But clever shortcuts DO exist (even if not in the form you expect)

Every so often, a post goes viral on LinkedIn promising the magic wand we’ve all been waiting for.

Six ChatGPT prompts that will “revolutionise your L&D function.”
One tool that will “transform training design overnight.”

Tempting, isn’t it? Because wouldn’t it be nice if there really was a shortcut — a single tool, a one-line prompt, a quick fix that takes away all the hard work of creating great learning experiences?

But here’s the truth: there is no magic wand. There never has been. And chasing one often wastes more time than it saves.

Different Types of Shortcuts

You’ll see these presented in two ways:

• The shortcut route: Drop a vague prompt into ChatGPT like “Design me a leadership programme.” and you’re blown away with what come back in seconds. BUT… when you actually start to look are the outputs, it’s far too generic. Some of it may be even be wrong. To make it fit your people? You’ll spend hours refining, rewriting, and (if you keep refining with AI) battling scope creep.
  
• The specific tool: Finding the right tool for the job that does one thing and does it well. I’ve spent weeks (sometimes months) developing tools, courses, and ready-made resources so practitioners like you start with a strong structure. With a heck of a lot less effort, you’ve got something that works right away. I’m even developing AI tools that actually know what good training design looks like, to significantly cut your design time WITHOUT compromising quality.

One of these genuinely saves time. The other just gives the illusion of saving time by pushing the hard work further down the line.

It’s the same in everyday life and work

• Parenting: Put in the effort when they’re toddlers — teaching manners, routines, habits — or deal with bigger battles when they’re teenagers. I know which is easier.
• Eating: Plan your meals and making sure you have everything in advance, or constantly working out what you can cook, and making lots of extra tips to the supermarket. One saves time and money, the other doesn’t.
• Holidays: Plan your itinerary in advance to make sure you get to do all the things you want to, or find that everything is fully booked, or you have to pay over the odds.
• Onboarding: Spend time getting a new employee settled properly, or spend months fixing mistakes and managing performance.
• Facilitation: Do the design and research upfront, or spend your whole workshop firefighting when people switch off.

In every case, you need to do the work. The only choice is when.

Why the pros make it look easy

When you see a trainer, facilitator, or even someone using AI in L&D who makes it look effortless, it’s not magic. It’s preparation. The hard work has already happened behind the scenes, so the delivery looks smooth.

That’s why the “magic wand” idea is so misleading. What looks like ease is really effort you can’t see.

Practical help (instead of chasing magic)

This is exactly why I’ve created resources that take the heavy lifting off your plate:

• Design training in 6 Simple Steps and MASTER your training design – short, practical courses that give you a repeatable process to design any workshop effectively and efficiently.
• Save Time with AI Assisted Training Design – a structure to help you get the best out of AI without the endless trial and error.
• Design a Session Plan – with ready-to-use templates and clear structures.
• How To Guides – step-by-step walkthroughs for all sorts of L&D tasks, from design to delivery.
• Power Hour training materials – fully designed sessions you can pick up and run with.

I put in the design time, so you don’t have to.

AND I’m working on some AI design tools that will deliver WAY more than a generic course outline, so watch this space!

Final thought

There’s no magic wand in L&D.
But there are smarter ways to save time, avoid rework, and make sure your sessions land first time.

So the next time you’re tempted by a shortcut, ask yourself: is this really a time-saver, or am I just delaying the work I’ll have to do anyway?