Why early strategy saves time, money, and stress in training development

If you’re leading a training initiative or planning a new professional development program, chances are you’re already juggling a lot: timelines, budgets, and high expectations.

Often, by the time an instructional designer or learning strategist gets the call, the project is well underway. The grant is written. The hours are scoped. Stakeholders have their hearts set on certain deliverables that may or may not lead to the success of the project goals. That’s when the hard conversations begin—about mismatched timelines, redundant content, or media-heavy plans that will cost more than expected and land with less impact.

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be this way.

When you bring in a Fractional Chief Learning Officer (CLO) early, you get more than someone to execute on your vision. You get a strategic partner who helps you avoid these pitfalls before they become expensive or irreversible.

A Real Example: When Thoughtful Design Still Misses the Mark

A few years ago, a client came to us with an 80-hour training program designed to guide professionals through the first two years of their roles. The organization had clearly invested serious time and care into the initiative. The program was well-organized and progressive in its design, built to support learners as they transitioned from foundational knowledge to advanced practice. Each course had thoughtfully assigned prerequisites meant to scaffold learning and ensure professionals received just-in-time development as they grew.

But they came to us when the program was already 75% complete.

Their request was simple on the surface: could we help map the full learning path so that learners could clearly see how to navigate the program from beginning to end?

As we began laying out the sequence, we identified a problem. Some prerequisites overlapped in ways that made it literally impossible for learners to complete the program as designed. Certain courses required the completion of others that—due to previous overlaps or blocked access—were not reachable without breaking the very rules the program had put in place.

This wasn’t just a technical error. It was a structural issue. And at that point, years of course development work had already been completed. Untangling it meant revisiting course content, reworking already published media, and circling back to accrediting bodies. None of which had been budgeted or planned for.

The Preventable Problem

It’s so hard to see these things happen because it was entirely preventable. If we had been brought in at the start of the project, one of our first steps would have been to map the entire learning experience, before any content was built.

This doesn’t mean perfecting every detail upfront. It just means defining what learners need to achieve—and in this case, in what order.

A simple visual map of course sequences, tied to learner outcomes, would have immediately flagged the overlapping prerequisites. Doing this is best practice in every instructional design project. 

When learning strategy is an afterthought, teams often assume they’re saving time and money by “just getting started.” In reality, they’re skipping the only step that could protect them from rework later.

Why It Matters for Your Organization

Whether you’re part of a professional association, a nonprofit, or a workforce development organization, your learning initiatives carry significant weight. They’re tied to grant funding, member engagement, certification standards, and reputational credibility. A single misstep in planning can ripple through your budget, your team, and your learners’ experience.

Bringing in a CLO early doesn’t just mean your program will be “better designed.” It means you’ll have:

• Clarity from the beginning. No more guessing about formats, timelines, or deliverables.
• Alignment with organizational goals. The learning experience supports business or mission outcomes, not just content delivery.
• Scalability. When structure is sound, future iterations become easier, not harder.
• Cost savings. You avoid duplication, rework, and the creeping complexity that tends to emerge in projects without a clear framework.

Let’s Talk—At Any Stage

Whether you’re still in the visioning phase or already deep in the build and realizing things aren’t going quite as planned, we’re here to help. There’s no such thing as too early to involve your learning design partner—and it’s never too late to ask better questions.

Our job isn’t to sell you on more work. It’s to help you do the work that actually moves the needle.

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