The Good Practice Podcast

Remember 'performance support'? Amid all the talk of AI, adaptive learning, and skills, it's kind of been forgotten. But not by us! Or by respondents to Don Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey, who ranked it 11th hottest trend this year (up two from last year). In the first of a two-part series of crossover episodes with our partner Assemble You, Ross G and Paul are joined by Adam Lacey to discuss: What makes great performance support? What conditions make performance support effective? What role does AI play in all this? To find out more about the performance support available for leaders and managers, from Mindtools, visit mindtools.com. And, good news! You can now add Microsoft Shorts from Assemble You to your subscription.During this episode, Ross G discussed extended cognition and the productivity paradox. Paul discussed Gloria Gery's definition of performance support. Ross also discussed the book Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro, and our 2016 report 'The Secret Learning Lives of Managers' (which I was able to find and put on Dropbox). We also discussed the World Economic Forum's 'Future of Jobs 2025' report. And in 'What I Learned This Week', Paul recommended the book Kill the Unicorn, and Adam recommended The Anxious Generation. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Paul Buller Adam Lacey

Should we be adopting AI more into our day to day lives? How can L&D professionals move beyond reactive training on specific tools to cultivate a continuous learning mindset in team members?  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Dr Anna are joined by to Head of L&D at Newsquest Media Group, Mel Cooley to explore L&D's relationship with AI.  We discuss:  how L&D is thinking and talking about AI; what L&D can do to support AI integration; how to measure the impact of AI.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Dr Anna told us about the extraordinary relationship between wasps and figs. Listen to the Short Stuff: Figs @& Wasps podcast to find out more.  Gemma spoke about journalling and the work of Nichole Sachs. More on this on her JournalSpeak: BreakAwake website.   For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Gemma Towersey Dr Anna Barnett  Mel Cooley 

Armed with a STEM qualification or two, you might think technical brilliance is all one needs to succeed in the space sector. Is this the case though? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Anna are joined by Victoria Craig to discuss: the importance of ‘soft' skills in a ‘hard' science environment; sector-specific skills gaps; how L&D can bridge these gaps. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross reminisced about playing a Sega game called Mickey Mania. Take a look at the game's Wikipedia page. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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: Ross Garner Dr Anna Barnett Victoria Craig

Effective marketers have an uncanny way of knowing what we want and convincing us to click ‘Like', add to Checkout and in under 20 seconds, buy their thing. Clever. Meanwhile, over in L&D, we find it more difficult to motivate someone to take action or change their behaviour. So, what does marketing do that we don't?    In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Bianca Baumann and Mike Taylor, authors of Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro: Strategies to Ignite Learning. They discuss:  The intersection of marketing and learning principles  The techniques marketing professionals use to grab attention and nudge action  How L&D can bring these strategies into their work    You can find out more about Bianca and Mike on their website: trainlikeamarketer.com/    For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Garner  Bianca Baumann  Mike Taylor 

Having the opportunity to set up a new team can be both exciting and daunting. Where would you start when it's an L&D team?   In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Head of People Development Daneille Ware speaks to Gemma and Ross about her approach to creating an L&D team from scratch. We discuss:    ·        The triggers for creating a new or evolved L&D department ·        How to get started with quick wins ·        Using data to support decisions   In ‘What I Learnt This Week', Ross mentioned the two-part Star Wars related episodes of the Rewatchables called ‘Star Wars: A New Hope' With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan.'   Gemma also talks about a podcast, but one with a very different tone. She listened to Dr Chatterjee speak to Erling Kagge about solitude on 'Feel better, Live more'. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  You can also subscribe to our newsletter. Connect with our speakers   If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on LinkedIn.  Danielle Ware Ross Garner Gemma Towersey

Collaboration is a vital skill across many fields and disciplines. But effective collaboration is about much more than just working together. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Paula are joined by Fraser Mcdonald, Head of Collaboration at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and Deputy Director of the Data for Children Collaborative, to discuss: why collaboration is important when it comes to solving 'wicked problems'; how Mindtools worked with the EFI to develop a game that's designed to build collaboration skills; why a game was the right solution to this problem, and how it's being deployed within the EFI. To find out more about the work Fraser does, check out the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Data for Children Collaborative's websites. In 'What I Learned This Week', Paula mentioned that she'd been digging into the surprisingly wild history of papal conclaves. Fraser recommended the website ToS;DR, which provides an eye-opening breakdown of what we're agreeing to when we use different websites and platforms. And Ross D talked about a recent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast, focusing on the relationship between architecture and tax codes. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  You can also subscribe to our newsletter. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Dickie Paula Hughes Fraser Mcdonald

Whether it comes to facilitating workshops, designing learning experiences, or developing campaign assets, L&D practitioners are increasingly expected to bring creativity to their roles. But how do you do this if you don't have a creative background, or if you don't think of yourself as a 'creative person'? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gemma are joined by Kenny Temowo, Senior Director of Talent Acceleration at SharkNinja and host of the Inside the Art of Making podcast, to discuss: Kenny's career journey through the creative industries, into workplace learning, and back again; what it means to be 'creative', and how this applies in L&D; how to meet consumer-level creative expectations with L&D budgets; how to earn the permission to be creative at work.  You can listen to Kenny's podcast, Inside the Art of Making, on Spotify. (Or wherever you get your podcasts.) In 'What I Learned This Week', Gemma mentioned The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. Ross D gave a lukewarm review of the movie Field of Dreams. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  You can also subscribe to our newsletter. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Dickie Gemma Towersey Kenny Temowo

Often on this podcast we've spoken about how AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are enhancing our capabilities. But do they also come at a cost? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross Stevenson from Steal These Thoughts joins Ross G and Dr Gent to discuss: the relationship between tasks and skills; whether we are over-relying on AI; the long-term impact of AI use on critical thinking. During the discussion, Ross S discussed the recent robot race in Beijing and the concept of vibe coding, via Lovable. He also mentioned Apple's sometimes-hilarious AI summaries. Gent discussed cognitive offloading. The paper Gent discussed was: Gerlich, M. (2025). AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking. Societies, 15(1), 6. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross G shared how you can use a sausage to interact with your smartphone screen. For more from Ross S, visit Steal These Thoughts. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  You can also subscribe to our newsletter. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Dr Gent Ahmetaj Ross Stevenson

What are the benefits of podcasts for learning? How does L&D respond to people leaving the profession? Should we get rid of email? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Anna and Ross D to answer your questions! During the discussion, Ross D referenced our post 'If your podcast isn't available on mobile, does it make a sound?', and Cal Newport's Deep Work. Ross G referenced the AI 2027 forecast. He also discussed (and wrote about) Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke's recent edict on the use of AI. In 'What I Learned This Week', Anna discussed PowerPoint transitions, from Luis Urrutia. Ross D discussed his new (tidier) LinkedIn URL. Find out how to edit your own. Ross G discussed the former residents of London Bridge. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  You can also subscribe to our newsletter. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Dr Anna Barnett Ross Dickie

What drives your delegation decisions? Is it what's best for the business? Is it what's best for your team member? Is it what's best for you? In this week's edition of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna discuss: Why managers sometimes delegate tasks that they know are too difficult How the organization's culture shapes those decisions How to help managers delegate better. The paper we discussed throughout this podcast was: Maas, V. S., & Shi, B. (2023). The effects of target difficulty and relative ability on managers' delegation decisions. Management Accounting Research, 60, 100851. Ross G also referenced: Crossley, C. D., Cooper, C. D., & Wernsing, T. S. (2013). Making things happen through challenging goals: Leader proactivity, trust, and business-unit performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(3), 540. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed the concept of 'moving day', as reported on by The Atlantic. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Dr Anna Barnett Ross Dickie

Many organizations treat 'inclusion' and 'wellbeing' as separate issues, but Dr Serena Huang - author of The Inclusion Equation - argues that the two are intrinsically linked. And, that data is how you can make better decisions about how to make a positive impact on both. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Serena joins Ross G and Dr Anna to discuss: Why these two areas are inseparable Why data in this space isn't as 'unmeasurable' as it seems Two approaches to data gathering that you can start using today. During the discussion, Dr Anna referenced ProPublica's reporting on the bias they discovered in software used to predict future criminals. Ross referenced the work Mindtools did with Burberry, around 'allyship'. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the origin of the term 'Bluetooth', which he learned from The Rest is History podcast. Dr Serena's book, The Inclusion Equation, is available now. For more from us, visit mindtools.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 to speak to our Insights team (including Dr Anna) about your learning measurement needs, just send her a note on LinkedIn or email custom@mindtools.com Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Dr Anna Barnett Dr Serena Huang

We might think that what makes our team culture great (or awful) is different from what supports our learning and development. Are they so different, though?  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gemma are joined by L&D professional turned Culture Manager, Lois Ratcliffe to discuss:  what ‘culture' is and how it gets measured;  what it takes to have a good feedback culture;  the features of a learning culture.  Lois refers to the three layers of organisational culture proposed by Shein. To find out more about Shein, here's one of our articles on Achieving Culture Change.   In ‘What I Learned This Week', Lois recommended The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells for a thought-provoking read with an AI theme.   If you're feeling time-poor, Gemma recommended the book 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Dickie  Lois Ratcliffe  Gemma Towersey 

Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on option to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often these libraries get dusty, bogged down by out-of-date content with little relevance, or hidden away in a dark corner of the intranet where no one can find them.  So in this episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Virgin Money's Martin Ritchie, Digital Learning Manager, joins Ross Garner and Lara to share: How Virgin Money raise awareness of their Mind Tools content library;  Techniques for promoting a proactive learning mindset;  ‘Push' vs ‘pull' learning.  During the discussion, Ross referenced a recent academic paper: Albarracín, D., Fayaz-Farkhad, B., & Granados Samayoa, J. A. (2024). Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-16.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed ‘pebbling', as covered by The Guardian.  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 us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Lara Kidd  Martin Ritchie 

Most organizations offer some kind of content library to help their people develop. But how much content is too much? How do you give your people choice, without overloading them? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Ross D are joined by Rosemary Hoskins (formerly of AstraZeneca), to discuss: Why are extensive content libraries a problem (as well as a solution) for organizations? What mechanisms help people find the right content, at the right time? Does it matter if people like the content we provide? The article Rosemary wrote with Marc Zao-Sanders was 'A framework for discoverability'. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D recommended the Supercommunicators podcast, from Slate. G discussed the rise of 'zero-click search'. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our Manager Skill Builder, and our custom work.  Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Ross Dickie Rosemary Hoskins

Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence once again topped the results of Donald Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey. Almost every other option on the survey lost vote-share this year, with the exception of the ‘value trio'. So, what do these findings tell us about the state of L&D, and how the profession is evolving?  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Don joined Ross D and Ross G for our annual breakdown of the survey's results. We discuss:  what the Global Sentiment Survey is (and what it isn't);  AI's unprecedented dominance of the survey, and the conclusions we can draw from this;  the return of the ‘value trio';  the extent to which L&D's perceived challenges align with perceived ‘hot' topics.  To read the full Global Sentiment Survey 2025 report, head to Don's website.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross G recommended the 'Tab limit' extension for Google Chrome.  Ross D referenced Jared Cooney Horvath's video ‘CheatGPT | A textbook case of bad research'.  And Don mentioned the paper ‘A systematic literature review of artificial intelligence (AI) in coaching: insights for future research and product development', from The Journal of Work-Applied Management.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Dickie  Ross Garner  Donald Taylor 

It's ‘Bring Your Paper to Work' day at Mindtools Towers, as Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna each take turns to share an academic study that they think has key insights for L&D professionals. We discuss: The impact of AI on critical thinking, as investigated in: Lee, H. P. H., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. (2025). The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers. How consultants who use AI act either as ‘cyborgs' or ‘centaurs' in: Dell'Acqua, F., McFowland III, E., Mollick, E. R., Lifshitz-Assaf, H., Kellogg, K., Rajendran, S., ... & Lakhani, K. R. (2023). Navigating the jagged technological frontier: Field experimental evidence of the effects of AI on knowledge worker productivity and quality. Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper, (24-013). Why we should go beyond 'choice architecture' to look at 'choice infrastructure' in: Schmidt, R. (2024). A model for choice infrastructure: Looking beyond choice architecture in Behavioral Public Policy. Behavioural Public Policy, 8(3), 415-440. During the discussion, Anna referenced our previous podcast with Erica Werneman Root, What does ‘AI literacy' look like in organizations? She also mentioned a blog from Ralph Losey on centaurs and cyborgs. And we discussed Ross G's newsletter on augmentation vs upskilling. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed Chesteron's fence. Anna discussed whether women can run faster than men over ultralong distances, via More or Less. As a brief aside, apologies for the slightly worse audio on Ross G's track this episode. After 430+ episodes, he's still making mistakes. For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Or email custom@mindtools.com. Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Dickie  Anna Barnett  Ross Garner

The World Economic Forum's recent ‘Future of Jobs' report positioned ‘AI and big data' and ‘technological literacy' as skills that will become increasingly important over the next five years. But what do these skills look like in practice? What do we mean when we talk about ‘AI literacy'?  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Anna are joined by Erica Werneman Root, legal consultant and co-founder of Knowledge Bridge, to discuss:  what ‘AI literacy' means in different contexts;  the compliance implications of building AI literacy in organizations;  how L&D can help employees develop AI skills.  To find out more about AI literacy, check out Erica's recent articles for IAPP.  For examples of how organizations are building AI literacy programmes, explore the AI Office's ‘Living Repository of AI Literacy Practices'.  The blog Anna mentioned was ‘From Centaurs To Cyborgs: Our evolving relationship with generative AI'   In ‘What I Learned This Week', Anna referenced research from Harvard, exploring the effects of AI on knowledge work.  Ross D mentioned OpenAI's new ‘Deep Research' tool. More trivially, he also shared Pierre Franey's five-star recipe for turkey chilli.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Dickie  Anna Barnett  Erica Werneman Root 

In last week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, we explored sales enablement from the perspective of sales and marketing teams. But where do product teams fit in? Beyond building products, what role do these teams play in generating revenue?  For the second instalment in our two-part series on sales enablement, Ross D and Lara are once again joined by Darren Bezani, Chief Salecologist at Salecology, to discuss:  why it's important to involve product teams in sales enablement;  the behaviors we want product teams to demonstrate;  how L&D can support this, beyond simply providing training.  To learn more about Darren's work, head to salecology.com.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Lara mentioned A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass.  Ross D recommended Warren Zanes' book Deliver Me from Nowhere, exploring the making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Dickie  Lara Kidd  Darren Bezani 

All sales training is sales enablement, but not all sales enablement is sales training.  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross Dickie and Lara are joined by Darren Bezani, Chief Salecologist at Salecology, to discuss:  what ‘sales enablement' means, and why it's intentionally broader in scope than sales training;   what sales enablement is designed to achieve, beyond increased sales;  the role of managers in sales enablement.  To learn more about Darren's work, head to salecology.com.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Lara recommended the ‘How to Unlock the Power of Your Subconscious Mind' episode of Dr Rangan Chatterjee's Feel Better Live More podcast.   Ross D discussed Ben Betts' blog post ‘The fall of click-next e-learning: What Operator means for training'.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. 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:  Ross Dickie  Lara Kidd  Darren Bezani 

Those of who work in learning and development like to think we're in the business of behavior change. But we often don't have an in-depth understanding of what current behaviors are, or how to change them.  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner is joined by Ross Dickie and Dr Anna Barnett to discuss:  methods understanding behavior;  digital learning methods for changing behavior;  methods for measuring change.  During the discussion, Ross Garner described the Dunning-Kruger effect.  Ross Dickie mentioned libertarian paternalism, very much a friend-of-the-show.  Anna referenced the COM-B model of behavior change.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Anna recommended a presentation from the Behavioral Insights Team, and Ross G referenced his video on nudge theory.  Ross Dickie discussed Jevon's paradox, based on Satya Nadella's tweet about Chinese AI firm DeepSeek.  And Ross Garner recommended a thread on X, where famous movie scenes are recreated as Lego.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There you'll also find details of our Manager Skill Builder, our on-demand management development program that intelligently adapts to every user.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Ross Dickie  Dr Anna Barnett 

The National Trust is Europe's largest conservation charity, established 130 years ago to look after the UK's nature, beauty and history. Its leaders have diverse areas of focus, from protecting woodland to managing properties – and even running a gold mine!  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Ross D find out just how the Trust develops these leaders, with Development Specialist Carole Thelwall-Jones.  We discuss:  how a leader needs to think ‘to be' lists, rather than ‘to do' lists;  how leadership development is structured at the National Trust;  how L&D professionals can help new leaders let go of what helped them succeed in the past.  During the discussion, Carole referenced Leadership: Plain and Simple, by Steve Radcliffe.  Ross G referenced our ‘Building Better Managers' report.  Carole also discussed the 4D instructional design model, and Roffey Park's report ‘The Expert as Leader'.   In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross D recommended The Racket: On Tour with Tennis's Golden Generation – and the other 99%, by Conor Niland.  Carole discussed Roko's basilisk and Stephen Fry's lecture AI: A means to an end or a means to the end?  Ross G discussed ‘The Illusion of Explanatory Depth'.  For more on the National Trust, visit their website: nationaltrust.org.uk  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There you'll also find details of our Manager Skill Builder, our on-demand management development program that intelligently adapts to every user.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Ross Dickie  Carole Thelwall-Jones 

Author, podcaster and award-winning filmmaker Topaz Adizes specializes in creating deeper human connections. So, in this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, he joins Ross Garner and Owen for an in-depth chat about:  how to formulate questions to build understanding;  how better conversations help us partner with our clients and stakeholders;  the benefits of online and in-person conversations.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the growing capabilities of ‘Large Behavior Models', via The Economist.  For more from Topaz, visit topazadizes.com  For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There you'll also find details of our Manager Skill Builder, our on-demand management development program that intelligently adapts to every user.   Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Owen Ferguson  Topaz Adizes 

At last year's Learning Technologies Awards, Mindtools and South Western Railway won Gold in the ‘Best use of blended learning – commercial sector' category.  In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, Ross D and Claire are joined by Becky Eason, Leadership Delivery Manager at South Western Railway, to discuss:  The context in which the program was developed, and the problems it was designed to solve;  How we used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and a valid and reliable behavioral survey to test assumptions and prove impact;  The results of the program and the changes we've made to it in response to evaluation of the pilot.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Claire gave her seal of approval to Wicked, Becky recommended the Netflix series La Palma, and Ross D wondered why he doesn't listen to the Song Exploder podcast more often.  For more from us, visit mindtools.com.   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:  Ross Dickie  Claire Gibson  Becky Eason 

Do remote and hybrid managers need different skills to those who work in-person? If so, what are those skills and how do we develop them?  In this first episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, Ross Dickie and Ross Garner are joined by return guest Gary Cookson, author of Making Hybrid Working Work. We discuss:  The ‘sensory loss' that takes place when managers move to a hybrid environment  The digital signals that help managers understand their teams  Strategies for building hybrid management capability.  Gary's book, Making Hybrid Working Work, is available now from Kogan Page.  During the discussion, we referenced a few other episodes of our podcast:  271 — Jobcraft Country  406 — Revisiting 70:20:10: Theory into practice  407 — Revisiting 70:20:10: From learning to performance  421 — Good managers balance care with results  Ross Garner also discussed ‘context-dependent memory effect'.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', we each shared a paper:  Ross G: Vences, M., Köhler, J., Hutter, C. R., Preick, M., Petzold, A., Rakotoarison, A., ... & Scherz, M. D. (2024). Communicator whistles: A Trek through the taxonomy of the Boophis marojezensis complex reveals seven new, morphologically cryptic treefrogs from Madagascar (Amphibia: Anura: Mantellidae). Vertebrate Zoology, 74, 643-681.  Gary: Veronese, N., Stubbs, B., Noale, M., Solmi, M., Vaona, A., Demurtas, J., ... & Fontana, L. (2017). Fried potato consumption is associated with elevated mortality: an 8-y longitudinal cohort study. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 106(1), 162-167.  Goh, E., Gallo, R., Hom, J., Strong, E., Weng, Y., Kerman, H., ... & Chen, J. H. Large Language Model Influence on Diagnostic Reasoning. JAMA Network Open, 7(10).  For more from us, including details of our new Manager Skill Builder, visit mindtools.com.   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 Gary, see EpicHR.co.uk  Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Ross Dickie  Gary Cookson

Another year, another Christmas Special! We've scraped the barrel of festive ideas and selected Love Actually, the "greatest Christmas movie of all time", as the unfortunate premise of this year's audio horrorshow. In this edition, Ross G will be asking questions that are very loosely based on the Richard Curtis classic, with answers from Ross D, Anna and Owen. Including: In Love Actually, grumpy husband Alan Rickman gets into trouble when he buys a necklace for a woman who isn't his wife. If you were to buy a gold necklace for another profession, other than L&D, what would it be and why? Creepy romantic Andrew Lincoln spends Love Actually pining after Keira Knightley: The wife of his best friend. What aspect of L&D do you secretly love, but know that you can never be involved with? Spurned husband Colin Firth spends Love Actually learning Portuguese to be with the woman he loves. What L&D language do you plan on spending the Christmas season learning? Aging rocker Bill Nighy performs his single 'Christmas Is All Around Me' naked on TV, to celebrate it taking the Christmas Number 1 spot. What's your great ambition for 2025? During the discussion, Ross D referenced our newsletter 'Every learning intervention you design should be award-worthy' Ross G referenced the Mitchell & Webb sketch 'Are we the baddies?' Anna recommended our 'critical thinking' Skill Bite course. The papers Anna discussed were: Carter, J. W., & Youssef-Morgan, C. (2022). Psychological capital development effectiveness of face-to-face, online, and Micro-learning interventions. Education and Information Technologies, 27(5), 6553-6575. Carpenter, S. K., Pan, S. C., & Butler, A. C. (2022). The science of effective learning with spacing and retrieval practice. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1(9), 496-511. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D revealed a shocking truth about Darlene Love's 'All Alone On Christmas'. Ross G recommended A Christmas Carol, as read by Hugh Grant. For more from us, including details of our new Manager Skill Builder, visit mindtools.com. 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: Ross Garner Owen Ferguson Dr Anna Barnett Ross Dickie

When your team are faced with a crisis, you want them to be prepared. But how do you build those capabilities when crises are rare, and you hope they never occur? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen explore the use of simulations to build capability. We're joined by Chris Peschanel, who ran crisis management at Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 12 years, and by Phil Willcox from St8 of Play. We discuss: ·       why simulations are the best approach for developing real-world skills in crisis management ·       the role that emotions play in making these learning experiences memorable ·       what a simulation sounds like in practice and how to create your own. You can find out more about simulations from St8 of Play. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen shared how GiveDirectly increase donations. Ross discussed Trung Phan's newsletter on Duolingo's priorities. Phil discussed the paper: Chang, C. C., & Yang, S. T. (2024). Learners' positive and negative emotion, various cognitive processing, and cognitive effectiveness and efficiency in situated task-centered digital game-based learning with different scaffolds. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(9), 5058-5077. For more from us, including details of our new Manager Skill Builder, visit mindtools.com. 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: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Phil Willcox ·       Chris Peschanel

Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to revisit this 2018 classic with Dom Price, from Atlassian. It'll help you think about whether the habits and behaviors that have helped you navigate the world to this point, are still useful today. Regular show notes below. --- In the early stages of our careers we learn how to do our jobs, manage office politics and earn promotion. But those habits and behaviours that initially help us advance can become a burden. We end up in meetings because it used to be important to show face, and not because they're an effective use of our time. In this week's GoodPractice Podcast, Ross G and Owen speak to Dom Price, Futurist at software developer Atlassian, about his approach to 'unlearning' habits and behaviours. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us all on LinkedIn. The Atlassian Team Playbook is available at: https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook For a fun insight into how Atlassian team members speak to one another, see: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/inside-atlassian/teamwork-data-visualization Owen's 'What I Unlearned This Week' covered Johann Hari's Guardian piece on depression. The original article is here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/07/is-everything-you-think-you-know-about-depression-wrong-johann-hari-lost-connections  And, for balance, the counter argument is here: https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2018/jan/08/is-everything-johann-hari-knows-about-depression-wrong-lost-connections   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

As Ben Betts wrote in a recent blog post, ‘the LMS is the first point of entry to learning; the front-of-house of our industry.' While that front-of-house may look a little different now than it did twenty years ago, and despite the oft-repeated claim that the LMS is dying, it remains the default gateway to digital learning in organizations. But are things about to change? To answer that question and others, Ben joins Ross D and Owen on this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast to discuss: ·       the many eras of the LMS, and how we got to where we are now; ·       the forces that have shaped e-learning interfaces over time; ·       how AI and other changes in the tech landscape might usher in a new era. You can read Ben's blog post, ‘What's the Next Generation of E-Learning Interfaces?', on his website. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen recommended the podcast Acquired, and Ben mentioned the website ‘There's an AI for That'. 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 us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Dickie ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Ben Betts

How can we help managers demonstrate care for their teams, while maintaining high standards of accountability and performance? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Dr Anna Barnett are joined by Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Managing Without Power, to discuss: why nice managers can still provide mediocre management how managers can balance care for their teams with high levels of performance and how to build better managers. For more from Joris, visit managingwithoutpower.com The paper Anna discussed, on 'nondecision-making', was: Bachrach, P., & Baratz, M. S. (1963). Decisions and nondecisions: An analytical framework. American political science review, 57(3), 632-642. Google's research into great managers (Project Oxygen) and effective teams (Project Aristotle) is available online. During the discussion, Joris referenced the prisoner's dilemma. We also discussed findings from our report, 'Building Better Managers'. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Anna recommended Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah. Joris discussed Sinterklaas. Ross G discussed 'sovereign 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. And our new Manager Skills Assessment. You can also email custom@mindtools.com and Ross G will get back to you. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Dr Anna Barnett Joris Merks-Benjaminsen

Are you an over-committing over-achiever? In Toxic Productivity, author Israa Nasir argues that you can only maintain that approach to productivity for so long.  Eventually you'll burn out, exhausted by all those ‘time management hacks' that organizations (like Mind Tools!) keep suggesting.   So this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Israa joins Ross Dickie and Ross Garner to offer an alternative approach. We discuss:  how toxic productivity manifests in our lives  how getting rewarded for our productivity tricks us into trying to achieve more  how the signals that managers send sets expectations for their teams.  The book, by Israa Nasir, is Toxic Productivity.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross D recommended checking out the NotebookLM AI-podcast version of our newsletter.  Israa recommended the ‘Under the K' venue in New York.  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 us on LinkedIn:  Ross Dickie  Ross Garner  Israa Nasir 

Learning measurement is difficult, complex, and expensive. Or is it?  In Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring, Dr Alaina Szlachta applies a Build-Borrow-Buy approach to learning measurement, and joins The Mind Tools L&D Podcast this week to share her insights with Ross Dickie and Owen.  We discuss:  the importance of asking the right questions  how to bake measurement into your programs  what ‘Build', ‘Borrow' and ‘Buy' look like in practice.  Find out more about Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring.  You can also sign up for the book launch party, or sign up for Alaina's newsletter.   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 us on LinkedIn:  Ross Dickie  Owen Ferguson  Dr Alaina Szlachta 

Measuring management capability is intrinsically complex. Unlike sales training, where you have sales, or customer-service training, where you have CSAT scores, management doesn't have a built-in metric we can use to quantify learning impact. So, what's the solution?  This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Dickie is joined by Owen and Anna to discuss our new ‘Manager Skills Assessment' — a scientific diagnostic that managers and their organizations can use to evaluate their capability. We discuss:  what the Manager Skills Assessment (MSA) is, and how it works;  how we designed the MSA based on scientific research;  what managers and L&D teams can expect to get out of the MSA.  To learn more about the Manager Skills Assessment, visit our website.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen mentioned SpaceX's ‘Mechazilla'.  Ross D also referenced Donald Taylor and Egle Vinauskaite's latest report, AI in L&D: Intention and Reality.  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 us on LinkedIn:  Ross Dickie  Owen Ferguson  Anna Barnett 

If you work in learning and development, you probably get some direction from your senior leadership team about what to focus on and how much to spend. But, once you get into the details, you have lots of room to play. In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Chief Learning Officer Marc Steven Ramos joins Ross Garner and Ross Dickie to discuss: ·       the strengths and weaknesses of different genAI tools ·       whether tools like ChatGPT are living up to the hype ·       how L&D can start experimenting, and why it's the ideal team to do so! Marc discussed these ideas in more detail on his Substack and in his article for Harvard Business Review (with Marc Zao-Sanders). In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross G recommended a warning on ‘pokies' from The Guardian. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Marc Steven Ramos

In Power to the Middle, McKinsey consultants Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field argue that the ‘middle manager' is key to organizational success. Long maligned (often by McKinsey), the manager is in fact responsible for delivering objectives, addressing underperformance, building trusting relationships, and resolving team conflicts. In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner, Ross Dick and Nahdia Khan discuss: ·       why managers are so important ·       the role of ‘manager' vs ‘individual contributor' ·       how to develop better managers The book, Power to the Middle, is available now. Our report, ‘Building Better Managers', is also available now. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross D recommended the podcast series Slow Burn. Nahdia discussed cloud seeding. Ross Garner discussed the paintings of John Atkinson Grimshaw, via @CulturalTutor. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Nahdia Khan

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are joined by Kathryn Hume, strategic workforce planning and L&D consultant, and author of the book Learn, Solve, Thrive. In the book, Kath argues that learners have a responsibility for managing their own learning and outlines strategies that anyone can adopt to make that process easier. We discuss: ·       why we can't ‘wait around for someone to teach us' ·       some of the difficulties we experience when we try to learn ·       the relationship between workforce planning and training. For more from Kath, visit her website: workforcetransformations.com.au The book, Learn, Solve, Thrive, is available now. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Kathryn Hume

It's been three years since the first edition of The Learning and Development Handbook by Michelle Parry-Slater was published. In that time, a global pandemic, rise of AI, and shift to remote working, have transformed how we work. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Michelle returns to the show to discuss the second edition of her book with Ross G. We discuss: what has changed (and what hasn't) since the first edition was published the evolving role of the modern learning professional whether it's still possible to keep up with the rate of change. During the discussion, Ross referenced Amazon's decision to tell staff to go back to the office five days a week. He also discussed the paper: Albarracín, D., Fayaz-Farkhad, B., & Granados Samayoa, J. A. (2024). Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-16. To find out more about Michelle, visit kairosmodernlearning.com For the book, check out thelndhandbook.com Quite note: Apologies for the slightly dodgy audio on this episode. After 400+ episodes, Ross G can still pick the wrong microphone to record. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Michelle Parry-Slater

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are re-visiting their L&D mailbag to answer your questions.   We discuss:  What is L&D actually doing well with Large Language Models? (via Gill Chester)  What's the top 3 least likely L&D jobs to be replaced by AI? (via Alan Hiddleston)  How can learning teams partner better with the rest of the org? (via Sarah Danzl)  What has been the most popular content on MindTools this year, and why...? (via Adam Lacey)  What lessons from Centauri's Shadow can L&D professionals take forward into the autumn to boost their skills? (via Matthew Batten)  During the AI discussion, Ross Dickie recommended Ross Stevenson's Steal These Thoughts newsletter, and Philippa Hardman's Dr Phil's Newsletter.  Ross G referenced The Rest is Politics's interview with Audrey Tang.  Ross Ganer also recommended our previous episode with Natal Dank, ‘Agile L&D puts the “human” into “Human Resources”', and his own newsletter on the many benefits of text content.  Finally, Ross Dickie recommended Bob Mortimer's The Satsuma Complex.  And Ross Garner grudgingly referenced his own debut novel, Centauri's Shadow, available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US.  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.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Ross Dickie 

Hey listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to revisit this 2022 classic with Jane Bozarth because we thought it paired nicely with the latest edition of our L&D Dispatch newsletter. Do check out the newsletter Ross G discussed on our L&D Dispatch page, 'Four papers that will make you laugh (then make you think)'. Regular show notes below. --- In learning science, there are certain ideas that have leapt the fences of academia and seeped into the public consciousness. Often, these ideas gain traction because they feel intuitively true. But what does the data say? And how should we apply these ideas as learning professionals?  This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are joined by Jane Bozarth, Director of Research for the Learning Guild, to discuss three research papers that challenge the received wisdom. We cover:  Generational difference Learning styles  The “Marshmallow Test”.  The three papers we discussed were: 'Generational Differences in Work-Related Attitudes: A Meta-analysis', published in 2012 in the Journal of Business and Psychology.  'Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles? Disparities among Undergraduate Anatomy Students' Study Strategies, Class Performance, and Reported VARK Learning Styles', published in 2018 in Anatomical Sciences Education.  'Revisiting the Marshmallow Test: A Conceptual Replication Investigating Links Between Early Delay of Gratification and Later Outcomes', published in Psychological Science in 2018.  The Atlantic did a good write-up of the controversy surrounding the 'Marshmallow Experiment'. See here: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/marshmallow-test/561779/  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross Garner mentioned a Twitter thread from Aaron Berman, in which he shares writing tips from his time as editor of the US President's daily brief: https://twitter.com/aarondberman/status/1541576231891525633?s=21&t=1_oHB0tqjbt4VXZXmTMnXQ  Jane spoke about Kate the Chemist's recent session at DevLearn. To find out more about Kate, visit her website: https://www.katethechemist.com/  Ross Dickie recommended the technology podcast ‘Hard Fork' from the New York Times. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, or through the NYT website: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/podcasts/hard-fork-technology.html  To find out more about Jane's work at the Learning Guild, see: https://www.learningguild.com/  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.     Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:      Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT  Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT  Dr Jane Bozarth - @JaneBozarth 

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are diving into their L&D mailbag to answer your questions. We discuss: ·       Will there be more or less opportunity to make a meaningful living in L&D over the next five years? (via JD Dillon) ·       If we think of L&D as a product, what would you sunset and what would the top three candidates look like for development? (via Sean Brown) ·       What's more important to a Learning strategy and approach... Speed or Efficacy? (via Marc Steven Ramos) ·       What's your best ROI story? (via Marc Zao-Sanders) During the discussion, Ross referenced Benedict Evans article ‘The AI Summer'. Ross also referenced an example of work our behavioral scientists completed for an ESG project. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, we're putting the ‘people' back into People Development and the ‘human' back into ‘Human Resources, as we explore Natal Dank's book Agile L&D.   Natal is the co-owner and director of PXO Culture, a consultancy firm on a mission to make HR, culture and change about humans.  And her book, Agile L&D, is a follow-up to Agile HR.   We discuss:  Problems with a ‘traditional' approach to L&D  Tools and methods for prioritizing and organizing workloads  Whether ‘agile' has just become another corporate buzzword  To find out more about Natal, and the book, visit pxoculture.com  During the discussion, Natal referenced the books The Build Trap by Melissa Perri and Embracing Uncertainty by Margaret Heffernan.  For more on Taylorism, see ‘scientific management'.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross Garner discussed Yuval Noah Harari's bleak take on the future of AI and government.  Nahdia discussed digital twins.  Natal discussed Meditations for Mortals.  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.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Nahdia Khan  Natal Dank 

Technical professionals have a high level of expertise, but translating that expertise for non-technical colleagues isn't always straightforward. Whether you're an engineer, a researcher, or even an L&D professional, how can you communicate in a way that resonates with your audience?  This week on the Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Neil Thompson, founder of Teach The Geek, to discuss:   why good communication skills are important for technical professionals;  the specific challenges associated with technical communication;  how L&D can support technical professionals to become better communicators.  To find out more about Neil's work, visit www.teachthegeek.com  The very geeky meta-meta-analysis that Owen mentioned in ‘What I Learned This Week' can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01172-y  You can read the Verge article that Ross D referenced at: https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/18/24223160/waymo-honking-san-francisco-parking-lot-depot-fix-not-working  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.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Dickie  Owen Ferguson  Neil Thompson 

This week we're revisiting an old adage: The employer who says, ‘What if we train our people and they leave?' And the trainer who says, ‘What if we don't and they stay?' As Talent Development Manager for Kew Green Hotels, Clare Sheppard knows all about this. She's responsible for helping those who want to stay progress in their careers, while giving those who leave a great experience that they can carry with them into their next role. We discuss: ·       the types of colleague who fall into the ‘Early Careers' bucket (it's broader than you might think!) ·       how to identify high potential colleagues ·       the role of managers in supporting Early Careers professionals. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Clare discussed the likelihood of it raining, and what that means. Ross recommended (sort of) an old episode of The Magic Roundabout. Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Clare Sheppard

Last week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen explored how the 70:20:10 model is being applied by three L&D Practitioners: Ceri Sharples, Cath Addis, and Carl Akintola-Davis. Today, we wanted to follow up on some of the challenges posed during that discussion with The 70:20:10 Institute's Charles Jennings. What does it really mean to 'integrate learning into the workflow', and how does 70:20:10 move us towards a performance focus? We discuss: ·       Where the numbers ‘70', ‘20' and ‘10' come from ·       How a focus on ‘learning' tends to lead to a ‘10+' approach ·       Examples of interventions that have focused on supporting performance, rather than formal learning. For more on the origins of 70:20:10, see this blog post from Charles. See also The Center for Creative Leadership's chapter ‘Learning Through Experience'. Mind Tools offers a summary of Informal Learning, by Jay Cross. Joseph Stiglitz book is Creating a Learning Culture. Find out more about Dr Edwards Deming. For more from Charles and his team, see 702010institute.com. The case study Charles wrote with Brian Murphy from Citi bank was: ‘From Courses to Campaigns: Citi's Journey to a Culture of Continuous Learning'. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen recommended (again) Lenny's Newsletter, in particular a recent edition on pricing for AI features. Ross discussed a post from Ben Evans on how users are interacting with ChatGPT. Charles recommended the podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage. Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Charles Jennings

Depending how you count it, 70:20:10 is almost 40 years old. The model provides a high-level outline of how we learn at work: 10% through formal learning, 20% through working with others, 70% through doing the work. The numbers get criticised, but this insight is widely accepted: Most of what we learn does not come from formal training. But how then should L&D practitioners apply the model to the work that they do? Is it still a useful concept after all this time? In the first of this two-part series, Ross Garner and Owen explore these questions with three practitioners: Ceri Sharples, Learning and Development manager at Somerset Bridge Group; Cath Addis, L&D manager at Ascential; and return guest Carl Akintola-Davis, Head of Leadership Development at Phoenix Group. We discuss: ·       The history and criticisms of 70:20:10 ·       How useful the concept is for discussing workplace learning with stakeholders ·       How to think about the ‘70', the ‘20', and the ‘10' when designing learning programs. For more on the origins of 70:20:10, see this blog post from Charles Jennings of The 702010 Institute, who is joining us next week on the show. Carl's acronym for workplace learning was ‘Performance RECIPES: Reflection, Experimentation, Connection, Information, Practice, Environment and Support'. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed a new paper from Nature, which didn't really impress him: Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 1-6. Ross learned the unfortunate fate of 440 squirrels. 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 us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Ceri Sharples ·       Cath Addis ·       Carl Akintola-Davis  

A summer holiday holds the potential for distraction-free reading. With that in mind, in this week's episode our podcast team suggest books that hold lessons for L&D practitioners. Which might you take on holiday this summer? Book list Right Kind of Wrong. Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive (2023) by Amy Edmondson www.amazon.co.uk/Right-Kind-Wrong-Learning-Thrive Counter-Intelligence: What the secret world can teach us about problem-solving and creativity (2024) by Robert Hannigan https://www.roberthannigan.com/ The Tyranny of Metrics (2018) by Jerry J. Muller www.amazon.co.uk/Tyranny-Metrics-Jerry-Z-Muller How big things get done. The surprising factors behind every successful project (2023) by Brent Flyberg and Dan Gardner www.amazon.co.uk/How-Big-Things-Get-Done A history of the world in twelve shipwrecks (2024) by David Gibbons www.amazon.co.uk/History-World-Twelve-Shipwrecks Performance-focused learner surveys (2022) by Will Thalheimer www.amazon.co.uk/Performance-Focused-Learner-Surveys-Distinctive-Effectiveness   In ‘What I Learned This Week', Nahdia spoke about how former PM Harold Wilson funded his Alzheimer's care www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/23/former-pm-harold-wilson-sold-private-papers-fund-care-alzheimers   Ross Dickie also mentioned the traditional Greek bagpipe, known as the ‘tsampouna', which he discovered during a recent holiday on Santorini. 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 us on LinkedIn: ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Ross Dickie  

According to a recent study from Ipsos, and commissioned by Amazon, 86% of respondents said that career development is essential, very or fairly important to them. But, in our experience, it tends to become a lot less important when the day-to-day demands of work crop up.  So, in this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, return guest Neil John Cunningham from Align Learn Do joins Ross G to ask why this is, and what to do about it.  We discuss:  How to build the credibility of your L&D function  The extent to which marketing L&D works   What to do about a ‘disjointed' L&D offering.  You can read Amazon's study online.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the Lokiceratops Rangiformis.  For more from Neil, including his book Narratives and Numbers, see alignlearndo.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.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Neil John Cunningham 

In part three of our #BuildingBetterManagers series, Ross Garner and Nahdia Khan are joined for one last time by Dr Anna Barnett from the Mind Tools Insights team. If you've been listening along recently, we've already covered the capabilities that make a ‘good' manager, and how we can develop them. In this week's episode, we're looking at how we support more experienced managers.  We discuss:  The long-term impact of early management training  Differences (and similarities) between new and experienced managers  How we can provide constant ongoing support to more experienced managers.  During the discussion, Nahdia referenced our podcast with Georgie Rudd on listening.  You can read our report, ‘Building Better Managers', now.  If you need helping building better managers, we can help you measure and improve capability no matter your context. Email custom@mindtools.com or visit mindtools.com/business/poducts/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Anna discussed scenario-based learning. See Episode 356 of this podcast for more on that.  Ross G discussed research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the ‘power of proximity'.  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.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Dr Anna Barnett  Nahdia Khan 

Last week, we kicked off our three-part #BuildingBetterManagers series with an overview of the 12 capabilities that we know make a difference to performance. Now we're asking: How do we help managers build those capabilities?  To answer this question, Ross G and Ross D are joined once again by Dr Anna Barnett, from the Mind Tools Insights team, to discuss her recommendations from our latest report: ‘Building Better Managers'.  We discuss:  Evidence-based approaches to improving manager capability  How Mind Tools factored this evidence into our product design  An example of a custom management programme that made a measurable difference to manager capabilities.   If you need help building better managers, we can help you measure and improve capability no matter your context. Email custom@mindtools.com or visit mindtools.com/business/products/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed the film Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off, about the career of Tony Hawk.  Anna discussed the book The Migraine Brain by Carolyn Bernstein.  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 Content Library, our Off-the-Shelf e-learning, and our Custom work.    Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Dr Anna Barnett  Ross Dickie 

What does good management look like? What skills and capabilities does a manager need? Are you a good manager? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson are joined by Dr Anna Barnett, from our own in-house Insights team, to discuss the findings of our latest report: ‘Building Better Managers'. In the first of three episodes exploring how we can improve management capability for our people and organizations, we discuss: ·       How we define a ‘good' manager ·       The capabilities all managers need to perform, no matter their industry ·       How to measure manager capability. We've used the results of Anna's research to develop our own manager skills assessment. It can help your managers identify skill gaps, while also giving L&D leaders an insight into critical development areas that exist across their organisations. To speak to us about running our management skills assessment with your people, get in touch! Email custom@mindtools.com or visit mindtools.com/business/poducts/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting. During the discussion, Anna referenced the following papers: Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 42(2), 241-251. Carmeli, A., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Ziv, E. (2010). Inclusive leadership and employee involvement in creative tasks in the workplace: The mediating role of psychological safety. Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 250-260. Our report, ‘Building Better Managers', will be released on July 9. In ‘What I Learned This Week', Owen shared how disagreement is often mistaken for bad listening. Ross discussed the app Finch, for motivating behavior change. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Dr Anna Barnett

For eight years, the team here on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast (formerly The GoodPractice Podcast) have been chatting work, performance and learning with some of the brightest minds in learning and development. This week, to celebrate the release of our 400th episode, our friends Phil Willcox from Emotion at Work and Ady Howes from Digital Skills People have pulled together a tribute episode for us. We discuss: ·       the Mind Tools team's favourite episodes ·       what we learned from 400 episodes of podcasting ·       what others think of the podcast. During the discussion, Ross Garner referenced his favourite episode: 279 — Why work is the ideal place to talk about race. Margaret Greenberg and Gina Greenlee's book is The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workplace and Why It's Actually Good for Business (published by McGraw-Hill). The coauthors work with organizations to embed racial equity into their business strategy. For more information go to their website BusinessofRace.com and click on the Work with Us tab. Ross D's favourite episode was Don Taylor's regular Global Sentiment Survey appearances. Nahdia picked: 382 — You don't have to talk to add value, with Georgie Rudd. Owen picked: 323 — Making decisions with data and intuition, with Oded Netzer. Gemma picked: 300 — Celebrating live from London!, with Phil Willcox and Julie Dirksen. Thanks to David Hayden, Sukh Pabial, Michelle Parry-Slater, Dan Wiseman and ChatGPT for their contributions. Ross G's novel, Centauri's Shadow, is available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US. 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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Phil Willcox ·       Ady Howes ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Gemma Towersey ·       Owen Ferguson

Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on option to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often these libraries get dusty, bogged down by out-of-date content with little relevance, or hidden away in a dark corner of the intranet where no one can find them.  So in this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Virgin Money's Martin Ritchie, Digital Learning Manager, joins Ross Garner and Lara to share: How Virgin Money raise awareness of their Mind Tools content library  Techniques for promoting a proactive learning mindset  ‘Push' vs ‘pull' learning.  During the discussion, Ross referenced a recent academic paper: Albarracín, D., Fayaz-Farkhad, B., & Granados Samayoa, J. A. (2024). Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-16.  In ‘What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed ‘pebbling', as covered by The Guardian.  For more on how Mind Tools work with Virgin Money, see our case study.  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.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Lara Kidd  Martin Ritchie