The short answer is YES – I made a living doing that for many years, BUT many L&D professionals believe that no-one else can do their workshop/programme justice.

It means that they end up trapped. Trapped in a delivery role limiting promotion (if they are employed) or business growth if they are freelance.

It’s in this situation that we need to remind ourselves that sometimes good enough is good enough, as I hope this analogy will explain.

I was fortunate to go to the Theatre whilst on holiday last week – for the first time in 18 months. We went to see The Play that goes Wrong, by the BRILLIANT Mischief Theatre Company. We are massive fans and have seen (almost) everything they’ve done (we are seeing their latest show later this month), including many of their improv shows over zoom during lockdown.

We had a great time. BUT we have seen the Play that Goes Wrong before – with the ORGINAL cast i.e. the ones who wrote it. I have to confess that we couldn’t help but compare the performance to that original. Whilst this production was very good, it wasn’t quite AS good.

And that’s because the original cast wrote the play for them to perform themselves. The actors in this new production were having to take on parts of those personalities in order to do the play justice.

But it was still excellent – largely due to the writing and the set design (which is an integral part of Mischief plays). and the actors did a fantastic job.

If you’d have asked those in the audience who were seeing the play for the first time to rate it out of 10 – they would probably give it 9 or 10. They had nothing to compare it to. We rated it around an 8, because we had.

And I thought about those trainers who say that no-one else can possibly deliver their workshops, and I understand where they’re coming from. Maybe no-one else can do it quite as well. BUT with proper design, and the right choice of associate/colleague other people CAN run it well. Delegates who have never attended session with you will not be disappointed. The workshop/programme will still be successful.

So maybe if you accept that good enough is actually good enough, and make a decision to get out of your own way, you could have far greater reach and impact than if you insist on doing everything yourself.

Design it well, and you’ll at least have that option.