We often think our job in L&D is to transfer knowledge. A stakeholder identifies a problem, employees need a new skill, so we build a course. We focus on the what—the learning objectives, the slide decks, the click-through interactions.

But while we've been busy pushing content, our people have been drifting apart.

The Scale of the Problem

One in five employees globally reports feeling lonely at work frequently. This is a statistic that should concern anyone designing workplace experiences. Research suggests that when people are actively disengaged at work, their sense of isolation rivals that of unemployment itself.

This isn't just an HR problem or a "culture" issue that leadership can solve with a company-wide memo. It's woven into the fabric of how we work and how we learn.

Consider what happened during the rapid shift to remote and hybrid work. Organizations that once relied on hallway conversations and conference room training scrambled to digitize everything. The solution seemed obvious: learning management systems, self-paced modules, asynchronous courses that employees could complete "on their own time."

We didn't set out to isolate people. But in our pursuit of efficiency and flexibility, we may have normalized something troubling: we made learning a solitary act by default. We placed employees in front of screens, alone, clicking through content, and expected them to somehow still feel connected to their teams and organizations.

Photo by Mary Nguyen on Unsplash

What We Measure Is What We Get

Here's an uncomfortable question: When was the last time you wrote a learning objective about how people would feel during your training?

Most of us were trained to focus on cognitive objectives—what learners need to know or do. We dutifully apply Bloom's Taxonomy, writing objectives like "Learners will identify," "Learners will analyze," or "Learners will evaluate." These are important. But they're incomplete.

Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy actually included three domains: cognitive (thinking), psychomotor (doing), and affective (feeling). The affective domain—focused on emotions, attitudes, values, and social connection—has been largely forgotten in instructional design practice.

The result? We get what we measure. If we only design for cognitive outcomes, we only create cognitive experiences. We produce courses that inform but don't connect. Content that educates but doesn't engage. Learning that happens in isolation.

Who Should Solve This?

It's tempting to think that workplace loneliness is someone else's problem—that HR should handle culture, that leaders should be more present, that employees should just reach out more.

But L&D professionals have a unique opportunity here. We design the experiences where people spend significant portions of their work lives. We create the moments where employees could connect—or where they sit alone with a screen.

Every learning experience is a choice: Will this bring people together or keep them apart? Will this acknowledge their humanity or treat them as information receptacles? Will this build belonging or reinforce isolation?

These aren't just philosophical questions. They have practical implications for engagement, retention, performance, and organizational health.

Join In the Conversation It would be ironic if we were to provide an article that you can read in the comfort of your home or office and not have an opportunity to discuss these concepts with your peers.  Which is why we're thrilled to share that Steven Van Cohen, author of "Connectable – How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated To All In" is joining us to share how L&D can build meaningful connection at work and learn the secrets for moving team members from isolated to all-in.

Join us, then ask: What Will You Design Differently?

The next time you sit down to design a learning experience, try asking yourself not just "What do they need to learn?" but "How will they feel while learning it? Who will they connect with? What moment of genuine human interaction am I creating?"

You might find that designing for connection doesn't require more time or resources. Often, it just requires intention—a commitment to remembering that learning is fundamentally a social act, and that the relationships we build through learning matter as much as the content we deliver.

Our learners aren't just brains to be filled with information. They're whole people, navigating complex work environments, seeking not just competence but belonging.

We can give them both.