In our webinar Mindset Shift, Scalable Impact, Meredith Clark from Easygenerator and I unpacked how L&D leads can shift from centralised learning stewards to enablers of scalable, sustainable learning - without losing coherence, consistency or oversight. This piece pulls out the high‑impact themes.
Let’s be honest: part of it is legacy. Historically, L&D teams were the “shopkeepers”: owning content, curation, approval. But in recent years our role has shifted to curators, campaigners, capability builders. Meanwhile, the demands have exploded: AI literacy, upskilling, changing regulations, compliance, future skills. The central team just can’t keep up alone.
So decentralisation isn’t optional; it’s a shift we need in order to deliver learning at speed and scale.
Also: most SMEs aren’t trained in learning design. So, unless we shift mindset and structure, things can get messy fast.
One of the themes in the webinar that really resonated: decentralisation isn’t just a way to scale L&D. It also creates real value for learners, for contributors, and for the business itself.
Data shows that people increasingly choose employers that invest in their learning and development. If your organisation empowers its people to teach, influence, and share knowledge, that becomes a powerful differentiator.
When SMEs convert their tacit knowledge into structured content, they consolidate their understanding, gain new perspectives, and see others benefit. That’s more memorable for them and richer for the learner audience.
Think about when someone leaves. If knowledge lives only in their head, you lose it. If they’ve shared and structured it in learning modules, you retain context-rich, high-value content. Decentralisation helps capture “how we really do things” not just “what we say we do.”
Decentralisation can be framed not as a loss of control, but as a reinvestment: in people, in knowledge, and in culture.
Letting go of every approval doesn’t mean chaos. It means building systems and boundaries people can operate within safely. Strategy over micromanagement.
Your role becomes designing the environment: soil, sun, watering schedule. Others grow the content. You prune, guide, nourish - not micromanage.
Approvals are bottlenecks. Guardrails (templates, tone guides, light checklists) set boundaries. They preserve consistency without undue friction.
These moves surfaced strongly in the discussion and in our own experience.
Scaffolding helps SMEs overcome blank-page paralysis. Build modular, chunked templates that guide without constraining creativity, to retain cohesion across content.
Move from a “send to L&D and wait” model to iterative peer review. Form small content guilds or review buddies. Let your role be audit & spot checks - not micro‑approver of every slide.
Don’t flip the whole ship at once. Choose one team or learning need, identify cheerleaders, run a pilot. Use it to learn what works, what doesn’t, what support SMEs actually need. Collect metrics: time to publish, review effort, SME sentiment, learner usage.
A tool is just a tool - the process, the partnership, is what matters.
Buy for fit and future potential, not just current bells and whistles.
Even with good intentions, decentralised learning can wobble. Here's what to watch for, and what to do about it.
If some content starts to feel “off-brand” or disjointed, it’s a sign your guardrails aren’t clear enough. Solution: provide core style layers, example modules, and light-touch audit points to keep things on track.
When authors stop engaging or revert to “just send it to L&D”, it’s usually because something’s not working - the tool, the guidance, or the support. Co-create the process with them. Ask what’s getting in their way and reduce friction wherever you can.
If your team is still buried in content checks, it’s time to shift more review responsibility upstream. Set thresholds: what really needs L&D input, and what can run on peer review?
If the authoring tool doesn’t fit your people or process, adoption stalls. Always test with SMEs first. Ask vendors the tough questions: around roadmap, usability, and scalability, before you fully commit.
Decentralised learning is not about dumping control. It’s about evolving your role so L&D scales with impact. When done right, it improves learning culture, retains knowledge, fosters meaning, and frees your team for higher-order work.