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