The Learning & Development Podcast

Not many in L&D recognise the opportunity to automate L&D administration, compliance and entire digital learning journeys, saving enormous amounts of time as well as guiding employee performance.  But what does it take to get to this and how do L&D teams take advantage of this opportunity, especially during these tough times? We explore all this and more in this episode. KEY TAKEAWAYS The most rewarding and satisfying results come from helping organisations get to a better place in terms of improvements in culture, performance and communication. There is a low expectation of what learning and development offers. It can be seen as a perk of sorts, which has led to a perceived “dumbing down” of the profession. Spend less time trying to work out what solutions there are out there, and more time understanding the performance problems in your organisation.  One of the main advantages provided by smart technology has been building user insights into any campaign, allowing us to move away from “content play” to a real dialogue. BEST MOMENTS ‘One of the biggest challenges for organisations is data’ ‘It’s about predefining a route that you want people to take’ ’Those conversations are what gets me out of bed in the morning' VALUABLE RESOURCES New eBook: Digital Learning That Works Harder (So You Don't Have To) - https://www.looop.co/digital-learning-that-works-harder/ The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Mike Collins is a pioneering and influential voice in L&D, having been Senior People Experience Specialist at River Island and in the Learning Transformation team at Direct Line. You can follow and connect with Mike via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/communitymike/ Twitter: @Community_Mike ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

As things have changed in recent months, Learning & Development Leaders have had to adapt too. Whereas before the People Development Strategy could have looked like an incremental build on the existing situation, it now has to speak to equipping people to adapt and perform in extraordinary circumstances. In this episode, Jilly Julian talks about this in the context of Legal Services.   Jilly Julian Bio Jilly is Senior L&D Business Partner at Horwich Farrelly, having previously head People Development roles at MAG (Airports Group), The Co-operative Group, PZ Cussons and Capita.   You can follow and connect with Jilly via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jilly-julian-71024110/ Twitter: @JillyTats

When Sean Cooper took over L&D at Jet2 he was given a blank sheet of paper to redesign it but to achieve real business outcomes. By believing that he could this with digital-first, rather than classroom-first, and by adopting a data-driven and Agile approach, he transformed L&D, achieving more than he thought he could - and was recognised by the industry.  KEY TAKEAWAYS The traditional form of eLearning is not engaging. Many are simply clicking through until they reach the end with the aim of taking the test so that they can tick a box. They are not truly learning this way. The aim is not to create a single bank of information that is irrelevant to many users. It should be an entirely bespoke resource that fits each worker and their unique journey through business. Not every form of learning has to be set in stone. By making small, incremental changes, even in terms of ease-of-access, we slowly change the face of learning and development for the user. By solving problems that are truly important to the organisation, it becomes important to stakeholders or the individuals we are seeking to influence. BEST MOMENTS ’eLearning: that’s not learning to me’ ‘You need to employ this quickly, otherwise you’ll lose what you’ve learned today’ ‘Where I’ve now seen my passion is looking at the blend; the classroom and the digital’ ‘By challenging whether you need to bring people together for the delivery, you create something that is so fit for purpose' VALUABLE RESOURCES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Sean is Learning Demand Design & Delivery Manager at Drax Group, having previously been L&D Manager at Jet2. He is a forward-thinking, outcome-focused L&D leader who uses data, experimentation, Agile principles and digital-first solutions to affect the way the work is done and desired results. In recognition of this, he and his team at Jet2 achieved the Silver Award at the Learning Tech Awards ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

The consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have been dramatic and far-reaching. Many organisations and even industries have faced existential threats. But the situation has also provided L&D with huge opportunities. In this episode Robb Sayers explains how these opportunities have presented themselves to him and how he sees L&D progressing from here.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Lockdown has allowed certain activities in development to be brought forward, with the aim of increasing engagement, and investment in skills and capabilities. People aren’t always interested in how they learn. They simply want to learn. By improving their skills, they make their jobs easier and more intuitive.  It is our role in L&D, to look at the landscape as we return, and do our best to provide disruptive thinking. We must talk about the things that we do not wish to return to. Fundamentally, onboarding should be condensed to two objectives:  To help someone feel as though they’re welcome and that they have joined the right organisation To help that person achieve efficiency in their role at speed The biggest learning we’ve all taken from 2020 is that the world can change in an instant. We will walk forward from this period with a greater ability to be ready for change. BEST MOMENTS ‘We learn most when we’re muddling along’ ‘If you change the context in which people operate, everything else changes’ ‘People want the stuff that’s going to help them when they need it’ ’The world around us has changed, and therefore you have to adapt' VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Robb is UK Capability Lead for Viiv Healthcare, having held various People Development roles at GlaxoSmithKline, including the position of Director of Learning Capabilities. You can follow and connect with Robb via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robb-sayers-1b896225/  ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

Too many L&D teams still only expect their digital offering to supplement face-to-face and drive engagement as an end in itself. But that’s no longer enough. The opportunity now is to influence performance and therefore results. Peter Manniche-Riber challenges himself to do this and in this episode he shares the method he uses to have a different type of conversation with stakeholders and build solutions that make the difference. KEY TAKEAWAYS Far too many people are still focused upon how learning and development can be restricted, limited and measured. The task ahead is to better educate stakeholders about true people development. Many in the L&D sector are generally anxious about actually leaving our environments in order to find out what people need. But by doing so we can better identify solutions. There is a shift from learning objectives to performance outcomes. We need to encourage discussion about what people should do differently and how we measure this, and what the impact is.  The future of development relies on listening to, and understanding, our people. We can do this by employing  in-house analysis, to find out what people are talking about, praising and unhappy with. BEST MOMENTS ‘My work is not a “tick the box” exercise. It’s about people. It’s about learning’ ‘What do you want people to think, feel and do, on the other side of what it is you want to achieve?’ ‘If you don’t know what people care about, then you don’t know what the solution is’ ‘I haven’t come across one piece of effective e-learning that made a difference' VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Peter is Head of Digital Learning at Novo Nordisk and an advocate of solutions that work predominantly for the learner. As a certified Scrum Product Owner, Peter mixes contemporary approaches to L&D to best fit digital solutions. Prior to his current role, Peter was Head of Learning at Kanda and Senior Learning Manager at Siemens Gamesa. You can follow and connect with Peter via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-manniche-riber-5565628b/  ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

Having introduced Agile into River Island, Nebel is in the process of doing the same at her current organisation, Roche. Not just into the HR team, where she is Director of HR & Communications, but across the entire employee population. Learn from Nebel’s rich experience of succeeding with Agile in HR and L&D - with real examples - and how you can do the same. KEY TAKEAWAYS Working in an agile space is about breaking things down incrementally, delivering at a pace that suits the business, iterating, and creating effective channels of communication so as to better encourage co-creation. Checking in with your team is a founding principle of agile working, and one of the practices that encourages accountability, creativity in solutions, and the close-knit bonding of teams, no matter how remote they may be. The pace of agile can sometime be daunting for those who have not experienced it. But businesses should always be evolving, and we must never limit progress based upon unfounded preconceptions. Initial development is often so focused towards ensuring that someone can perform the breadth and depth of their new responsibilities, but making sure that we engender a feeling of excitement, creativity and comfort, is far more important in the initial phase. Agile can be introduced to a cautious environment by introducing small elements at first, and then building upon these slowly. Focus on impactful solutions that will demonstrate effectiveness. BEST MOMENTS ’There’s an element of discipline in the way you work with agile’ ’The biggest impact that I’ve observed is how it brings people together’ ‘Find the advocates and build your army’ ‘Unless you listen to feedback, how can you ever know what the solution needs to be?’ ‘Agile brings a level of curiosity' VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 Natal Dank: @nataldank Agil8 Scrum Master Training: https://www.agil8.com/training/certified-scrum-training/certified-scrummaster/ ABOUT THE GUEST Nebel is an award-winning HR leader with a track record of building Agile HR and L&D teams that deliver real business value. Currently Director of HR & Communications at Roche, Nebel spent more than 4 years at River Island where she led the Talent team before becoming Head of People Experience. Prior to these roles, Nebel was also Head of Learning, People & Performance at Virgin Holidays. You can follow and connect with Nebel via: Twitter: @BrightonBelle39 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nebel-crowhurst-2999648/ ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

The consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic have been immediate and far-reaching. L&D teams have had to move quickly to respond to very real, and very urgent needs. But what could this mean for our profession in the mid- to long-term? And to what extent are there opportunities for L&D? KEY TAKEAWAYS COVID’s effects have not just been on a business and economic scale, but also on a personal level. We have had to deal with issues pertaining to business, staff, and ourselves. The strain has been unprecedented. There have been challenges, but also obvious benefits to the new way of working. It’s a case of capturing these benefits and ensuring that putting them into practice ensures we do not slip into less efficient ways of working. Needs are emerging constantly, and prominently, for many workers, and they need to be swiftly addressed. These challenges need focussed, creative thinking, and rapid delivery. There is a real opportunity for L&D professionals now to spend more time in discovery, to become more fluent in thinking in the same ways as data scientists, in order to deliver more targeted solutions. It is incumbent upon us to provide inspiration, empowerment, and the agency to think more creatively in terms of identifying developmental needs. BEST MOMENTS ’There’s no competitive advantage to be gained from COVID’ ‘We’ve been able to move at pace and provide people with what’s needed’ ‘Leading with digital solutions can meet people where they are’ ‘Classroom solutions have been thrown at poorly-defined problems for far too long’ VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 Ben Chambers LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benchambers/?originalSubdomain=uk  Ben Chambers Twitter - https://twitter.com/benchambers99 ABOUT THE GUEST Ben Chambers leads the Business School at Grant Thornton and is responsible for learning, talent and performance, having held senior positions at GSK and Tesco, amongst others. He is also founder of the Talent and Leadership Club, a collaboration group for talent and leadership professionals that has been going for over ten years now and has around 500 members. ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

Serena Gonsalves-Fersch is conducting extensive research, as part of a doctorate, on the future of our profession.  In this episode, we explore Serena’s findings so far, how these findings map to Serena’s considerable experience and what the future of Learning & Development could mean for all of us. KEY TAKEAWAYS There are a remarkable number of opinions on what L&D should and could be doing. However, when you’re working in the sector, and beneath the expectations of internal stakeholders, the experience is radically different. When you are in a startup or hyper-growth organisation, it requires a completely different approach and way of thinking when it comes to how we can best effect business change. Learning is an ever-evolving pursuit, but so too is the methodology of learning itself. We cannot hope to advance our knowledge, if the practices do not evolve with us on a personal level. We should never be afraid to experiment when it comes to learning. Even if we fail, we have learned a lesson.  Recognising the difference between an individual’s learning requirements and their personal attitudes and approaches, is key to discerning the real needs. By mislabelling a personal issue as a learning issue, essentially offer complicity. BEST MOMENTS ‘It’s easier to start from the bottom up, and look at how we build’ ‘In a smaller organisation, the critical path seems more obvious’ ’The human race would not have survived if we were not constantly learning’ ’There’s no such thing as an L&D emergency' VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Serena Gonsalves-Fersch is an experienced L&D leader with 20 years in the profession, having worked at IBM and KPMG, amongst others. With your most recent role as Global Head of Learning at Cloudreach. You can follow and connect with Serena via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-gonsalves-fersch-flpi-a23589/ ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

Organisations have moved quicker than they could have ever predicted in light of the current crisis, and L&D teams within these organisations have had to do the same.  Sarah Allen and her team at AXA UK are an example of how quickly things changed, and how swiftly an L&D team needed to respond in order to meet changing needs. So what did that mean - and what will it mean from here on out? KEY TAKEAWAYS The insurance industry has a responsibility to protect customers during normality, and to support customers when life hits hard. L&D’s role in insurance is to enable teams to be at their best during this time of support. Connection to teams, especially those working remotely now, is crucial to determining the needs of managers facing the problem of how to motivate, and get the best out of their teams. Working digitally has accelerated the deployment of the four guiding principles: agile mind-set, digital-first, design once-deploy often, and outside thinking. The question now is which parts of this new normal should we embrace, develop, and incorporate into our new way of working, and which parts of the pre-COVID world we can, and should, leave behind. BEST MOMENTS ’I’m excited to be in a profession where I can see that we only have an opportunity to add more value’ ‘We’re doing a lot more listening than talking’ ‘It makes you wonder what we were so scared of before’ ’There’s going to be a lot of “new”, moving forward' VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUEST Sarah is Head of Learning, Talent & Leadership for AXA UK, having risen through the ranks of the L&D team at AXA Investment Managers. You can follow and connect with Sarah via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahnelsonallen/ ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/

The current crisis has changed plenty, some will last well beyond lockdown and some will pass. One thing for sure is that organisations will want to make up for missed opportunities, when restrictions are relaxed, and businesses will want to make up for lost revenue.  We can anticipate an unforgiving period in the short- to mid-term and L&D will be under greater scrutiny to make a significant contribution. To this end, we can expect a hastening of some emerging trends in L&D, such as the pivot from a ‘learning’ focus to affecting performance and productivity more reliably, in order to achieve results. This is explored with 3 experienced L&D leaders: Kevin M. Yates, Gemma Paterson and Alice Collier-Niblett.  KEY TAKEAWAYS The current situation has reversed many long-held expectations around the capabilities and benefits of programme development, and has helped to accelerate plans to overhaul current development strategies. To understand the effectiveness of any training, we need to understand our deliverables from the outset, instead of focusing on the format or appeal of the courses themselves. No matter what our working environment looks like, there is still the need to measure results and impact. The challenge is in working out how to measure results remotely. We can’t hope to know about the driving motivations of our workforce, and the areas in which they wish to improve, unless we are the centre of that world alongside them. In order to ensure that we’re advancing in the correct manner, the first ingredient to be considered should be the people themselves. Do we have the right people, and the right mix of people in order to achieve that goal? BEST MOMENTS ‘We had to change, we had to adapt. And as a result, we’ve been able to help a lot more people’ ‘Perpetual data should be a desirable state’ ‘We need to now be contextualising what performance means at home’ ‘Move away from creating a course, and move toward creating impact’     VALUABLE RESOURC ES The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523 ABOUT THE GUESTS Kevin M Yates Kevin’s expertise is answering the question, “Did training work?”, with facts, evidence, and data. His work is global and multi-industry. He's a sought after subject matter expert and international speaker. 
 You can follow and connect with Kevin via: Twitter: @KevinMYates LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmyates/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevmyates/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevmyates/ Website: https://kevinmyates.com/ Gemma Paterson  Gemma has been leading teams to develop, manage and market digital products in learning, talent, social media and marketing for over 10 years. As Head of Technology & Innovation for Learning at Aviva, Gemma leads a team to deliver commercial outcomes through innovative approaches to learning, talent and organisational development, with a focus on the digital transformation. Using innovation, technology, storytelling and experience design her ultimate aim is to deliver real business results.  You can follow and connect with Gemma via: Twitter: @GemStGem LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemmacritchley/ Alice Collier-Niblett Alice is a thoroughly modern L&D professional with a background of leading with digital solutions and bringing her team and organisation along with her. Previously at ASOS and now with Monzo, Alice is a member of a team that operates in a way that is leading-edge and aspirational for many: Data-driven, performance-focused and agile. You can follow and connect with Alice via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-collier-niblett-849154b8/ ABOUT THE HOST David James David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa. As well as being the Chief Learning Strategist at Looop, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D as well as an active member of the CIPD L&D Advisory Board. CONTACT METHOD Twitter:  https://twitter.com/davidinlearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjameslinkedin/ Website: https://www.looop.co/