Engaged Designers Build Better Learning. Burnt-Out Designers Build Slide Decks.

Here’s a quick way to tell how your instructional team is doing: look at what they’re building.

Are they crafting experiences? Or are they just filling templates?

Because here’s the truth—engaged instructional designers make meaningful solutions. Burnt-out instructional designers make PowerPoints.

When creativity disappears, so does impact. The moment your team is just going through the motions, you’re not solving performance problems—you’re just shipping content.

So how do you keep designers engaged?

Let them follow their curiosity.

Ours is a field rooted in experimentation. We’re literally designing interventions that are judged by whether they work in real life. That means trial and error isn’t a bug—it’s the system. But you can’t experiment if every minute of every day is allocated to squeezing out maximum efficiency.

Make room for play. Build in a little margin for weird ideas. If your lead designer thinks sock puppets are the best way to deliver compliance training—and you’re confident it won’t get anyone fired—let them try it. Worst case? You change it later. Best case? You build something memorable.

What matters is this: your team has space to test assumptions. To try new things. To stretch. That’s how you keep people invested. Not with praise or pizza, but with permission.

Of course, you still need guardrails. There are always constraints:

• Stakeholder expectations: Don’t surprise the VP with sock puppets unless they’re cool with it.
• Learner expectations: Know what your audience will tolerate, enjoy, or resist.
• Project realities: Budget, timeline, team skills—these still matter.

But inside those boundaries? Give your team the freedom to explore. Curiosity is where quality starts.

And remember: burnout doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like safe choices. Like recycling last quarter’s storyboard. Like building something you *know* won’t move the needle—just because it’s fast.

If you want better outcomes, protect your team’s spark. Give them room to be curious.

Because engaged designers build better learning. Burnt-out designers just get through the day.