The Mind Tools L&D Podcast
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.
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394 — Burn your bullsh*t in a bonfire moment
05/14/2024
394 — Burn your bullsh*t in a bonfire moment
You’ve got a brilliant idea for the next big thing in tech and have gathered the smartest engineers and designers to build it (plus the cash to pay them). Will it end up being a success? You’ve got the best team to deliver it, so why wouldn’t it be? Well… Gemma, Ross and Martin Gonzalez, Google’s Effective Founders Project founder and author, discuss this situation on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast. We explore: · how and why it’s people issues that often lead to (startup) business failure · the balances that need to be struck by those creating and working in teams · the uncomfortable “bullsh*t circle” exercise, as a step towards fixing people issues. During the episode, Martin talks about how the “hiding hand principle” is critical for some projects to get going: In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Martin references Gary P. Pisano’s Find out more about Martin and Josh's book The Bonfire Moment by visiting For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 us on LinkedIn: · · ·
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393 — Is positive psychology practical?
05/07/2024
393 — Is positive psychology practical?
If you’re thinking, isn’t positive psychology a bit ‘woo woo’, and a bit like forcing yourself to take a sunny outlook, then this episode is for you. As an approach to a happier, more balanced inner and outer life, positive psychology is not woo – it has a solid scientific foundation with practical methodologies. Gemma, Ross Garner and their guest, Leadership coach Sandra Berko, discuss these very points this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast. We explore: · what positive psychology is and isn’t · what the science suggests we do to find balance · how you can help others to use positive psychology. Ross mentioned an earlier episode of the podcast on job crafting. You can listen to Episode 271 – Jobcraft Country wherever you get your podcasts, or on our website: In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross recommended the “Great Minds on Learning” podcast episode on . Sandra spoke about emotion codes, which feature in a course she’s currently enrolled in. Emotion codes are based on theories developed by . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 us on LinkedIn: · · ·
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392 — Adaptive vs linear courses: Which performs better?
04/30/2024
392 — Adaptive vs linear courses: Which performs better?
Adaptive courses come in many forms, but generally respond to the learner’s existing knowledge and skills: thereby optimizing the time to completion. But do they improve learning outcomes? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are joined by Roy de Vries, Learning Innovator at aNewSpring, to explore the results of an experiment they ran to compare adaptive vs linear courses. We discuss: Forms of adaptive learning content; The potential advantages of adaptive learning; The results of an experiment carried out by aNewSpring. Details of the study we discussed are online at: During the discussion, Ross referenced our AI-powered difficult conversation simulator: AI Conversations. It gives your people an opportunity to practice a variety of off-the-shelf or custom scenarios. You can find details on our website: In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended the book Smart Swam, by Peter Millers. If you want to hear The L&D Dispatch jingle again (and why wouldn’t you?), it’s available from . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. For aNewSpring, visit Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:
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391 — Knock out your tasks with timeboxing
04/23/2024
391 — Knock out your tasks with timeboxing
Timeboxing means dividing your day into 15-60 minute slots, based on your priorities, and then sticking to those slots as you dive into the business of work. If that sounds great, it is. If it sounds easy, it isn’t. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, author Marc Zao-Sanders joins Ross G to give him advice on timeboxing his life. We discuss: · The benefits of timeboxing; · How email is the ‘killer’, and what to do about it; · The difficulties that Ross had implementing timeboxing, and what he could do differently. The article Marc wrote for HBR was ‘’. Find out more about from Mind Tools. The book, Timeboxing, is . Marc’s substack is . The company Marc runs is . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discussed the rising popularity of the ‘’. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: · ·
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390 — Joining forces with your brain
04/16/2024
390 — Joining forces with your brain
As learning designers, we’re ultimately in the business of trying to help people build new connections in their brains. To do this effectively, we need to have a fundamental understanding of how the brain works. But how far down the neuroscience rabbit hole do we need to go? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Dickie and Ross Garner are joined by Lauren Waldman, learning scientist, consultant, and founder of Learning Pirate. We discuss: · Lauren’s journey to deepen her understanding of how the brain works; · how much learning designers need to know about neuroscience to be effective in their roles; · the cost of L&D’s continual focus on the ‘shiny and the new’. To find out more about Lauren’s work as Learning Pirate, head to: You can also view a trailer for Lauren’s ‘Joining Forces with Your Brain’ series . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross Garner mentioned the . Ross Dickie recommended the documentary For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: · · ·
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389 — Coaching for all
04/09/2024
389 — Coaching for all
As a conversation approach and development tool, coaching is a highly effective option for everyone – not just the executive suite. Professional coaches are expensive, so how can large organisations give all of their employees the chance to be coached and for coaching conversations to be the norm? In this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Claire are joined by Mina Papakonstantinou, Manager in the Leadership development team at Deloitte, to discuss upskilling internal coaches at scale. We discussed: the benefits of creating a coaching culture designing and facilitating a coaching skills programme for thousands measuring and evaluating a coaching programme. During the discussion, Mina referenced a case study she provided as an example of how we apply coaching psychology in internal coaching within organisations. See: Papakonstantinou, F. (2021). . In Introduction to Coaching Psychology (pp. 203-204). Routledge. See also her article, ''. She also contributed to: Papakonstantinou, F. (2016). 'A Trusted Chameleon: The evolving role of the L&D consultant as an internal coach'. In Coaching Psychology International - VOLUME 9, ISSUE 1 (pp, 11-16). In what I learned this week, Gemma talked about oathing stones – a wedding ceremony ritual. You can read about it and other options: Claire found out about how money is made. Check out this really funky piece on it here: For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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:
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388 — Public speaking in L&D
04/02/2024
388 — Public speaking in L&D
Whether you’re delivering workshops, speaking at conferences, presenting to senior leaders, or even hosting L&D’s favorite podcast, public speaking is a critical skill for learning professionals. So how do you develop this skill, and how do you manage your nerves when speaking publicly? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Lara are joined by Samantha Tulloch, public speaker and business-transformation consultant. We discuss: · the nuances of public speaking in an L&D context, · techniques that can help you prepare and deliver effectively, · strategies for managing nerves and anxiety. During the discussion, Ross D referenced our previous episode with . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Samantha mentioned the little-known . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: · · ·
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387 — Bringing spaced practice into workplace learning
03/26/2024
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). . PloS one, 10(7), e0120644. For more on the ‘Leitner system’ see the . For the LTEM model, referenced by Ross D, see . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross G recommended . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 . For BentoBot, see . Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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386 — How do we leverage AI for education?
03/19/2024
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). . arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.08659. To find out more about our own AI-powered ‘difficult conversation’ tool, see . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended the TV show Poker Face. Ross G referenced ‘’, published in The Atlantic. Kacper referenced Ethan Mollick’s newsletter and Gary Marcus’ newsletter . Ross G shared a letter that was from John Steinbeck. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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:
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385 — Building a modern learning ecosystem
03/12/2024
385 — Building a modern learning ecosystem
Today’s workplace is one where change is the norm. Learning is critical in this environment, but supporting learning isn’t just about creating content. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, JD Dillon joins Ross Dickie and Ross Garner to discuss his book, The Modern Learning Ecosystem. We cover: Why JD’s book includes ‘learning’ in its title, even though it’s not really about learning; The role of influence, and what L&D can do to earn it; The six key tasks of L&D, and how to build a modern learning ecosystem. To find out more about The Modern Learning Ecosystem, head to . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross G referenced ‘’, published in The Atlantic. JD mentioned the restaurant at Disney World, and talked about how he is using to learn guitar. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit 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:
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384 — What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2024?
03/05/2024
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 . During our discussion, Owen mentioned responses to the GSS from our own and . In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen referenced Ben Thompson’s newsletter, . Ross mentioned how he’d followed (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 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: · · ·
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383 — Designing learning for the charity sector
02/27/2024
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 process The 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 Do also check out Little Man Project here: Gemma learned a new word – suspire - thanks to Susie Dent. Her Tweet is here: For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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:
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382 — You don’t have to talk to add value
02/20/2024
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: You can find out more about Liz Wiseman’s concepts of multipliers and diminishers in her book Multipliers: 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 . 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: Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on LinkedIn: · · · Georgie can also be contacted via her website:
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381 — Are you a trusted learning advisor?
02/13/2024
381 — Are you a trusted learning advisor?
We often hear that learning and development needs a ‘seat at the table’. But how do we get there? How do we build credibility, tackle real issues, and demonstrate value? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast Ross and Owen are joined by author, academic and L&D pro Dr Keith Keating to discuss: Whether L&D are changemakers or order takers How we change the perception of L&D The extent to which L&D pros must sell themselves, their ideas and their profession. During the discussion, Ross G referenced by Dan Pink. Keith’s book is The Trusted Learning Advisor, available now from Amazon ( / ). In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen gave a glittering endorsement of a sensational new science fiction writer (Ross G). for updates. Ross recommended alternative movie posters, collected in a thread from . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Or you can email Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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380 — A holistic approach to workplace wellbeing
02/06/2024
380 — A holistic approach to workplace wellbeing
What does an effective workplace wellbeing strategy look like? For some organizations, it’s fruit boxes and staff discounts. For consultant and author Liggy Webb, it’s a holistic approach that factors in the physical, social, mental, financial, digital, environmental and spiritual health of colleagues. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross and Nahdia are joined by Liggy to discuss: The benefits of a more structured approach to wellbeing How to approach each of the ‘7 Wisdoms of Wellbeing’ The role of personal responsibility in wellbeing. For more from Liggy, check out her website: You can also check out her , available now. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Nahdia recommended ‘’ from All In The Mind. Ross recommended Lauren Bacall’s autobiography, By Myself and Then Some. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Or you can email Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:
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379 — How many Rosses does it take to adopt AI?
01/30/2024
379 — How many Rosses does it take to adopt AI?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) generally and Large Language Models (LLMs) specifically have been all the rage over the past 12 months. Should you care? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Rosses Garner and Dickie are joined by learning strategist Ross Stevenson to discuss: The current state of AI The extent to which L&D pros should pay attention to ongoing developments Tips for making the most of AI tools, especially ChatGPT. During the discussion, Stevenson referenced ‘custom instructions’ for ChatGPT. These help tailor ChatGPT’s responses to your prompts, and mean you don’t need to add background information to every prompt. See for guidance. He also recommend Perplexity AI. See: In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Dickie recommended the Fit Bod app. Garner discussed the . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Or you can email For more from Stevenson, see . Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:
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378 — Management development: Doing more with less
01/23/2024
378 — Management development: Doing more with less
Jackie Kennedy is Learning and Development Lead at London Borough of Camden, where work contexts range from libraries and schools to waste management and social care. How do you develop managers in these diverse contexts, with a public sector budget? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Jackie joins Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson to discuss: The unique challenges faced by local government How to develop a management development programme without providing any ‘teaching’ The role of digital in Camden’s L&D strategy. To read more about how London Borough of Camden leverage the Mind Tools on-demand content library, see our . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discussed his article for People Management, written with Gemma Towersey and our automated companion The L&D Dispatch GPT: ‘’. Jackie discussed ‘’. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. Or you can email Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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377 — AI in L&D: The State of Play
01/16/2024
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 . 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 to find out more. Ross D recommended the Netflix documentary , 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 . 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: · · ·
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376 — Enhancing the employee experience
01/09/2024
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 . 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 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). Ross recommended The Economist’s workplace podcast . For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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375 — Rockin’ Around The ChatGPT
12/19/2023
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: and . And Ross G wanted to provide the phone number for Samaritans: 116 123 You can also visit their website: For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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BONUS — From the desk of 'The L&D Dispatch' newsletter
12/14/2023
BONUS — From the desk of 'The L&D Dispatch' newsletter
Hey listeners! Here's a fun stocking filler for you: Throughout this year, Rosses D and G have been writing The L&D Dispatch, a weekly newsletter from the Mind Tools Custom team. In this bonus episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, we reflect on the effort involved to write a newsletter, the personal benefits we've experienced from doing so, and how our use of AI tools for content production has evolved over the last 12 months. Never heard of it? Subscribe now at
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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 into the effectiveness of VR for soft skills training. She also referenced the (Dangerous, Impossible, Counterproductive, Expensive). Details of the VR EY Summer Internship, developed by Cappfinity, are on . Ross referenced the popularity of Snapchat’s ‘My AI’, which by June of this year . In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen recommended . Ross recommended podcast. For more from Lucie, see For Cappfinity, see For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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 Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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373 — What if L&D had a marketing strategy?
12/05/2023
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 Ashley’s podcast is at The Mind Tools reports that were mentioned are available at: Ashley also mentioned the LPI’s ‘’ In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Ross D discussed the BBC’s ., He also the Netflix series ‘’. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: · · ·
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372 — AI Conversations is changing how we practice power skills
11/28/2023
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). . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257. Nahdia referenced the World Economic Forum’s report ‘’. In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Nahdia discussed . Ross discussed ‘’ from Ben Wildavsky. To find out more about AI Conversations, visit: · · Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: · · ·
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371 — Talk to the Elephant (cause the rider ain’t listening)
11/21/2023
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 told Approaches for designing workplace learning that leads to behavior change. During the discussion, Ross referenced an from the American Psychological Association. A word of caution, this is from 2012. Owen referenced Ferinand F Fournies’ book . In ‘What I Learned this Week’, Owen discussed the CMI’s report ‘’. Ross discussed the collective names for animals, from X user . Owen also promoted Ross’ newsletter, The L&D Dispatch, and we mentioned a recent post on . For more from Julie, visit her website For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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:
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370 — Thriving during the menopause
11/14/2023
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 NICE Guidance Fawcett Society report balance’s and In What I Learnt this Week, Nahdia noted important points from the Better Management Report: For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: Instagram @coachjsp
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369 — A healthy dose of L&D
11/07/2023
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 develop whether 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 and in our . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Matt referenced a Family Guy clip, which is . Liz discussed how you can in After Effects, even when you didn’t use a green screen. Diana referenced UMass Memorial Health’s . And Ross discussed President Joe Biden’s , as well as Nicholas Thompson’s . 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:
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368 — Employee wellbeing at scale
10/31/2023
368 — Employee wellbeing at scale
In small organisations where everyone knows each other, it’s possible to spot what individuals need and offer tailored health and wellbeing support. But what about organisations with thousands of employees? In this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma is joined by Sanaa Khan from Lloyd’s bank and Owen to find out how larger organisations can nurture and protect their employees’ health and wellbeing. We discussed: The benefits of large organisations supporting workforce wellbeing Wellbeing goals and creating a wellbeing culture How to support the health and wellbeing of high numbers of employees. In What I Learnt this Week, Owen talked about the cost of Copilot. Here are articles from both sides of the argument: Microsoft is losing money on Copilot The Register’s article ‘ Microsoft is not losing money on Copilot ARK Invest’s newsletter ‘’ The rapidly decreasing costs of AI The Unsupervised Learning Substack article ‘’ Sanaa summarised research from an article in the For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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:
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367 — Mastering multicultural facilitation
10/24/2023
367 — Mastering multicultural facilitation
In our globalised world, we work and learn with people from diverse cultures. How can we facilitate multicultural training, for instance, so that the sessions are not only inclusive, but get the best from everyone. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma is joined by Gaëlle Watson, director of SyncSkills and our very own Nahdia Khan. We explored: The benefits and challenges of multicultural representation in facilitated sessions How to best adapt your design and delivery approaches as a facilitator How to avoid pitfalls such as stereotyping. Gaëlle refers to a number of resources that are well worth exploring. Geert Hofstede's book Cultures and organisations: Software of the mind. This ‘Country Comparison Tool’ from The Cultural Factor Group is based on Professor Geerte Hofstede’s research: Mind Tools explores the characteristics of countries exhibiting each dimension and what these mean for how you can most effectively work together in the article “Hoftstede’s Cultural Dimensions”: Gaëlle contributed to CIPD’s 2021 “Effective virtual classrooms: An evidence review”: In What I Learned This Week, Nahdia recommended a series of videos from the School of Systems Change. Here’s a link to the first video “What are systems and what is systems change?”: Gemma encouraged budding language learners to check out Radio Lingua’s ‘Coffee break’ podcast series: For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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. Gaëlle Watson - You can find out more about SyncSkills here:
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366 — Building online communities
10/17/2023
366 — Building online communities
In organizations, learning-oriented ‘online communities’ often bring to mind empty forums and unused Yammer groups. But what does a vibrant community of practice look like? And how do you go about building one online? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Ross G are joined by Anamaria Dorgo, founder of L&D Shakers and Head of Community at Butter, to discuss: · the benefits of online communities of practice · how to build and maintain online communities · how to measure the impact of online communities · what all of this looks like in an organizational context You can find out more about L&D Shakers . During the show, Anamaria referenced Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner's . In his trademark style, Ross G equated online communities to pornography, recalling Justice Potter Stewart’s famous line - ‘’ He also mentioned the ‘Success Case Method’, which we discussed in . In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross G recommended by Ed Catmull. Anamaria encouraged listeners to check out Katherine Zhou’s . And Ross D talked about after watching an episode of The Bear. For more from Mind Tools, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit . 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: · · ·
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