If you’ve been in L&D for more than a few years, you’ve likely felt the tension: you build a beautifully structured course, pilot it successfully, launch it to applause — and then six months later, someone asks whether it actually changed anything on the job. Josh Bersin’s latest research names what many of us have been sensing. In his new Definitive Guide to Corporate Learning, he argues that the future of corporate training isn’t more courses — it’s what he calls dynamic enablement: getting the right expertise to employees in the flow of work, exactly when and where they need it.

That phrase sounds compelling. But if you’re an instructional designer or L&D manager staring at a catalogue of existing programmes, a very practical question follows: What do I actually do differently on Monday morning?

What Dynamic Enablement Really Means (and Doesn’t Mean)

Let’s be clear about what this shift isn’t. It isn’t the death of formal learning. People still need structured skill-building, especially for complex or high-stakes capabilities. And it certainly isn’t a mandate to replace everything with AI chatbots or micro-content and call it a day.

What dynamic enablement does mean is a fundamental reorientation of purpose. Instead of asking, “What should learners know?” we start asking, “What do employees need to be able to do — and what’s getting in their way?” That question pulls instructional designers out of the content-creation business and into the performance-support business.

In practice, this looks like:

• Job aids and decision tools embedded in workflows — not buried in an LMS.
• Curated expert knowledge that surfaces contextually (think: a two-minute video from a subject matter expert triggered at the point of need, not assigned in a quarterly learning path).
• Performance diagnostics that identify whether a gap is truly a skills issue or something else entirely — a process problem, a motivation issue, or a missing resource.
• Blended ecosystems where a formal workshop is just one node in a larger support system that includes coaching, community practice, and on-the-job reinforcement.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Performance consulting pioneers like Gilbert, Harless, and Rossett have been saying versions of this for decades. What’s new is that the organisational appetite — and the technology infrastructure — have finally caught up.

Retooling What You Already Have

The good news is that most L&D teams don’t need to start from scratch. You likely have a library of solid content. The challenge is redesigning how that content reaches people and what surrounds it. Here’s a practical framework for retooling existing programmes toward enablement:

1. Audit for performance outcomes, not learning objectives. Take your top ten programmes and ask: what observable behaviour should change as a result? If you can’t answer clearly, that’s your first redesign priority. Reframe every programme around a measurable on-the-job outcome.

2. Break content into reusable components. A three-day workshop contains dozens of concepts, models, and practice activities. Extract the most high-value pieces and repurpose them as standalone job aids, quick-reference guides, or short videos that employees can pull when they need them.

3. Map the workflow, not just the curriculum. For each programme, map the actual workflow where the target skills get applied. Identify the friction points, decision moments, and common errors. Then design support assets that live at those points — not in a separate learning environment.

4. Build feedback loops. Enablement isn’t a one-and-done delivery; it’s an ongoing system. Build in mechanisms — manager check-ins, peer observation, short pulse surveys — that tell you whether the support is actually helping. Then iterate.

5. Upskill your own team. Instructional designers moving into enablement roles need stronger skills in performance analysis, consulting with business stakeholders, and designing for multiple modalities beyond the traditional course. This is a professional development priority, not an afterthought.

The Instructional Designer as Performance Architect

The shift toward enablement doesn’t diminish the instructional designer’s role — it elevates it. When you move from course builder to performance architect, you become a strategic partner to the business. You’re the person who can diagnose whether training is even the right solution, and if it is, you can design a system of support that actually sticks.

That’s a more complex, more rewarding, and frankly more defensible role in an era when generative AI can produce content at scale but can’t yet think systemically about human performance.

At FKA, our Instructional Design and Performance Consulting workshops are built around exactly this kind of practical, outcome-focused thinking. If you’re looking to help your team make the shift from content-centric to performance-centric design, we’d love to explore how our programmes can support that journey. Reach out to us — we’re always happy to talk shop.