Brightspeed had instructional designers, but no real function around them. No intake, no standards, no way to tell what was in flight. No one asked me to fix it. I saw the gap, got my manager on board, and built the operating model, the standards, and the team that turned a handful of order-takers into a group that ships consistent training people actually use.
Role
Instructional Design Lead
Ownership
The function — standards, process, and team
Partners
ID manager · recruiters · cross-dept SMEs
Team
5 Senior Instructional Designers
There was an ID function on paper. In practice, a manager with little ID background took requests and handed them straight to a designer. No intake, no needs analysis, no project tool, no folder structure anyone could follow, no weekly check-ins, no shared standards, and no team goals.
So the work showed it. Courses got built without anyone asking whether training was even the right fix, files went missing, two people solved the same problem twice, and quality swung depending on who picked up the request. The team was busy and the business still wasn't getting reliable training out of it.
No one handed me this project. I saw what was broken, brought it to my manager with a plan, and she backed me to lead it. From there I ran the whole thing and reported progress back up.
I laid out where the function was leaking time and quality, made the case to my manager, and got the mandate to lead both the fix and the team.
I put in the pieces a real function needs: how work comes in, how it's prioritized, how it's tracked, and how the team talks to each other and to the rest of the business.
I wrote the standards every course would meet, then helped hire five senior designers who could hold that bar without me checking every screen.
I turned a loose group of designers into a function with a way of working. Each piece below fixed a specific thing that used to break.
ID playbook
Wrote the playbook the whole team works from, so a course looks and holds up the same no matter who builds it.
Intake & prioritization
Built a real intake process with a consultation step, so we start with a needs and gap analysis with the SME instead of taking the order as written.
Design, dev & QA standards
Set the standards for how we design, develop, and review, so quality doesn't ride on who happened to pick up the request.
Asana & project tracking
Stood up Asana and the process around it, so anyone can see what's in flight, where it stands, and what's next.
Folder & file structure
Set folder-structure standards and a OneDrive setup, so “where's the file?” stopped being a daily question.
ID hub & Training hub
Built an ID hub with two sides — a permission-controlled team workspace and a company-facing front door — plus a Training hub for trainers and requestors. Full breakdown below.
Communication & escalation
Set standard communications and clear escalation paths, so requests, updates, and blockers all have an obvious route.
Team toolset · Storyline · Rise · Camtasia · Vyond · ILT & vILT · microlearning · video · job aids
The ID hub does two jobs at once. One side is the team's private workspace, permission-controlled, where everything we need to run the function lives. The other is a public front door where the rest of the business can see what we do and how to work with us. The Training hub sits alongside it for trainers and requestors.
The team's private workspace for running the function day to day.
Team Center
Onboarding
Operations & workflow
Metrics & reporting
Tools & systems
Content governance
Working files
The front door, so the rest of the business knows what we do and how to work with us.
Home
What we do
How we work
Intake portal
Portfolio & showcase
Everything trainers and requestors need to run and request live training.
Trainer resources
Trainer logistics
Request ILT training
Course library
Course feedback zone
A function needs the right people, not just the right process. I supported the hiring of five senior instructional designers, screened resumes and portfolios against the bar I'd set, sat in with recruiters, and ran interviews. Then I led the team day to day: weekly project check-ins, one-on-ones, and shared goals, so everyone knew what mattered and where their work fit.
The structure paid off in the everyday work.
Less wasted work, because we start with a needs analysis and build fewer courses that never get used.
Better solutions, because we consult on the right fix instead of just taking the request.
Consistent training, because every designer builds to the same standard.
No more “where's the file?”, because the folder structure and hubs give everything a home.
Clear priorities from day one, because intake sets them before work starts.
Less duplicate work, because cross-department collaboration surfaces what already exists.
This wasn't a project with an end date. The playbook, the intake process, the standards, and the tooling keep running after any one person moves on. I turned instructional design at Brightspeed from a request queue into a function the business can count on, and gave the team a way of working they can grow into.
© 2026 Tonya Weathers · L&D Leadership Portfolio