. A new platform I’m calling PerformaGo that puts performance support at the heart of L&D.

If you’re ready to move beyond training delivery and start designing for real-world results,
join the waitlist and be the first to know more about PerformaGo and when it goes live.

P.S. Curious about the journey behind this shift in focus?
You can follow my personal diary, where I share the highs, lows, and learning curve of building an AI-first product from the ground up.

Read my diary here

You may not have heard of Rob Brinkerhoff but you really should have. ( You can google him, naturally). His main focus is on moving away from solving workplace performance issues through a single 'hit' of training.

Brinkerhoff is interesting because he's both a practitioner and a researcher. His focus has primarily been about looking at how best to follow up with and support learners after training to improve overall learning outcomes.

You may not be surprised to hear that placing less emphasis on a single event and more on following up and supporting learners after an event sees massive improvements in workplace performance and application of learning.

You'll notice there are two parts to this. First, having actual support in place (more on this is a minute). Second, doing some follow-up with a sample of learners to see how they are getting on, what's working and what's not. The important point being that the intelligence gathered from this follow-up is used to evolve the learning event and the support so it's more effective still for the next group of learners.

It's a sort of 'kaizen' for learning and development. In case you are not familiar with 'kaizen', it's a concept that started life in Japanese manufacturing as a method to continuously improve the quality of a product.

In a learning and development context, this approach feels problematic. Will you get people not involved with training to give of their time and expertise willingly? Possibly not, or only up to a point.

So, while you might not get non-L&D people to coach and mentor their colleagues repeatedly, there are some relatively simple things that they might be willing to once.

• You might persuade them to record a video talking about their expertise. You can edit and package this up into bite-sized nuggets of learning.
• You might get people to write a short blog post or contribute to a wiki that you can direct learners to at a pre-determined point after their training. 
• You might get people to record a brief webinar where they walk learners through a worked example of a complex task or skill-based scenario.

Perhaps you can begin to see the picture.

It's about being a bit smart and savvy in the ways you provide that follow-on learner support, using technology to help create the kind of success scenario Rob Brinkenhoff's research highlights.

Interested in finding out more about this alternative approach to designing and delivering learning? Take a look at our on-demand webinar How to Amplify Learning Impact - it's about making the journey from learning and development order-taker to valued and trusted expert.

If you are an L&D manager or L&D team member, you’ll probably get bombarded with requests for training week in and week out.

If your L&D function is well-positioned and well-respected, then you’ll almost certainly be in a position to do some analysis before you simply acquiesce to the training request ‘as is’.

And there’s a good reason for wanting to be in the position to do that analysis. Because in many cases when a request for training is received, a little digging reveals that a new piece of training is not the solution at all.

Here's an interesting situation that we encountered quite a while ago that neatly illustrates the point. 

An airline wanted some e-learning to cover pre-flight safety checks and procedures for its cabin crew. They wanted the e-learning to be engaging, they said.

A little digging in the early stages of the project revealed the following.

The checks and procedures were slightly different for each type of plane the airline used. As cabin crew would fly on a variety of planes and might not be on a particular model of plane for several months at a time, it was unlikely they’d recall all the variations without a prompt. 

Nothing in the checks or procedures was particularly complicated. Everything the cabin crew needed to know and do was clearly and throughly documented already in a paper-based manual. They were supposed to carry this with them whenever they were on a flight.

Turns out many of them didn't. It was heavy. People didn't like carrying it. Some supervisors had stopped carrying theirs. So subordinates took their cue from their supervisors and stopped carrying theirs, too.

Over time, with no manual to refer to and to jog their memory, the checks and procedures were being carried out from memory and were not always being completed fully or accurately. 

The procedures within the existing manual were clear, concise and easy to follow. But the existing means of delivery (a big heavy manual) was clearly not working. However, the proposed solution was not much better. Starting up a laptop or tablet, firing up an e-learning programme and navigating to the correct place in the course to find the information you needed is hardly a frictionless approach.

In reality, this was a performance support issue. The solution lay in finding the simplest and least cumbersome way to provide those existing procedure steps to the cabin crew, in the moment of need.