Peanut Butter Approach to Learning & Development

It’s 11 PM. You should be asleep, but your stomach has a different plan. Unfortunately, your pantry is nearly as empty as your stomach so you reach for the one (mostly) reliable item on the shelf: a jar of peanut butter. 

Peanut butter is so quick and easy, lasts forever, and is generally less expensive than alternatives like eggs and avocados. And, while it does the trick at the moment and makes a great snack, it’s not something a health enthusiast would consume at every meal. 

Let’s say your company’s career development program was just like this - quick, easy, and inexpensive. Does that sound like a program your employees will truly learn from or salivate over? Likely not. This is what I call the peanut butter approach to learning, and it's spread everywhere right now. 

This year’s Workplace Learning report tells us that while organizational leaders will likely see a greater demand for soft skills training, the momentum for large-scale upskilling is slow.  

What does this mean for L&D leaders? 

Although it may feel like an amazing perk to offer a massive library of courses for employees to pick from when they are hungry to learn, this form of general education oversimplifies the true needs of the learner. And while it may feel comfortable to always have something on the shelf for employees to feast their minds on, this could potentially do more harm than good. Just think of all the content out there on the LMS interwebs that predate the start of Covid-19, or the training that was published long before your new company values were penned. 

Of course, we all want to implement cost-effective, broadly applicable programs that are easy for team members to use. We also want team members to experience the value of a well-tailored growth and development plan. Buying one product or implementing one program is not going to prepare your company or your employees for the future. With the ubiquity of TikTok, YouTube, and of course the emergence of AI tech like ChatGPT, any training curriculum described as having “broad relevance to the workforce” faces an existential threat. This is when training becomes everything and nothing at the same time – nothing sticks. 

Years ago, I met a German history professor who, in grammar school, determined they wanted to study history. By high school, they decided to focus on Medieval history. And by college, they were fluent in multiple Medieval languages so they could determine if plagiarism took place on Papal documents. 

The lesson I learned from the German history professor is that with a depth of understanding, comes a greater impact. Overlooking an employee’s job to be done, their behavioral diversity, or their passion for their industry is what has now pushed L&D professionals to champion more customized, meaningful, and individually applicable solutions for the workforce.

Upskilling employees on how to advance DEI behaviors, increasing internal talent mobility, and manager training are all trends that will shape work in 2023 and beyond. And the best L&D leaders continue to advocate for a well-balanced learning diet.

But here’s what L&D leaders are up against in today’s economy: 

This is why these mega libraries of courses and all-in-one learning platforms are all the rave. They check the box. They satisfy your immediate need, but they do little else. If you’re using a solution like this, check your utilization rates and see if it’s worth the return. I'll bet you'll find 10% of the organization is satisfied, another 10% are just grazing the shelves, and you have very little traction with the remaining 80%. This is what a diet of 100% peanut butter looks like.

And with technology freeing us up to do the real growth and development we’ve always talked about doing, but never had the time to actually do – it’s L&D’s time to take centerstage. But the clock is ticking now. It’s 11 PM and your employees are reaching out for something to fuel their hearts and feed their minds. 

So what’s the alternative when Learning & Development can’t be 100% peanut butter? 

Less is more. The best learning organizations don’t offer thousands of courses, they offer the 10 that are central to the business strategy and core to its values. Your company values create your biggest leverage in realizing your mission and vision. 

If you’re a stakeholder weighing in on this conversation at your company, here’s what to consider ahead of your next L&D investment: 

• Have every employee start out on the right foot by giving them personal insights about their behavioral drives. Self-awareness is more important than any learning objective. For example, at Lever Talent, we use The Predictive Index which illuminates one’s strengths and potential cautions areas.
• Integrate personalized coaching and reinforcement into one’s informal learning. Sometimes the best classroom is the person sitting right next to you. A great example is group coaching, which is taking up positive oxygen in the talent space right now. 
• Align the company’s core “curriculum” with the mission, vision, and values. But do not forget to add the jelly, bacon, or other accouterments that are meaningful to the one person who matters - the individual. 

Peanut butter, while yummy indeed, only satisfies a short-term need. But if you’re in this for the long term, make an investment in your people, and you’ll find your utility value and impact will soar.

If you’re not ready to make the big investment, here are some things to consider in the meantime: 

1. Go for depth of learning impact, not breadth. Measure utility value - always. 
2. Go for relevance quality, not quantity or broad relevance. Stay focused, and then scale. 
3. Go for curated for an individual, not the universe. Start with an audience of one.