By Natalie Ainsworth
The most sustainable training program is the one you never created.
Read that again.
What does it mean?
You could have designed and delivered the greenest training program, but if it isn’t solving the right problem, it is fundamentally unsustainable.
Let’s face it, we’ve all been there.
Deals are lost after client meetings and a leader boldly proclaims, “we need to train all of our managers in presentation skills!” The true skill gap lying elsewhere, in plain sight. The presentation skills training? It might have been good, but it didn’t solve the problem.
Treating “right first time” as a sustainability principle in learning and development (L&D) means diagnosing root causes, designing only what’s needed and measuring what matters. We no longer make, or remake, ineffective learning.
The outcome is simple: fewer wasted hours, less digital burden, and a lower organisational carbon footprint.
Travel, printed handouts and data centres are obvious environmental costs. Less visible is the repeated creation and re-creation of learning that was never fit for purpose.
Duplicated slide decks, courses redesigned after poor feedback, or multiple “quick fixes” layered on top of unresolved performance problems. Each iteration consumes people’s time, platform storage, bandwidth and organisational goodwill. Those are real resources, and emissions, even if they are harder to measure.
Treat performance consulting and needs analysis as an environmental action. Before embarking on course design and development, answer three questions:
Use straightforward diagnostics like interviews, observation, data. The aim is to avoid designing solutions for symptoms. Home in on the root causes.
When a learning intervention is justified, design modular content intended for reuse, not one-off campaigns. Practical tactics include:
These reduce digital storage, lower streaming loads and prevent the cascade of duplicated content.
The latest technology might be alluring, but it is carbon intensive. Opt for lighter formats where they meet the outcome:
Small file sizes and smarter hosting reduce bandwidth and server cycles, a simple win that scales.
Shift your measurement strategy from completions and confidence to performance outcome metrics demonstrating impact:
If evaluation shows outcomes haven’t changed, the signal is to pause and re-visit diagnosis, not jump to solutions.
Sustainability in L&D is a design discipline.
Taking a “right first time” approach cements L&D as a strategic enabler of organisational performance. It respects learners’ time, reduces organisational waste and aligns L&D with the organisation’s broader environmental goals.
That is one of the most impactful sustainability moves an L&D team can make.
Natalie inspires and drives behaviour change that enables positive outcomes for people, for organisations, and for the planet. She blends extensive experience in learning and development (L&D) with sustainability, enabling everyone’s role to become a sustainability role. She is particularly skilled at translating what sustainability means in the context of HR and L&D. Contact via natalie@virescentlearning.com.