The Mind Tools L&D Podcast

Mind Tools Ltd

The Mind Tools L&D Podcast is a must-listen for anyone involved in Learning and Development or Human Resources. The weekly show features regular appearances from the Mind Tools team plus special guests to get right to the heart of issues affecting the L&D and HR communities. From learning needs analysis and evidence-based practice through to the impact of technology on work and hot topics at industry conferences, you'll get critical insights into the world of work, performance and learning. read less
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Episodes

387 — Bringing spaced practice into workplace learning
2d ago
387 — Bringing spaced practice into workplace learning
One-off learning interventions are frequently the ‘go to’ solution for workplace learning teams, but we know that spaced repetition and retrieval practice are more effective. How do we get past organizational constraints that make this difficult? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Tony Manwani from People Unboxed joins Ross Dickie and Ross Garner to discuss: ·       The problems with one-off interventions ·       Science-backed principles to make an impact ·       How Tony’s ‘BentoBot’ tool puts those principles into practice. For a recent replication of Ebbinghaus’ ‘forgetting curve’ experiment, see: Murre, J. M., & Dros, J. (2015). Replication and analysis of Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve. PloS one, 10(7), e0120644. For more on the ‘Leitner system’ see the overview on Wikipedia. For the LTEM model, referenced by Ross D, see Dr Will Thalheimer’s website. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross G recommended Perplexity.ai. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   For more from Tony and People Unboxed, see peopleunboxed.co.uk. For BentoBot, see bentobot.com. Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Tony Manwani
386 — How do we leverage AI for education?
19-03-2024
386 — How do we leverage AI for education?
Throughout the first few months of this year, we’ve been exploring artificial intelligence for L&D. In episode 377, Donald Taylor gave us the context on the extent to which L&D pros are using AI In episode 379, Ross Steven offered advice for getting started. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross and Owen were joined by Kacper Lodzikowski, Vice President of AI Capabilities at Pearson, to discuss the opportunities that AI presents for education.  We discuss: ·       Why AI presents such a challenge for educators ·       Balancing those challenges with opportunities ·       What those opportunities are and where to embrace them. During the discussion, Kacper referenced his paper: Łodzikowski, K., Foltz, P. W., & Behrens, J. T. (2023). Generative AI and Its Educational Implications. arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.08659. To find out more about our own AI-powered ‘difficult conversation’ tool, see AI Conversations. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended the TV show Poker Face. Ross G referenced ‘The Long Goodbye to Saturn’s Ring’, published in The Atlantic. Kacper referenced Ethan Mollick’s newsletter One Useful Thing and Gary Marcus’ newsletter Marcus on AI. Ross G shared a letter that was possibly written to Marilyn Monroe from John Steinbeck. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business/. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:   Ross GarnerOwen FergusonKacper Lodzikowski
384 — What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2024?
05-03-2024
384 — What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2024?
Donald Taylor describes this year’s Global Sentiment Survey as the ‘unsurprising survey’. Predictably, artificial intelligence topped the table by some margin. But the results of this year’s survey still tell us a lot about how L&D perceives itself and the challenges we face as a profession. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Donald joins Ross and Owen to parse the results of the Global Sentiment Survey 2024. We discuss: ·       How L&D views the benefits and challenges associated with AI ·       The non-AI topics which gained popularity this year ·       Declining interest in collaborative/social working and coaching/mentoring  ·       The potential risks of L&D’s current obsession with AI To read the Global Sentiment Survey report for yourself, head to Don’s website. During our discussion, Owen mentioned responses to the GSS from our own Gent Ahmetaj and Ross Garner. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen referenced Ben Thompson’s newsletter, Stratechery. Ross mentioned how he’d followed Wirecutter’s recommendations (which he learned about through Owen) to buy a new pair of earphones. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business/ There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Dickie ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Donald Taylor
383 — Designing learning for the charity sector
27-02-2024
383 — Designing learning for the charity sector
While there are often constraints in charity’s learning budgets, it’s actually this limitation that can point the way to more efficient and effective learning design and development. There’s much that the corporate learning world can learn from this.  In this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma is joined by Gill Chester, Director of Little Man Project and Ross Dickie to discuss creating learning for organisations on a mission to change the world for the better. We talked about: Resourcefulness and creativity throughout the design processThe importance of developing relationships with stakeholders Incorporating evaluation into the design process. Gill mentioned that she's running eLearning Unlocked, a 12-month programme on designing great elearning. To find out more about the programme, visit www.elearningunlocked.org.uk Do also check out Little Man Project here: https://www.littlemanproject.com/ Gemma learned a new word – suspire - thanks to Susie Dent. Her Tweet is here: https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1325118435546816512 For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business/. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: Gemma Towersey Ross Dickie Gill Chester
382 — You don’t have to talk to add value
20-02-2024
382 — You don’t have to talk to add value
As experts, managers or leaders, we often seek to help others by talking, talking, talking. But what if we didn’t talk and just listened? This week in The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross and Gemma are joined by Georgie Rudd, an executive coach, to discuss the trials and delights of listening. We explore: ·       reasons that we don’t listen well ·       the consequences of not listening (and of listening!) ·       how we can improve listening skills. Georgie recommended Nancy Klein as an expert on listening and techniques to improve. Time to think is a good place to start: amazon.co.uk/Time-Think-Listening-Ignite-Human/dp/0706377451 You can find out more about Liz Wiseman’s concepts of multipliers and diminishers in her book Multipliers: amazon.co.uk/Multipliers-Best-Leaders-Everyone-Smarter/dp/006239066X In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Gemma spoke about the widest fairy ring in the world. John Wright reports that it’s around 800m across in A spotter’s guide to countryside mysteries, but a quick internet search revealed this to be a questionable fact.  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  And, this week, we’re giving a special shout out to our Learning Performance Benchmark. Not sure how your L&D function is performing? Find out now, for free: mindtools.com/business/products/lpb/ Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on LinkedIn: ·       Gemma Towersey ·       Ross Dickie  ·       Georgie Rudd Georgie can also be contacted via her website: https://www.ruddcoaching.co.uk/
377 — AI in L&D: The State of Play
16-01-2024
377 — AI in L&D: The State of Play
Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, AI has seldom been out of the news. Such is the pace of change, it can feel difficult to keep up. But how is L&D actually using this technology? What do learning professionals perceive as the benefits of AI, and what are the barriers to implementation? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Dickie and Owen Ferguson are joined by Donald Taylor to discuss a report he co-authored with Egle Vinauskaite, which seeks to answer some of these questions. We discuss: ·       The current state of play of AI in L&D, ·       The expected benefits of using AI in L&D, ·       The technological and business barriers to deploying AI in organizations.   To read the full report, AI in L&D: The State of Play, head to Don’s website. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen mentioned CGP Grey’s focus on ‘themes’ (as opposed to resolutions) as a method for achieving long-term personal and professional goals. Check out this video to find out more. Ross D recommended the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, exploring Nimsdai Purja’s attempt to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000-metre mountains in under seven months. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Dickie ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Donald Taylor
376 — Enhancing the employee experience
09-01-2024
376 — Enhancing the employee experience
How much thought does your organization give to the Employee Experience? And what tools can you use to enhance it? In this year’s first episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson are joined by Danny Seals to discuss his new book The Insightful Innovator: How to level up your Employee Experience. We discuss: ·       The advantages of strengthening the Employee Experience ·       How ‘designing a relationship’ can set your projects up for success ·       Tools and techniques to enhance the Employee Experience.   During the conversation, Danny referred to Employee SPIES (Services, Products, Interactions, and Experiences, while applying a Subscription model to work). He also refers to EVP (Employee Value Proposition). And he discussed The Ladder of Abstraction as a tool for connecting with stakeholder groups. All are discussed in more detail in his book. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen recommended the research paper: Cook, A., Thompson, M., & Ross, P. (2023). Virtual First Impressions: Zoom Backgrounds Affect Judgements of Trust and Competence Ross recommended The Economist’s workplace podcast Boss Class. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    You can also email rgarner@mindtools.com Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Danny Seals
375 — Rockin’ Around The ChatGPT
19-12-2023
375 — Rockin’ Around The ChatGPT
It’s a wrap! In what is traditionally our ‘least listened to’ and ‘most unhinged’ episode of the year, we’re celebrating the festive season with some reflections on the biggest talking point in L&D: the emergence of generative AI. And we’re joined by special guests, ChatGPT (our first AI guest!) and Bedford Falls’ own George Bailey (making his annual appearance). Ross Garner is joined by Owen Ferguson and Ross Dick to discuss: ·       How have tools like ChatGPT and Bard evolved over the year? ·       How are we using them? ·       What’s coming next? ChatGPT then asks its own questions, with a spattering of festive zingers. And George shares his observations on the prevalence of AI, and provides an insight into the Baileys’ favourite drink at this time of year. In ‘What I Learned this Year’, Ross Dick recommended two newsletters: Platformer and One Useful Thing. And Ross G wanted to provide the phone number for Samaritans: 116 123 You can also visit their website: samaritans.org For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    You can also email rgarner@mindtools.com Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Ross Dickie
374 — VR for coaching and soft skills
12-12-2023
374 — VR for coaching and soft skills
In the past, we’ve always talked about Virtual Reality training in the context of skills that are expensive to learn or dangerous to practice. But Lucie Coudret and the team at Cappfinity are using VR for coaching and leadership development. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson speak with Lucie Coudret, to discuss: ·       The advantages of VR for coaching and soft skill development ·       How to overcome the cost and technical hurdles of providing VR learning experiences ·       How the VR ‘fad’ has continued to evolve and improve, even if it’s not always in the spotlight, During the conversation, Lucie referenced PwC’s study into the effectiveness of VR for soft skills training. She also referenced the DICE model (Dangerous, Impossible, Counterproductive, Expensive). Details of the VR EY Summer Internship, developed by Cappfinity, are on YouTube. Ross referenced the popularity of Snapchat’s ‘My AI’, which by June of this year had been sent 10 billion messages. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen recommended Lenny’s Newsletter. Ross recommended The Rest Is History podcast. For more from Lucie, see luciecoudret.com For Cappfinity, see cappfinity.com For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    You can also email rgarner@mindtools.com Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Lucie Coudret
373 — What if L&D had a marketing strategy?
05-12-2023
373 — What if L&D had a marketing strategy?
Ever launch a workshop that no one attended or an e-learning module that nobody accessed? It’s surprisingly common: and one reason is that we’re not always great at marketing our L&D initiatives. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Dick and Owen Ferguson seek to reverse this outcome with the help of Ashley Sinclair from MAAS Marketing – the world’s only (we think) marketing agency focusing specifically on L&D. We discuss: ·       Why L&D teams need a marketing strategy ·       What an effective marketing strategy looks like ·       How to measure the ROI of a marketing strategy   For more from Ashley, visit maas-marketing.co.uk Ashley’s podcast is at maas-marketing.co.uk/podcast The Mind Tools reports that were mentioned are available at: mindtools.com/business/research Ashley also mentioned the LPI’s ‘Workplace Learning Report’ In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Ross D discussed the BBC’s new series on Shakespeare., He also the Netflix series ‘Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul’. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Dickie ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Ashley Sinclair
372 — AI Conversations is changing how we practice power skills
28-11-2023
372 — AI Conversations is changing how we practice power skills
Historically, if you wanted to get better at having difficulty conversations, you had to take part in embarrassing roleplays or actual high-stakes conversations. Now, thanks to generative AI tools like ChatGPT, we can practice in a safe environment with realistic responses and in-the-moment feedback.   That’s the premise for ‘AI Conversations’, a new digital learning offering from Mind Tools and Learning Pool. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Nahdia Khan are joined by Learning Pool’s Lindsey Coode to discuss:   ·       How AI Conversations works ·       The role and importance of feedback in developing skills ·       The measurable impact on user capability after just one practice session.   During the discussion, Ross referenced the following paper: Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K., & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257. Nahdia referenced the World Economic Forum’s report ‘Jobs of Tomorrow’. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Nahdia discussed HuddleCraft. Ross discussed ‘The False Binary in Higher Ed’ from Ben Wildavsky. To find out more about AI Conversations, visit: ·       Mind Tools ·       Learning Pool Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Lindsey Coode
371 — Talk to the Elephant (cause the rider ain’t listening)
21-11-2023
371 — Talk to the Elephant (cause the rider ain’t listening)
Instructional designer and author Julie Dirksen’s first book, Design for How People Learn, is a core text here at Mind Tools Towers. So we couldn’t wait to speak to her about her follow-up: Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Julie joins Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson to discuss: What Julie means by the ‘rider’ and the ‘elephant’ The many (often good) reasons that people don’t do what they are toldApproaches for designing workplace learning that leads to behavior change. During the discussion, Ross referenced an article on willpower from the American Psychological Association. A word of caution, this is from 2012. Owen referenced Ferinand F Fournies’ book Coaching for improved work performance. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen discussed the CMI’s report ‘Taking responsibility – Why UK PLC needs better managers’. Ross discussed the collective names for animals, from X user @CulturalTutor. Owen also promoted Ross’ newsletter, The L&D Dispatch, and we mentioned a recent post on how to reduce the cost of compliance training. For more from Julie, visit her website usablelearning.com For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: Ross Garner   Owen FergusonJulie Dirksen
370 — Thriving during the menopause
14-11-2023
370 — Thriving during the menopause
The menopause, a natural transition that women experience, is finally becoming an open discussion topic in more communities. Does this mean that women have the understanding and support they need to thrive during this time of their lives?  In this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma is joined by coach Jayne Saul-Paterson, and Nahdia Khan to discuss women’s experiences and how they can be improved. We talked about: ·       The workplace difficulties experienced by some women during their menopause transition ·       How women can seek help during this time ·       How organisations can better support women.     Jayne referenced several resources during the episode.    The BSI Group’s ‘Understanding menopause and menstrual health – Guide’   NICE Guidance Menopause: diagnosis and management   Fawcett Society report Menopause and the Workplace   balance’s Menopause homepage and Menopause at Work survey results   In What I Learnt this Week, Nahdia noted important points from the Better Management Report: ‘Taking Responsibility – why UK plc needs better managers’ For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: Gemma TowerseyNahdia Khan  Jayne Saul-Paterson RCDP  www.gspcoaching.com Instagram @coachjsp
369 — A healthy dose of L&D
07-11-2023
369 — A healthy dose of L&D
Healthcare is a difficult environment to work in, where decisions literally mean life or death. Combine that pressure with diverse roles, shift-based workers and difficulty getting time away from the frontline - and you have less-than-ideal conditions to promote learning and career development. So how do you support colleagues if you have an L&D role in such an organisation? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner is joined by UMass Memorial Health’s Liz Ferro, Diana Avery and Matt Pfleger to discuss:  the role of digital in engaging non-desk-based workers how to create space for people in stressful jobs to learn and developwhether working in an evidence-based environment leads to more evidence-based learning design. During the discussion, Matt referenced a project that the team worked on with Ross. You can see an overview of that project on YouTube and in our case study. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Matt referenced a Family Guy clip, which is available online. Liz discussed how you can remove a background from a video in After Effects, even when you didn’t use a green screen. Diana referenced UMass Memorial Health’s mindfulness programs. And Ross discussed President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on AI, as well as Nicholas Thompson’s concerns that it would stifle competition. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on LinkedIn: Ross GarnerLiz FerroDiana AveryMatt Pfleger