Quick Answer:
What are the biggest mistakes instructional design consultants make? Common mistakes include failing to clarify project expectations, overlooking stakeholder input, communicating poorly, allowing scope creep, and missing deadlines. Successful instructional design consulting projects depend on clear agreements, strong client relationships, consistent communication, and the ability to adapt when challenges arise. Avoiding these mistakes can help consultants deliver better results and build lasting client relationships.
…and what successful consultants do instead
Consulting is a craft. It takes strategy, communication, judgment, and more patience than most people realize. But if you’re ever in the mood to watch a perfectly good instructional design project go straight off the rails? There are some truly reliable ways to make that happen.
Of course, we’d never actually recommend doing any of these. In fact, consider this your friendly TrainingPros guide to the habits that separate seasoned consultants from the ones who struggle. Think of it as a humorous checklist of what not to do and a reminder of the professional behaviors that keep clients coming back.
Let’s get into it.
1. Jump In Without Understanding Anything
One of the best ways to derail a project is to begin designing or developing long before you understand the business problem, the learners, the workflow, or the success criteria. Why clarify goals when you can just start building and hope for the best? It’s a guaranteed way to create a solution no one asked for.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They kick off with discovery. They ask thoughtful questions. They confirm the performance gap. They understand the “why” before touching the “how.” They don’t assume; they align.
2. Say “Yes” to Everything and Make Unrealistic Promises
Nothing accelerates failure like agreeing to every new request without adjusting scope or timeline. And if you really want a dramatic ending? Promise delivery dates that require superhuman speed.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They honor the client’s needs and the project structure. They clarify impacts, offer options, negotiate timelines, and set expectations realistically. They build trust through transparency, not heroics.
3. Avoid SMEs Until It’s Too Late
If you want maximum rework, keep subject matter experts out of the loop. Build the course, send it at the last minute, and wait for the shocked email that says, “This isn’t accurate.”
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They bring SMEs into the process early and maintain consistent touchpoints. They verify details in before development instead of gambling with the final product.
Streamline Your SME Review Process
4. Skip Documentation and Status Reporting
Silence is a powerful failure strategy. No recaps. No decision logs. No status updates. Just a slow, creeping fog of misalignment.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They capture decisions, share short meeting notes, highlight risks early, and send calm, predictable weekly updates. These small actions create smooth projects and confident clients.
5. Rush Through Design (or Skip It Entirely)
If you prefer chaos, jump straight into building slides or eLearning. Who needs a storyboard or prototype? Just cross your fingers and hope you guessed correctly.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They measure twice and build once. They use outlines, scripts, or prototypes to confirm direction before investing hours in development. It saves time, saves relationships, and saves projects.
How Building an eLearning Prototype Saves Time and Money
6. Ignore Company Culture, Tone, and Brand Standards
A quick way to eliminate credibility is to create learning that looks and sounds like it was meant for a completely different organization. Misaligned visuals, off-brand tone, incorrect terminology… it all adds up.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They learn the brand. They absorb the culture. They tailor their writing, examples, graphics, and interactions so the final product feels native to the client’s world.
7. Deliver Work Without Testing or Organizing Files
Few things tank a project faster than sending drafts full of broken links, inconsistent audio, typo-heavy screens, or confusing file packages. Letting the client be your QA team is a sure fire way to tank your project!
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They test thoroughly and deliver clean, organized files that the client can actually use later. It’s a quiet mark of professionalism and it gets noticed.
8. Treat Feedback as an Attack, not a Collaboration
If you’d like to strain a client relationship, respond defensively to every piece of feedback. Debate comments. Get emotional. Push back quickly and often.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They stay grounded. They embrace feedback as part of the process. They ask clarifying questions, reflect, adjust, and collaborate with confidence rather than ego. They understand that the client has more riding on the outcome of the project than they do and respect that.
9. Miss Deadlines Without Warning
If something changes, definitely don’t mention it ahead of time. Let the deadline arrive quietly, then follow up with an apology and a promise to send something “soon.” In fact, a great way to tank the project is to ignore deadlines altogether.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They flag delays early, explain the impact, and offer alternatives. Clients appreciate honesty far more than surprise.
10. End the Project Abruptly
When the last file is sent, just disappear. No handoff. No documentation. No explanations. No guidance on updating the course. No guidance about the source files. Just vanish into the digital sunset.
What Successful Instructional Design Consultants Do Instead
They close projects with intention. They provide source files, instructions, version notes, and a clear wrap-up. They leave clients feeling supported rather than stranded and that feeling leads to referrals and repeat work.
How Can You Keep Your
Next Consulting Project on Track?
Before starting your next instructional design consulting project, ask yourself a few questions:
- Do I understand the business problem and what success looks like?
- Have we agreed on deliverables, timelines, and review responsibilities?
- Do I know the client’s standards, templates, and expectations?
- Have we established how changes, feedback, and approvals will be handled?
- Do I have a plan for keeping the client informed and completing a smooth handoff?
A little preparation can prevent a lot of frustration. More importantly, it demonstrates the professionalism that makes clients want to work with you again.
Why This All Matters
Instructional design consulting isn’t just about designing great learning. It’s about managing relationships, communicating clearly, and building trust through predictable behaviors. When consultants show up prepared, ask great questions, and deliver reliably, clients notice and they request your services again.
At TrainingPros, we work with consultants who bring this level of professionalism to every engagement. That’s how we continue to deliver high-quality experiences for our clients year after year.
What to read next:
Do you want to learn more about succeeding as an Instructional Design consultant? These articles continue the conversation:
Getting Started as a Contract Instructional Designer:
Ready for Your Next
Instructional Design Consulting Project?
At TrainingPros, we know that great instructional design consultants bring more to a project than technical skills. They bring sound judgment, strong communication, and the ability to build relationships with clients.
We work with experienced L&D consultants on projects with organizations across the country. If you’re an instructional design professional who takes pride in delivering great work and building lasting client relationships, we’d love to connect.
TrainingPros is a learning and development company that connects organizations with experienced instructional designers, eLearning developers, and performance consultants. We’ve been named a Top 20 Staffing Company by Training Industry and a Champion of Learning by the Association for Talent Development (ATD), recognition that reflects our commitment to delivering high-quality, tailored learning solutions.
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