Do you ever feel like your compliance training program is just spinning its wheels? You feel like there must be a way to do things a little faster, a little more smoothly, a little more creatively? (Or a lot?) But, instead, everything feels like a slog, year after year?

Well, first of all, you’re not alone. This stuff is hard! There’s no easy button. But it can be easier. After nearly a decade of serving clients at Rethink, we’ve learned to recognize the hallmarks of an efficient team who are going to meet their own deadlines and roll out training they love and, to be honest, those teams who are probably not.

So, whether you make your own training or work with a vendor, do a little gut check and ask yourself if any of the following sound familiar.

1. You don’t know when to put the pencil down

The lure of the edit (or comment) button is strong. Every time you look at a script or a training, there’s one more thing that could be just a little better – or at least, different.

And, it’s true, a learning design team’s work is never done. There is no such thing as perfection. (Take it from a team of folks with high standards!) But we’ve found that prolonged fiddling at the end of a project rarely improves the overall quality and – most importantly – the impact of a project.

So here’s what you can do:

Learn to love the inverted triangle. The first time you review a script or course, look at the big picture: Is it well organized? Is anything missing or extra? Now is the time to change course on the big picture – not later!

The second time you review, look more closely at the details: Correct the language, check the facts.

The third – and final! – review should just be for errors. Does the course reflect all the changes you requested?

Then, stop. Trust yourself. I promise you it will be okay.

2. You’re focused on the wrong things

There’s an expression in design called “bikeshedding.” Imagine a group of engineers designing a nuclear power plant. And they’re all focused on the design of the bikeshed. Pretty hilarious, right? (And terrifying, come to think of it).

Now picture a learning design team charged with instilling and reinforcing the values that drive an organization, reducing risk, and improving employee competency. And there’s an hour-long discussion about the placement of buttons.

Do the power plant employees need a place to park their bikes? Yes. Do we want to place buttons in a way that is intuitive and convenient for users? Yes. But should that bikeshed hold up that power plant in any way? Absolutely not. Same answer for the buttons.

So, here’s what you can do:

Agree on priorities first. Those priorities should be focused on what the course is going to do for your learners. Expend your effort on those priorities.

And, when you see conversations start to devolve into bikeshedding, bring everybody back on task, to focus on the big picture. Pick one person to be fully in charge of whatever that project’s bikeshed is and trust that you can let it go.

3. You’re not managing your SMEs well

There’s a reason herding cats is the go-to metaphor for impossible organizational tasks: Cats are independent and have their own agenda. They don’t go where you want them to because they don’t have to.

Your subject matter experts are the same. They aren’t chaotic or unpredictable. (Would that be herding monkeys?) The SMEs – like the cats – don’t work for you. They’ve got their own priorities. And they don’t fully understand your language, or you theirs.

This often results in SMEs sending in reams of documentation where a summary is needed. Or larding up a course with information that is extraordinarily important in their world – but not in the learner’s. Or insisting on a precision and depth of language that confuses instead of clarifies.

They’re not being purposefully difficult. They’re just – and I say this with love, not disrespect – cats.

So, here’s what you can do:

How do you get cats to do what you want? You build trust and relationships. You set clear routines. And you make sure there’s something in it for them.

You should do the same for your SMEs. Communicate clearly the scope of any project and what is expected of them. (E.g., “This is a 7-minute course for non-technical new hires. Please redline any errors that you see.”) Give them a single opportunity to review a script, then let them go back to doing their jobs, which is what they prefer to be doing anyway.

Do any of those hit a little close to home? You’re definitely not alone. Old habits can be hard to break. But pick one to focus on for improvement and see if your next training project goes just a little more smoothly.