About Arun PradhanArun is a leading innovator in the field of learning and development with over two decades in the field. He’s the co-founder of ModelThinkers.com, a platform that aims to provide solutions that empower people to be smarter and faster by cataloging a playbook of the world’s most powerful ideas. These ideas can be used to make better decisions, interrupt bias, and solve complex problems.He’s passionate and ever curious about topics such as cognitive psychology, behavioural economics, marketing, and anything that provides insights into how people think, behave and change.With his understanding of consumer behaviour and experience in learning and development, he brings an interesting perspective to the table regarding the role of design thinking in L&D.What is Design Thinking?Design thinking, or co-design, is the process of understanding the user, challenging assumptions, and redefining problems in order to identify alternative solutions that may not always be evident at first glance. This process involves several steps, including empathizing with and understanding the user, defining their needs or problem, creating an innovative solution, designing a prototype, and testing.Key Takeaways:Design thinking is still relevant and useful in L&D; however, it tends to be overused.Co-design is overused because people tend to think of it as a way to convince others to buy into their idea or solution, be it the consumer or the executives of a company. People tend to associate it with getting sponsorship.The overuse of design thinking can prove redundant for your audience. When done too often, an audience that’s already overwhelmed and busy will view the experience as just another project to add to their plate and won’t feel enthused about participating.Design thinking is still useful when there’s a level of complexity to the problem you’re aiming to solve.When you’re engaging with your audience, the primary goal should be to understand their context, needs, and pain points, not for them to help you come up with a solution, per se. That happens behind closed doors once the data is being reviewed.Sometimes clients just want a solution delivered to them. In some cases, it’s best to lean on previous experience and expertise to develop a viable solution rather than going through a design exercise.Chapters:(00:00:00) Introduction.(00:2:25) How is design thinking being overused?(00:4:10) When is design thinking useful, and how can it be used more effectively?(00:9:09) The role the audience plays in co-design.(00:15:09) What’s the best approach for the prototype phase?(00:23:18) What’s next for using design thinking in L&D?(00:25:17) How can L&D teams become more dynamic with the way they use design thinking tools?Links from the podcast:Connect with Arun Pradhan on LinkedInLearn more about Model Thinkers, and be sure to sign up for the newsletterRead Arun Pradhan’s Linked post on rethinking Design thinking  in L&D

About Sumit GuptaSumit, now a leadership coach, comes from 16 years of working in tech companies. He's now moved away from the technical side of things and slowly transitioned his passion for tech to management and leadership. Today he works with leaders from various tech and social organizations to overcome some of the biggest challenges they face in their individual leadership or with managing their teams."Learning is the foundation which helps your team to adapt to whatever is coming next. Learning is the foundational element of any team and of any kind of leadership" - SumitKey TakeawaysA one-on-one between a manager and employee is a foundational tool to ensure that there is space to learn and perform. Additionally, a one-on-one should be a place for a manager to listen to the people's concerns and work to provide solutions to their needs.A great one-on-one happens at regular intervals, once a week or every two weeks. The manager and employee are both present in a safe, private space to discuss not only status updates, but also to build the relationship. It should feel like a place where staff can disclose what's bothering them so they can work alongside their manager to develop the appropriate support they need to meet their objectives.When working with an employee who isn't meeting expectations, instead of using critical language like “underperforming,” consider reminding them of the expectations they signed up for, discussing where they're currently hitting the mark, and ask them what's missing for them to reach the level you need them to reach.  And then work to offer a solution to help them hit their objectives.As leaders, if you see that your staff may be lacking certain soft skills, it's your responsibility to help develop them through coaching or mentoring.One of the best ways to prepare a new leader or manager is through on-the-job practice - not just learning in a classroom setting. And also having a dedicated coach who can listen to what's happening and offer that one-on-one support and feedback."Everything which is difficult, or where you are not hitting the mark is an invitation to practice" – SumitRatings can be useful in measuring performance metrics, but managers shouldn't identify their employees by these numbers. There has to be that human connection and relatability still."If you measure a fish by its ability to climb a tree, you will always be called a poor performer" – SumitListen to your people to understand what they're good at, bad at, and what they want to learn. This can allow you to see if certain employees would be better suited for different roles based on their strengths and interests.To build a stronger learning culture, managers should set aside dedicated time for learning, thus creating a rhythm of learning each week or month.Chapters:(00:00:00) Introduction.(00:02:06) An introduction to Sumit Gupta.(00:03:00) How leaders can foster a learning culture in tech companies.(00:04:01) The opportunities and challenges tech companies face with learning at work.(00:05:16) How to use staff/manager one-on-ones for fostering a learning culture.(00:12:42) How to prepare leaders and managers in directing the one-on-one conversations.(00:15:00) The effects of using labels such as “underperformer” or numbered rating systems to evaluate employees.(00:19:12) How to provide feedback to an employee without using a rating system or label.(00:21:53) The key to making sure employees have dedicated time for learning.(00:23:43) The importance of building trust with employees and structure around learning at work.Links from the podcastConnect with Sumit Gupta on LinkedInLearn more about Deploy YourselfRead "How to Have Career Development Conversations With Your Employees? Or How to Care for Your People?" 

In this episode, Robin chats with Panos Siozos, co-founder and CEO of LearnWorlds, an e-learning platform allowing companies and individuals to create their own online training school. He shares how the platform is used to onboard their own developers/technical staff, ways to encourage continued learning in a remote environment, and ways to streamline the creation of learning content for your courses.  “Success is not being defined by all the things we know, or how excellent we are at what we do today, but I guess it’s more determined by how fast we learn and how fast we adapt to the new ways of doing things” – PanosAbout Panos SiozosPanos Siozos has a Ph.D. in Educational Technology, with a specialization in Computer Assisted Assessment. He’s a co-founder and CEO of LearnWorlds; an e-learning company focused on transforming self-paced online learning. He has extensive work experience as a computer science educator and as a software engineer and IT manager.About LearnWorldsLearnWorld offers professional trainers, training organizations, and businesses a hassle-free way to create their own, personally branded online school where they can offer courses directly to the public as individual courses, bundles, or subscriptions.Key Takeaways:All employees hired at LearnWorlds go through training by taking courses designed for their job role directly through the LearningWorlds platform. This helps them not only learn about the job, but also gives them firsthand experience of how the platform works and what it’s like to use it.Companies that use an online platform for their onboarding program should focus on repurposing existing content that can be shared across the organization. Course content can be created through many channels, such as through recorded internal meetings or webinars created for a specific customer or audience. You can take existing content and reframe it into the context you want to teach it without reinventing the wheel. Learning content doesn’t always need to be polished as long as it’s relevant. Sometimes growth happens too fast to keep up with training content, so repurposing can be sufficient.If you provide employees with a place and the infrastructure to exchange ideas and teach each other, growth and continued learning tend to happen organically. People actually like to share what they know and to help other people in turn, helping to create learner and user generated content through discussions and open forums.“It’s an environment of constant challenges and problem solving this is what drives us forward” – Panos Even when working remotely, you can engage staff in a culture of learning. You can do this by giving them interesting problems to solve, by communicating expectations and company direction clearly, and by continuing to foster and build personal connections with your team members.You can encourage learning and growth with some of your most senior team members by giving them opportunities to teach or mentor more junior staff on the team; thus, giving them a new challenge to keep them engaged. Chapters:(00:00:00) Introduction.(00:01:47) Who is Panos Siozos and what LearnWorlds does.(00:02:35) How LearnWorlds is using their own e-learning platform to onboard new talent.(00:05:31) Is polished course content as important as relevant content?(00:09:14) How do you get people and teams engaged with generating content?(00:12:11) How to embed a culture of continuous learning during the onboarding process.(00:17:06) The key to maintaining a learning culture in a fully remote work setting.(00:19:50) What opportunities are there for more senior employees to learn and grow?(00:24:44) Advice for businesses thinking of transforming their onboarding program.Links from the podcast:Connect with Panos Siozos on LinkedInLearn more about LearnWorlds  

Join us for a new episode of Learning While Working as Robin chats with John Danner from Dunce Capital – a company focused on investing in the future of learning and work. In this episode, John shares his insights as to why tech companies need to be focused on developing their own talent pipeline as opposed to continuing to bid from a dwindling supply of senior engineers.About John Danner:In the 90’s John co-founded Net Gravity, which was one of the first online survey companies. He then sold it and pursued a Master of Education to become a high school teacher. Then, in 2006 John co-founded Rocketship Education, a not-for-profit charter school network focused on providing equal learning opportunities to low-income and minority students. He now runs Dunce Capital, where the focus is on investing in the future of learning at work. Through his varied professional experience, he’s gained a deep expertise that crosses over technology, learning, and business.What should a talent pipeline for a tech company look like?Ten years ago, there weren’t nearly as many tech companies with a need for senior engineers and the more prominent companies like Apple and Netflix were able to pay the salaries to scoop up the available ones for hire. But now, we live in a time where the demand for senior engineers is higher than ever before, but there isn’t a pool of candidates big enough to fill the need.We'll see companies bring in young engineers, and then either internally or through external partnerships, train those engineers for the first couple of years so that they're not a liability. So that would be my prediction about what's going to happen in the tech industry over the next few years, and I think it’ll be a big advantage  – John DannerKey takeawaysThe demand for senior engineers has far surpassed the available demand meaning that the future of hiring and training of engineers will need to change.Tech companies are going to advantage themselves by figuring out how to bring in much younger engineers and train them in their own culture and how to be an engineer.When companies invest in developing their employees and create clear career paths for them to work toward, they’re likely to get better retention.It can be a challenge for both small and large companies to train from within - each size company has its own set of problems.“An earlier stage startup doesn't have the capacity to do great training because the number of senior folks they have that would be capable of mentorship is just not strong enough yet. And you have the more mature companies, which until today have just been able to use the market to get the scarce resources that they need” – John DannerIn neither case are companies really focusing on how to develop people from within.“A lot of the companies, I think look at it as somebody else's problem still, and they wish that they could just find people that were ready to hit the ground running, and I think that's been true up to maybe five to 10 years ago in tech, but it's fairly clearly not true anymore. There is not a large enough supply of hit the ground ready folks anymore.” – John DannerThe focus should also be put on bringing diversity into tech so that there can be a representative group of people that mirrors the population. Companies can’t wait for the elite schools to become broadly representative and deliver them with diverse grads. And that’s why some of these post-grad accelerated Computer Science programs are so important; they help promote the diversity that elite schools and companies aren’t yet focusing on.The sooner companies get onboard with internal training and development programs, the better positioned they’ll be. The time of bidding up senior engineers is over.Chapters:(00:00:00) Introduction.(00:01:51) What should a talent pipeline for a tech company look like?(00:06:37) Investing in employee development as a means of retention.(00:08:13) Can smaller companies compete with the professional development larger companies can provide?(00:10:41) Achieving the proper ratio of junior to senior employees.(00:12:07) Focusing on building diversity in tech.(00:13:53) Should accelerated tech schools have a role in helping people once they start in an organisation?(00:16:24) John’s advice for developing a talent pipeline.Links from the podcastConnect with John DannerLearning more about Dunce CapitalFollow John Danner on MediumRead Johh's post on Tech needs to stop whining about talent

About Zachary MinottZachary Minott has a background in computer science, game and augmented reality programming and web and salesforce development. Beyond software engineering, Zach is an avid reader and learner. He’s also a talented writer on Medium where he’s amassed quite the following. Zach is passionate about expanding his knowledge, exchanging ideas with others, and finding new ways not only to create but to innovate. What is a learning engine?“What a learning engine is to me, is how many components are you going to put into your mind, that will allow you to move forward and be better than yesterday? How many ideas can you fill your head with, positive and negative, to optimize those things to your advantage” – Zachary MinottA learning engine is essentially the driving force that pushes us to continue learning and absorbing new information so that we can expand our knowledge and skillset. In developer terms, you can be a good developer if you know coding language but, what makes a great developer stand apart from the good ones is their ability to problem solve creatively. So, it’s not just about the core skills, it’s about adopting skills outside of what is traditionally expected for your work to stand out as exceptional.  Key TakeawaysThe importance of creative thinking: Sometimes looking out of your own profession, and your own discipline can trigger different ways of looking at things as well.The more you learn, the more angles you explore, the broader your view. And now, you can find connections between concepts like art, psychology and coding and combine them to create a more elegantly and intuitively designed code.Where a lot of developers are missing the mark is going beyond their technical coding skills when rather, they could be diving further into the problems they’re seeking to solve and the experience they’re trying to create for the customer. It takes a certain level of intuitive and creative thinking to go beyond what the technical aspect of programming can do.“Because when you're creative, but you're not exactly a master at the technicalities, you're able to figure things out on a similar level, just because you're able to see those things in ways that they can't see them.” – Zachary MinottThe best way to develop your learning engine is to just start small. Think of what knowledge can bring you the most value, or is of most interest to you, and then, pick up a book and commit to reading 10 pages a day. Watch videos, listen to podcasts, read newsletters even 10-30 minutes each day. Over time, the knowledge compounds and you easily become an expert in that field.Chapters:(00:00:00) Introduction.(00:00:29) The importance of connecting pieces of knowledge to creatively perfect your craft.(00:02:00) What is like being a developer?(00:10:00) Strategies to build upon your knowledge and tips for building new habits.(00:17:45) What is a learning engine?(00:20:41) Writing as a means to share knowledge and exchange ideas with others.(00:26:45) Zachary’s advice for someone developing their own learning engine.Links from the podcastConnect with Zachary MinottRead his articles on Medium

This podcast is a conversation with Toby Newman from HERE Technologies about how to foster a learning culture. HERE Technologies is a Netherlands-based company that provides mapping and location data services. In the interview, Toby provides examples of the strategies and approaches that Nigel Paine and Sonia Malik talk about in the previous interviews on learning cultures. One of the key points from this interview is the importance of supporting employees to be able to share and capture knowledge. Toby also provides many other strategies of fostering a learning culture during the interview.Find out more HERE TechnologiesConnect with Toby Newman

In this podcast, Robin talks with Sonia Malik from IBM about reskilling your workforce. Sonia has more than twenty-five years of experience working in various roles in the education technology industry. The conversation starts with Sonia talking about how the pandemic has put reskilling and learning at the core of organisations and the opportunity this has provided for L&D. We then move into talking about how organisations can plan for reskilling, to enable learning to be at the strategic core of an organisation and so learning becomes a core part of daily activity. Sonia talks about how your approaches to reskilling plans needed to include perishable and durable skills. Examples of perishable short-term skills working might be cloud technologies. These types of technology skills change quickly and often are only valuable for a few years. Examples of durable skills include presentation skills, communication skills, creative thinking, teamwork and collaboration.Sonia also talks about what the organisation does to provide the learning infrastructure. Learning infrastructure is both the learning experiences and the recognition of learning that motivates an employee to learn. This enables learners to become motivated, self-guided, super learners. IBM has done research work into figuring out who their super learners are. There is a link to that below.  Links from the podcast●  Connect with Sonia Malik●  Sonia’s articles on the IBM Training and Skills Blog●  Increase your employability: Become an intentional Super Learner●  Burning Glass Technologies report After the Storm - The Jobs and Skills that will Drive the Post-Pandemic Recovery 

This is a podcast with Dan Mottau from RedBubble on Future ways of working. RedBubble is a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products-based designs submitted by artists. Dan has previously been on the podcast and talked about Agility as being The Secret to Greater People Experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world and is transforming how we work and live. Remote working has transformed many workspaces and employee’s lives and we are seeing the rise of hybrid workplaces. One of the key messages from this podcast is that hybrid workplaces are about allowing people to work the way they want to and if organisations don't allow for that flexibility they risk losing employees.Links from the podcast●  Listen to the Agility as being The Secret to Greater People Experiences podcast with Dan●  Find out more about Red Bubble●  Connect with Dan on LinkedIn

What is a learning culture and how is a learning culture fostered, supported and enabled?  In this podcast, Robin is exploring these questions with author and podcaster, Nigel Paine. Nigel's latest book is called Workplace Learning: How to build a culture of continuous employee development.  This podcast builds upon and discusses themes from the book. About Nigel PaineNigel Paine is a change-focused leader with a worldwide reputation and a unique grasp of media, learning and development in the public, private and academic sectors.Nigel focuses on the use of learning technologies, organisational development, leadership and creativity with a spotlight on maximising human potential, innovation and performance in the workplace. Nigel is a strategic thinker, able to motivate, lead and drive organisations forward to deliver business and training objectives.Nigel has been involved in corporate learning for over twenty years.  He has a Professorship from Napier University in Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the CIPD, LPI, the RSA and a Masie Learning Fellow in the USA. He presents a monthly TV programme (Learning Now TV), shares a weekly podcast (with Martin Couzins) called From Scratch, and regularly writes articles for magazines and journals about development, technology and leadership.Links from the podcastFind out more about Nigel PaineConnect with Nigel PaineRead Workplace Learning: How to build a culture of continuous employee developmentWatch Learning Now TV

This podcast is a return to talking about live online learning.  When people signed up for the 2020 Remote Learning Conference we asked them what they wanted to know more about and inclusion was one of the themes to emerge.  In this podcast Robin is talking with Brigit Ritchie from WE.  WE is a learning studio facilitating workshops, retreats and art experiences to re-imagine relationships in and out of work.  This podcast explores what inclusion is and it’s importance. It’s also partly a case study of how WE delivers live online learning.  Brigit wraps up with a great discussion about the importance of listening.About Brigit Ritchie Brigit is the founder of WE.  Brigit’s vision is to develop Relational Mindfulness® to equip people across the world with relational skills to thrive in life. Over the past decade, WE has facilitated experiences for thousands of people to explore how to connect deeply with themselves, each other, and our communities.  Brigit leads this work within the WE community across the USA creating cultures of inclusion and belonging in companies like Google, Instagram, and lululemon.  Brigit is a mother of two living in LA with an active studio practice where she paints commissions and murals for clients and brands.Links from the podcastFind out more about WEConnect with Brigit Ritchie on LinkedIn and visit Brigit Ritchie’s own site.  Connect with WE on Instagram