The Secret to Scaling Learning When You're a Team of One

Being a solo L&D pro means wearing all the hats. You’re designing programmes, chasing impact, keeping stakeholders happy… all without a big team or budget.

But here’s the good news: you don’t need a huge headcount to make a huge impact.

On our L&D Disrupt podcast, we chatted to Penny Simpson (Director of Enablement, InRiver), who’s mastered the art of scaling learning solo. Here’s how she does it and how you can too.
‍

1. Push Back (Nicely) and Focus on What Matters

When you’re the only one in L&D, requests can pile up fast. It’s easy to say yes to everything, but Penny is all about protecting your time and energy.

People will come to you and say, can we do this? Let’s try that. And I say, well, hang on. Why are we doing it? Training isn’t always the answer.” - Penny Simpson

Her advice? Ask yourself:

• Will this actually move the needle?
• Is it worth the time and effort right now?
• Can I reuse it later?

If it’s a no or a maybe, it’s OK to park it. Your job isn’t to tick boxes — it’s to create real value.
‍

2. Make Learning Part of the Job (Not Another Task)

One of the smartest things you can do? Embed learning into the day job so it feels natural, not like homework.

Take Penny’s sales team example:

“We’ve given them the information… Now we ask them to show us. Build a pitch using the new deck. It feels like they’re already doing their job.” - Penny Simpson

This way, learning happens while they’re working, so no extra time is needed. You can turn training into real tasks, like using new tools or techniques in current projects, and add feedback loops such as peer reviews, coaching, or scorecards to reinforce the learning.
‍

3. Repurpose Like a Pro

You don’t have time to build everything from scratch every time and you don’t have to.

“Whenever I’m creating something, I’m always thinking: how can we reuse this?” - Penny Simpson

Some ideas:

• Turn a live workshop into an on-demand course.
• Use snippets of training to support onboarding.
• Record sessions and turn them into bitesize refreshers.

Think of your content like leftovers. Still tasty, still useful, just served differently.
‍

4. Use Tech to Stretch Your Impact

Tech can be your biggest ally when you’re flying solo. For Penny, HowNow's Learning Platform helps her scale what she does and make learning more social and accessible.

“HowNow allows me to build stuff at scale more easily… The tech can be everywhere. I can’t.”

A few smart ideas:

• Use tools like HowNow Guru for AI coaching and bite-sized learning.
• Set up knowledge-sharing prompts that appear in the flow of work.
• Let tech handle the heavy lifting while you focus on strategy.
  ‍

Final Thoughts: Work Smarter, Not Harder

You don’t need to hustle harder. You just need to be intentional and that’s your superpower.

“I’ve solved multiple issues by doing it this way… especially ’cause most of the time I’m a team of one.”

Focus on high-impact tasks, embed learning where it matters, reuse what you’ve already built, and let tech do the rest.

Scaling L&D isn’t about how many people you’ve got. It’s about what you do with the time and tools you already have.