As we get closer to 2026, a lot of L&D teams are deep in planning mode: setting KPIs, OKRs, choosing priorities, deciding where the energy goes. And honestly, many of us are telling ourselves the same optimistic story we tell every year: this time we’ll get it right. This mirrors something Georgiana Laudi described in her original Forget the Funnel newsletter for SAAS teams.
After talking to dozens of teams and gathering input from more than 200 leaders in their strategic study, she noticed that almost everyone believes the coming year will finally be the turning point.
But planning season has a way of making old habits crawl back, even the ones we thought we’d outgrown. Georgiana put it well: strategy season brings out our worst habits. She named them so teams could catch themselves early and avoid making the same mistakes again. As L&D practitioners we should ask whether the same habits are quietly affecting Learning and Development too. After adapting her ideas through an L&D lens, the alignment became almost uncomfortably clear.
Below, I’ve included Georgiana’s take for each habit to show its origin and to preserve its intent, while translating the meaning into learning effectiveness, organizational capability, and real workplace performance.
1. Delegating Thinking
Georgiana’s take: Teams often rely too much on third-party data, AI summaries, or reports instead of developing their own understanding.
In L&D, this shows up when we lean solely on LMS dashboards, vendor claims, or external benchmarks. If we don’t actually talk to learners, managers, and stakeholders, we miss the real context behind the numbers. The value lies not only in the output, but in the thinking we build through hands-on discovery. Real insight comes from hearing the stories behind the stats.
Extended context/advice: Set up genuine conversations with learners and managers. Observe real work. Ask follow-up questions. It doesn’t need to be a massive research effort. Even a handful of thoughtful interactions can uncover pain points and opportunities that metrics alone never reveal.
2. Skipping Synthesis
Georgiana’s take: Teams gather information in fragments and jump to action before connecting the dots.
In L&D, we have no shortage of data: engagement metrics, survey results, completion trends. But if we skip the step of actually interpreting and integrating that data before deciding on solutions, we risk solving the wrong problem. Without synthesis, we react. With synthesis, we diagnose.
Extended context/advice: Schedule intentional meaning-making, not just reporting, but sense-making. Ask: what might be causing this pattern? Where does this signal align with other signals? Slow thinking here creates smarter action later.
3. Collecting Dots Without Connecting Them
Georgiana’s take: Every team holds a part of the truth, but no one owns unifying it.
In organizations, HR sees compliance data, managers know performance realities, and employees have lived experience. If those perspectives don’t connect, your learning approach will inevitably drift. Strategy loses precision when insight stays fragmented.
Extended context/advice: Give someone responsibility for connecting insights. Or build a shared knowledge hub where learning data, feedback, and performance indicators live together. When understanding becomes shared, strategy becomes sharper.
4. Recycling Old Playbooks
Georgiana’s take: Teams default to old methods because they worked before.
In L&D, this might mean reusing the same leadership program from pre‑hybrid‑work, applying the same onboarding model built for a different workforce, or copying the same learning format simply because it used to work. But context shifts. What worked even three years ago may now be outdated.
Extended context/advice: Treat learning like iteration. Run pilots. Find what’s working now, not what worked then. When people feel permission to innovate, they produce solutions that are relevant to today rather than yesterday.
5. Prioritizing Speed Over Confidence
Georgiana’s take: Teams push for velocity at the cost of clarity.
In L&D, there’s often a rush to launch: leadership wants learning rolled out fast, completions tracked, and boxes checked. But hasty implementation without validation often leads to ineffective programs and strained credibility. Confidence in direction beats speed in execution.
Extended context/advice: Give yourself a sanity check step. Validate assumptions, test ideas with a small group, and confirm alignment before scaling. A slower start often leads to a stronger finish.
6. Treating Agreement as Alignment
Georgiana’s take: A room full of nodding heads doesn’t guarantee shared understanding.
In L&D, managers may agree a program is useful, but if they don’t fully understand the purpose, the reinforcement model, and how it applies to actual jobs, the learning won’t transfer. Agreement is surface-level. Alignment is actionable.
Extended context/advice: Make purpose explicit. Keep reinforcing the why. Check comprehension, not just acceptance. When alignment is real, learning becomes supported, reinforced, and applied.
Before You Lock in Your 2026 L&D Plan
Ask yourself: Are your decisions grounded in true understanding, or are you making educated guesses? Are you tying signals together, or reacting to isolated noise? Teams often don’t notice strategic drift until they’re already deep in it. Not because their strategy was useless, but because their thinking wasn’t anchored.
By recognizing these habits early and countering them with intentional thinking, you give your 2026 learning strategy a far better chance of driving real behavior change, growth, and performance.