Today’s organizations are moving fast—changing structures, adopting new tools, rethinking priorities—sometimes month by month. In this environment, a minimum viability approach to learning at large falls short. Competence alone isn’t enough. The real goal now is performance: people not just knowing what to do, but doing it well, consistently, and in ways that help the business grow.
Take onboarding. It’s no longer about getting someone “up to speed.” It should be about fully integrating them, helping them align with the culture, deliver results, and contribute in ways that matter. That’s the difference between training as a transaction and learning as a strategic business lever. And it’s that difference that separates high-performing organizations from the rest.
Let’s look at how to overcome the four challenges that are standing in the way of your learning organization’s ability to move from transactional learning and doing “just enough” to driving transformation.
Challenge 1: Your Learning Ecosystem Is Too Fragmented
Learning platforms often multiply over time. One team adopts a new tool. Another inherits a legacy system. A third adds a content library. Before long, what started as a simple system with a few add-ons turns into a maze. At GP Strategies, I’ve seen a global organization running twenty-five different learning management systems (LMSs), each with its own content, structure, and user experience. This is a true organizational learning ecosystem nightmare.
While each system may serve a purpose, they need to be integrated, consistent, and supportive to deliver results to the learner, which is to say nothing of the cost of so much system overlap. Isolated systems can create confusion, content probably overlaps and contradicts, and leadership likely struggles to pull a clear picture from disconnected data. A fragmented system slows things down and makes learning harder to trust, harder to track, and harder to act on.
What helps:
- Streamline systems. Consolidate and integrate everywhere you can. Ensure remaining platforms speak to each other and have clear signposts to guide learners between different ecosystems.
- Clarify the learner experience. Make finding easy-to-trust, up-to-date content a seamless process.
- Develop a data-sharing system that works. Tie learning data—from all your sources—to performance and business outcomes.
When systems are unified, learners spend less time figuring out where to go (which means more time learning), and the organization gets streamlined data that provides the insights they need to guide performance strategy.
Challenge 2: People Aren’t Adopting New Technology
Learning technology has never been more advanced, but new systems still fail every day. Not because the technology doesn’t work, but because people never truly adopt it. Adoption takes more than deployment. Users need to see value, experience ease, and feel supported as they adapt to new systems. Without that, even the most promising tool will go underutilized.
Motivation and in-the-moment support make a big difference. You don’t need to train people on every feature of a new technology upfront; you just want to help them do what they need to do when they need to do it.
To drive adoption:
- Communicate the change early. Discuss the change in advance with all stakeholders to gain buy-in and minimize friction.
- Focus on the “why.” Make the personal benefit clear.
- Introduce only what’s needed. Scaffold learning around the most relevant tasks.
- Provide support in the flow of work. Use embedded guidance, like chatbots or tooltips, instead of heavy pre-training.
Technology should remove friction, not add to it. When done well, new tools empower employees without overwhelming them.
Challenge 3: Crossboarding Is Being Overlooked
Promoting from within is smart business. But far too often, people moving from one part of your organization to another are left to sink or swim. Unlike new hires, internal movers rarely get structured support—even though stepping into a new role often means new expectations, new dynamics, and new ways of working.
Crossboarding is one of the most overlooked moments in employee development. We assume that because someone knows the organization, they’ll adapt easily. But success in a new role means understanding shifting performance expectations and navigating unspoken rules.
How to support internal mobility:
- Treat it like onboarding, just without the admin. Skip the timesheet tutorial, but take time to align on new priorities, team processes, and role expectations.
- Make the invisible visible. Every team operates differently. Help internal movers understand the rhythms, norms, and decision-making culture of their new group.
- Encourage connection. Peer support and buddy systems give movers a safe space to ask questions and share early insights.
Managers play a huge role here, especially when they have the tools to coach through the transition and adapt support to each individual’s needs. Crossboarding done right builds confidence, accelerates performance, and ensures your internal talent is truly set up to thrive.
Challenge 4: You Don’t Have a Performance Maturity Plan
If your learning goals stop at competence, you’re missing the chance to build high performers—the kind who shape culture, mentor others, and drive innovation.
Many organizations put their energy into getting people “day one ready.” Once someone can function in the role, the structured support tapers off. But being able to do the job isn’t the same as being great at it.
We can think of this as a game-related progression. What we want is to build an environment where learners don’t just play the game or even win the game—we want to provide the support needed for them to change the game. Here’s what we mean:
Play the Game
- What it means: Employees understand their roles, follow established processes, and meet baseline expectations. They are “day one ready.”
- Organizational impact: This stage ensures operational stability. People are productive, compliant, and consistent.
- Strategies:
- Clear onboarding and role-specific guidance
- Access to tools, templates, and SOPs
- Defined performance expectations and feedback loops
- Aspirational focus if you’re in this phase: Keep building a strong foundation. Ensure every team member knows how to contribute effectively and reliably.
Win the Game
- What it means: Employees go beyond the basics. They perform with excellence, share knowledge, and elevate team outcomes.
- Organizational impact: This stage drives quality, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Strategies:
- Opportunities for skill refinement and cross-functional exposure
- Platforms for sharing best practices and mentoring others
- Visibility into what “great” looks like through exemplars and success stories
- Aspirational focus if you’re in this phase: Identify new ways to cultivate a culture of excellence. Encourage peer learning, accountability, and recognition.
Change the Game
- What it means: Employees innovate, lead, and reshape how work gets done. They challenge norms and create new value with or without formal guidance.
- Organizational impact: This stage fuels transformation, agility, and your company’s strategic advantage.
- Strategies:
- Strategic projects and leadership pathways
- Forums for ideation, innovation, and feedback
- Recognition systems that reward impact and originality
- Aspirational focus if you’re in this phase: Create the space for experimentation so that high performers can lead change and influence others.
Every organization will take its learners through these stages at their own pace and in different ways. The bottom line is that if your learning culture and ecosystem don’t support a journey that helps your learners move from “playing the game” to “winning the game,” you’ll struggle to build long-term value from your learning investments.
Key highlights for building a performance maturity plan:
- Keep development going well beyond the basics.
- Make high performance visible and repeat your successes.
- Give employees a chance to contribute back.
With a well-implemented performance maturity model, learning becomes a continuous process, rather than a one-time event, and is integrated into how people grow, lead, and shape the business.
Why “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough Anymore
Learning can’t just be something you offer. It has to be something that works, something that connects people to performance, drives the adoption of change, supports real transitions, and brings out the best in every employee.
If your organization is navigating any of these four challenges—fragmented systems, low tech adoption, internal mobility gaps, or stalled performance—you’re not alone. But you can move from competent to integrated. And when you do, learning becomes one of your most powerful tools for transformation.
Want help getting there? Let’s talk.
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