Future-Focused with Christopher Lind

While the passive learning that occurs when consuming content will remain a staple in the diet of every professional’s development diet, there’s tremendous opportunity for us as L&D professionals to do more to foster active learning. This means taking learning to a new level where participants not only participate in a dialogue but perform and practice the actual behaviors and actions they want to improve. Even better, what if we could do that with a video game? In the past, this has been challenging since active learning has historically relied on guiding learners indirectly while they’re on-the-job or pulling them away from the work to simulate in a controlled training environment. In this episode I talked with Anne Lise and Krister Kristiansen from Attensi to learn how they’ve paired their guiding principles of realistic, engaging, and impactful simulations with a gamified, digital experience that is designed to take learning to the next level.

Everybody is talking about upskilling and digital transformation, but what on earth does it really mean and what do we do about it. Ben Eubanks and I sit down to talk about exactly that. With his broad industry analysis and my practitioner lens, we bring a balanced perspective to how we can play a role in solving these big problems for our organization and hopefully keep you laughing along the way.

Imagine a future where machines can listen to your conversations and provide you with dynamic, personalized feedback and guidance in real-time to get you to a better outcome. Imagine no more. The future is now. Now, some may say machines listening and analyzing to our conversations sounds creepy. However, when done right, it has tremendous potential for improving performance, whether it’s reducing risk, managing customer care, or identifying and maximizing your top performers. On this episode I’m talking with Nancy Munro from Verbal Transactions about the way technology is enabling personalized guidance and feedback about the way we interact with others during our conversations.

Impactful, collaborative learning always requires an in-person component, right? Afterall, how can you possibly collaborate without being together? I can speak from first-hand experience that it’s possible but not possible without the right tech. Historically, we’ve relied on in-person events for collaborative learning opportunities. Unfortunately, events are trapped as moments in time and rarely have the sticky effect required for long-term success. While critics may say technology is incapable of replicating this human experience, technology may be proving to achieve the same outcomes with a broader audience and at a speed and scale impossible by traditional means. In this episode Sam Herring and I talk about how technology is enabling collaborative problem solving focused on real business challenges that can be delivered at scale without the typical sub-par user experience.

Business and HR leaders are recognizing the value of a positive and inclusive environment. Unfortunately, uncomfortable situations still occur stunting or even reversing forward progress. Unfortunately, people struggle with navigating these situations when they arise. As a result, some stay quiet, inadvertently encouraging bad behavior. Others respond inappropriately further escalating an already volatile situation. Overcoming these challenges requires helping employees build the skills needed to navigate them successfully. However, one of the biggest challenges to doing this is giving employees opportunities to practice what they’ll do when faced with the situation while providing actionable feedback for improvement. Fortunately, technology is making it easier. In this episode Mark Atkinson, CEO of Mursion, and I discuss about how to use technology to safely replicate these difficult situations, creating a secure environment where employees can improve their skills and actionably improve your organizational culture.

Video is all the rage in learning and development. Whether it’s short-form explainer videos or long-form instructional content, they’re everywhere. And, with everyone carrying around a high-definition camera in their pocket, using video to transform learning in your organization should be a piece of cake, right? Just point, shoot, and presto, video learning magic. Not quite. Great videos are about telling stories that carry the right messages and create the right emotional response. Pulling it off well requires avoiding predictable or preachy stories and striking the right balance of art and science. In this episode Austin Welch, Richard Fleming and I talk about what really goes into making a video come to life and how they’re combining the art and science of storytelling and video production to transform L&D at Sage Media.

There is no shortage of platitudinal statements in the corporate world and L&D continues to grow our marketshare. We’re digitally transforming the learner experience, crafting meaningful and human-centered learning journeys, and one of my favorites, building a learning culture. The challenge is not that these statements don’t address critical and meaningful activities. It’s that they’re often said will little to no thought into what they really mean, the clear plan for bringing them to live, and the measurements we’ll use to determine if we’re making progress and having an impact. In this episode with Simon Brown and Nina Bressler Murphy from Novartis. We’ll be collectively sharing our experiences on what it really means and what it takes for success. We’ll also share some of the painful lessons we’ve learned along the way.

All of us in learning, talent and HR functions are being faced with what can often feel like impossible challenges as a result of the coronavirus. We haven’t even had time to fully establish a steady state for the current situation and are already being challenged with predicting the ‘new normal’ and how we’ll manage that. Trying to solve for these monumental challenges in an environment where it’s easy to feel isolated from the very people we need to solve them only adds insult to injury. So, how do we rapidly solve for these complex problems in a world where we’re all physically and mentally displaced from our normal mode of operation? Enter in the virtual hackathon where you’ll combine #agile, #designthinking, #hackatons, and #digital #technology. In this episode Nicole Dessain from Talent Imperative and I are going to dig into exactly what Virtual Hackathon is, what it takes to pull off, and why it’s an solution we should all be exploring.

Preparing your workforce with the skills they need now and in the future is no easy task. It requires timely, relevant, and meaningful content that addresses needs at the pace of business. For global organizations, that complexity is exponential as you factor in adapting to and ensuring relevance for regional culture and languages. It also requires a platform capable of providing meaningful data and insights for your learners, your stakeholders, and your L&D organization. In this episode, Yvonne Chen and I unpack what Udemy for Business has to offer from a content and technology standpoint while also digging into why their strategic approach is designed to solve the many skill challenges enabling us to shift from defense to offense.

While many organizations struggle with volume of learning technology in their portfolio, others are just starting on their digital learning journey. This can often feel like an overwhelming task. Finding the right content, deploying it through and user-friendly tool, reinforcing the principles, and having even basic data.    Furthermore, successfully navigating the transformation of learning in your organization is about more than picking a platform with the right features and signing a PO, even though that’s an important step.    Listen to my conversation with Dean Pichee & Tom Braning from Biz Library about how their platform is designed to not only address your technology and content needs but has designed a client success model to ensure long-term success.