There’s a quiet shift happening in businesses everywhere. One that’s slowly undermining growth, team morale and long-term performance.

More and more organisations are reducing or completely bypassing Learning & Development functions. On the surface, it may look like a cost-saving move. But in reality, it’s a false economy that’s leaving huge potential untapped and teams underprepared.

The Cost of No L&D? Untrained Teams, Unequipped Leaders & Missed Potential

Without L&D, staff aren't just missing out on training, they’re missing out on confidence, clarity, and growth.

Professional Skills like communication, time management, problem-solving, leadership, and emotional intelligence are vital in every role.  It is important to remember though that this is not just for managers. However when there’s no structure in place to build these, we rely on people “figuring it out” or “learning on the job.” That’s a shaky strategy at best and a people-risk at worst.

I’ve worked with businesses that thought they couldn’t afford a training strategy,  until they realised the cost of staff churn, disengagement, and repeated mistakes was far greater.

Onboarding: The Missed Opportunity That Sets the Tone

Let’s talk onboarding. For so many businesses, this is still treated as a tick box exercise — paperwork, logins, a tour of the office or systems. But effective onboarding is where culture, expectations, and success are shaped.

New hires need to feel part of the bigger picture from day one. They need clarity on their role, support to get stuck in, and space to grow confidently into their responsibilities. It’s not just about a first impression, it’s about giving them the tools and knowledge to thrive.

And here’s the secret: good onboarding isn’t hard — it just needs intention.

The Overlooked Skill: Training Others

Another gap I see often? Businesses want their teams to step up and lead, but don’t actually show them how. You can’t just hand someone a PowerPoint and call them a trainer.

Whether it’s a team lead delivering a lunch & learn, or a manager mentoring new staff, knowing how to train others is a skill in itself. Helping employees become confident, effective trainers doesn’t just improve knowledge-sharing, it boosts morale, sharpens communication, and reinforces trust across the business.

You’re building internal champions. And that’s gold dust.

So What Can You Do?

• If you’re a business without a formal L&D team, you don’t need to panic — but you do need a plan.
  
• Start small: Identify the key gaps — is it onboarding? Soft skills? Manager development?
• Invest wisely: Short, impactful sessions (like my in-person or online workshops) can spark change without draining time or budget.
• Empower your team: Give your people the tools to teach, support, and mentor each other.
• Think culture: Training isn’t a one-off event. It’s part of the way you operate — and that starts from the top.

I work with businesses just like yours — helping to build bespoke, meaningful training strategies without the fluff.

Whether it’s developing your managers, training internal trainers, improving onboarding, or delivering focused skills sessions, there are simple ways to embed learning into your culture.

If you’ve been wondering how to get the best out of your team without a full-blown L&D department, let’s chat. You can do it — you just don’t have to do it alone.

Hazel, Empowering Your Circle