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You’ve seen the LinkedIn posts.
“Just launched a leadership program!”
“Facilitated a values-based onboarding session with 80 people!”
“Feeling grateful to do this work!”

And hey, genuinely, love that for them.

But if you work in L&D, you also know that’s just the highlight reel.

What doesn’t make the feed?

Getting a Slack message at 5:42 p.m. asking if you can “just pull together a quick training on accountability by Friday.” Or walking out of a meeting where you finally pushed for something strategic, only to hear, “Why are you asking us these questions?” Or realizing that your name has been casually dropped as the owner of “all things compliance,” even though you’re leading a major leadership transformation.

Yeah. That part.

Because while L&D is often presented as a shiny, inspiring, people-first profession (and at its best, it is), the reality is far more complex. And if you’re in it, or considering entering the field, it’s time to talk about the truth behind the job title.

The Fantasy vs. The Reality

Let’s start with the misconception. Most people think Learning and Development is about making learning fun. We’re the “interactive session” folks. The ones who show up with a deck full of colorful slides, energizers, and breakout activities. We’re called in last minute to “do something engaging” at a team day or add “a little something interactive” to a leadership offsite.

But here’s what that image doesn’t capture: the complexity of the work. L&D is often reactive when we want to be strategic. We navigate office politics, shifting business priorities, and projects with no clear scope or ownership. We get vague requests with even vaguer outcomes, and we’re somehow expected to magically fix everything from team morale to performance issues, sometimes in a single one-hour Zoom session.

We’re handed problems that took years to develop and asked to solve them with a workshop. And when we suggest digging deeper, we’re told, “Let’s not overcomplicate it.” You start to wonder if anyone actually wants a solution, or just something that looks like one.

And yet, you still care. You stay. Because deep down, you know this work can be transformative. You’ve seen it happen. But the gap between what L&D could be and what it’s often allowed to be? That gap is real. And exhausting.

Why is a career in L&D so misunderstood?

Here’s one of the biggest reasons L&D gets misrepresented: hardly anyone sets out to build a career in it.

Very few people grow up dreaming of becoming a Learning & Development professional. Most of us fall into it. That’s the phrase I hear most often when I talk to people in this field: “I fell into L&D.”

And we come from everywhere. I’ve worked with people who started in engineering, customer service, finance, operations, law, and of course, HR. Each person brings a different lens, and that’s part of the magic. But it also creates confusion. Especially when L&D gets lumped in as an HR sub-function.

The problem isn’t HR itself. It’s that HR and L&D are not the same. And yet, in many companies, senior HR leaders are handed L&D without ever having done the work themselves. They’ve never scoped a learning program. Never built a capability framework. Never run a development strategy. So they often don’t know what good L&D looks like, and they’re the ones making the decisions.

It’s not coming from a place of malice. It’s just a gap. A knowledge gap. A perspective gap.

And at the center of all this? You. Someone who cares deeply about people, growth, and making work better. That’s why most of us got into this in the first place. Not because it was glamorous. But because we believed in the potential of people, and wanted to be part of unlocking it.

What the Role Actually Involves

Here’s the part that job descriptions never quite get right: the sheer scope of what L&D can involve.

In some organizations, there’s a full team with clearly defined roles. In others, it’s just you—doing it all. You’re the instructional designer, facilitator, LMS admin, tech troubleshooter, coach, strategist, project manager, and sometimes event planner. Yes, all in one.

Let’s talk through the core parts of the work. Not as a checklist, but as a real picture of what your days might look like.

You might start your morning reviewing feedback from yesterday’s leadership workshop, only to jump into a last-minute meeting about compliance training gaps. Mid-morning, you’re editing a video for a microlearning series. By lunchtime, you’re rewriting the onboarding pathway, again, because the business unit restructured. The afternoon might include facilitating a session, calming down a panicked SME, testing a new LMS feature, and trying to update your capability model before the exec report is due.

Sound intense? It is. But also deeply rewarding, when you get the space to do it well.

Let’s break it down.

Instructional Design

You design learning experiences that don’t just “cover content,” but change behavior. You’re crafting journeys that build capability, shift mindsets, and connect to actual business outcomes. That means defining learning objectives, structuring content, creating pathways across roles and levels, and trying to make it engaging enough that people don’t just click “next” on autopilot.

Content Creation

You’re also developing the content. Sometimes from scratch. You’re writing, scripting, filming, editing, uploading. Playbooks, PDFs, toolkits, onboarding journeys, simulations. You might be doing five different content types in one week. Maybe even in one day.

Facilitation

Then there’s facilitation. Whether online or in person, you’re managing energy, attention, awkward silences, complex questions, and unexpected tech fails. You’re not just teaching, you’re creating psychological safety in real time.

L&D Coordinator or Program Coordinator

Behind the scenes, you’re also managing programs. That includes scheduling, coordinating with vendors, sorting registrations, updating materials, chasing feedback, and often writing your own post-session summary because the data isn’t coming through the system cleanly.

Performance Consulting

And let’s not forget performance consulting. You ask the hard questions. Not “what training do you want?” but “what problem are you solving?” You uncover root causes, recommend better solutions, and sometimes push back, politely but firmly, when training isn’t the answer.

Stakeholder Management

All of this involves serious stakeholder management. You’re working up, down, and sideways. You’re aligning with senior leaders, educating managers, calming nervous SMEs, and influencing without authority. In many ways, your success isn’t based on how good your content is, it’s based on how strong your relationships are.

Learning Management System (LMS) Admin (sometimes this falls under HRIS)

And then there’s the tech. From LMS admin and reporting, to integrating platforms and curating resources, to basic troubleshooting because someone’s mic doesn’t work. (Yes, again.)

Data Analyst

Measurement is another beast. You’re expected to “prove impact,” but rarely have access to the right data. You get smile sheets when what you really need is behavior change data. And still, you try. You chase metrics that matter. You connect learning to performance, capability, and growth, even when it feels like building a puzzle with missing pieces.

Talent Development Leader

At the strategic level, you’re building frameworks that define what good looks like. Capability models, development plans, succession strategies. You’re translating business goals into learning plans that actually build skills.

You’re also often leading change. Whether or not you’re officially part of the transformation team, you’re supporting the humans through it. That includes training, coaching, communications, and building resilience across the org.

And maybe the most underrated part of the job? You build community. You create mentoring programs, learning circles, peer support spaces, environments where people feel safe to grow. You help people connect to their own potential. You make work feel a little more human.

And in the middle of all this? You still get the email asking, “Hey, could you run a quick soft skills thing next week?”

Why this work matters

So why do we stay? Why do we keep showing up, even when the world misunderstands what we do?

Because when we lead Learning & Development well, we create a ripple effect that transforms the entire organization.

Strategic, well-executed L&D doesn’t just create better training, it creates better businesses. It helps attract and retain the right people. It builds real capability at every level. It drives performance, increases agility, and helps organizations navigate complexity with confidence.

It also makes the employee experience better, from Day 1. It builds confidence, competence, and community. It’s not fluff. It’s business-critical.

That’s what my 5-Spoke Impact Model is all about. Along with tools like the L&D Infinity Loop and Impact Checklist, these are practical ways to showcase L&D’s value, without the performance theater.

You can grab the full toolkit here, completely free.

And if you’re ready to go deeper? That’s where the Talent Development Academy comes in.

What comes next for your career in L&D?

If you’ve made it this far, you’re not just curious. You care. You’ve already started thinking differently about your role, and you’re ready to lead, not wait.

You’ve spun your wheels long enough. You see your potential, but you need a clear path forward. You’ve outgrown the “just deliver the training” narrative because you already know the work demands more, and so do you.

That’s exactly why I created the Talent Development Academy®.

This program equips you with the tools, frameworks, and language to lead strategically, right now. No fluff. No filler. Just real-world skills that shift how you show up at work.

Inside the Academy, you’ll practice partnering with the business, influencing stakeholders, building capability frameworks, and proving impact with metrics that matter. You won’t just absorb content, you’ll use it. You’ll apply what you learn in real time, inside your current role, and you’ll do it with a squad of like-minded pros who refuse to stay small.

Because this work matters. Because you matter. And because L&D needs leaders who don’t wait for permission to make a difference.

So if you’re ready to claim your seat as a strategic partner, I’d love to support you. And if you’re not quite there yet, that’s okay too, start with the free toolkit. It’s packed with tools to build your confidence and shift the next conversation you have with the business.

When you’re ready, you know where to find me. No pitch. No pressure. Just the start of something real.

There’s no other way to say this… we’re friends now.