The Mindtools L&D Podcast

How is it possible to learn faster than external world changes? What do we need to do to purposefully protect ourselves against irrelevance?   Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Ross G are joined by author of Learning at Speed, Nelson Sivalingam, to discuss how organisations, L&D teams and individuals can upskill and reskill efficiently.  We discussed:   What learning at speed means  The barriers to learning at speed  How we can overcome those challenges   Nelson’s book, Learning at Speed, is available from the Kogan Page website or any other good bookseller.  To plug into Nelson’s podcast, L&D Disrupt, find it wherever you get your podcasts, or visit the HowNow podcast webpage.  At the start of the podcast, Gemma referenced The Economist article, ‘The tech winners and losers of the pandemic’.   Nelson mentioned Andy Lancaster’s Driving performance through learning. This is available from Kogan Page or any other good bookseller.  Michelle Parry-Slater’s The Learning and Development Handbook also cropped up in the conversation. It’s also available from Kogan Page and any other good bookseller.  Nelson recommended reading Sapiens: A brief history of humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari. Get a copy on Amazon.  Nelson talked through the ICE framework, a scoring method created by Sean Ellis. Find out more here: productplan.com/glossary/ice-scoring-model/  Additionally, Nelson advocated using the principles of ‘Jobs to Be Done’. To read about the practices involved, take a look at Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice. You can find it on Amazon.  Ross referenced the Agile Manifesto. You can read it and the 12 principles on agilemanifesto.org.  In WILTW, Ross talked about the percentage of American subjects in social psychology studies as discussed on the Freakonomics podcast episode, ‘The U.S. is just different – so let’s stop pretending we’re not.’   Gemma mentioned ‘Kopfkino’, a word that appears in Susie Dent’s new book and appeared as Word of the day on her Twitter feed.  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:  Nelson Sivalingam - @thatnelsondude  Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT   Gemma Towersey – @gemmatowersey 

Our brain is a ‘prediction machine’ that responds to and interprets reality based on what we expect. This is the claim of science writer David Robson and, this week on The Mind Tools Podcast, Ross G, Owen and Nahdia plan to exceed your expectations by discussing it in our book club.  We discuss:  examples of the ‘expectation effect’ in action  the strengths and weaknesses of Robson’s argument how we can experiment, personally, with managing our expectations.  During the discussion, Ross referenced the Freakonomics episode ‘I Don’t Know What You’ve Done With My Husband But He’s a Changed Man’: freakonomics.com/podcast/i-dont-know-what-youve-done-with-my-husband-but-hes-a-changed-man/  See also our podcast on Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/grit-and-mindset-emotion-at-work-crossover-special/id1114862726?i=1000470741181  In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended Bob Sutton (@work_matters) on Twitter, and specifically his Tweet about the ‘feedback sandwich’: twitter.com/work_matters/status/1565064130574241793?s=46&t=z7JQmmhA9bhpOPtQuc1RLQ  And Ross discussed the shortest day for 40 years, June 29: theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/01/midnight-sooner-earth-spins-faster-shortest-day  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.    To take advantage of our special offer on a Mind Tools Membership, visit: mindtools.com/september-subscription-sale   Mind Tools enterprise customers can hear our exclusive interview with David Robson, author of The Expectation Effect, as part of their toolkit. If you're not already a customer or subscriber, you can listen to an excerpt in our blog: mindtools.com/blog/expert-interview-blog-david-robson/ Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:    Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT   Nahdia Khan - @NahdiaKhan  Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson 

This week The Mind Tools Podcast team are travelling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop: Extended Reality. In this episode, Ross G and Nahdia speak to technologist, TEDx speaker, author and designer Myra Roldan about how new technologies are shaping the way we interact with the world, and with each other. We discuss: VR, AR, XR and mixed realities Applications of XR for learning The impact of XR on empathy. During the discussion, we discussed several VR experiences: Five Nights at Freddy’s: oculus.com/experiences/quest/3162101440489458 Vader Immortal: oculus.com/vader-immortal/?locale=en_GB Richie’s Plank: oculus.com/experiences/quest/1642239225880682/ For more on how The Mandalorian was shot, see: youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk For Myra’s TEDx talk on VR, see: ted.com/talks/myra_roldan_vr_changing_world_views You can find Myra on LinkedIn at: linkedin.com/in/myraroldan In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Nahdia discussed the recent flooding in Pakistan, the impact of glaciers, and the effects of climate change: bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62758811 Myra discussed her TikTok channel, learnwithmyra: tiktok.com/@learnwithmyra And for something completely different, Ross G shared old Hollywood bloopers: twitter.com/NonsenseIsland/status/1550562796458352641 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 Nahdia Khan - @NahdiaKhan Myra Roldan - @MyraMade

What’s the evidence telling us about effective questions for learning? How can we apply it?  In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma is joined by fellow Custom team members Ross Garner, Sam and Alison to discuss key takeaways from Patti Shanks’ book, Write better multiple-choice questions to assess learning.   We discussed:   The role of questions in learning   What makes an effective question  How to overcome challenges in writing them.  We talked about how we used open questions as part of a project with Scottish Enterprise. Find out more about the project here: Award-winning blended learning for Scottish Enterprise case study.  In WILTW, Ross excitedly told us about the five attempts (and injuries!) that Bond’s stuntman took to nail the crocodile shot in Live and Let Die. You can watch them on Twitter: twitter.com/michaelwarbur17   Gemma’s discovery about the Summer Time Act came from an episode of the BBC’s podcast You’re Dead to Me called ‘The History of Timekeeping’.  Further details came from the BBC article, “The Builder who changed how the world keeps time”.  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   Sam Brown - @SbrownMT   Alison Perrott - @allyperrott  Gemma Towersey – @gemmatowersey 

Will avatar-based training replace virtual classrooms? Would it make any difference if L&D didn’t even exist? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D, Owen and Nahdia tackle these questions from listeners Ian Younger (@ian5611) and Craig Taylor (@CraigTaylor74). In WILTW, Owen mentioned the article ‘Good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain, and ‘bad’ posture doesn’t cause it by Peter O’Sullivan, Leon Straker and Nic Saraceni. The episode of the Ezra Klein Show which featured a discussion of ‘Larping your job’ was The Office is Dying. It’s Time to Rethink How We Work. 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 Dickie - @RossDickieMT Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Nahdia Khan -@NahdiaKhan  

Discover the invaluable hacks that could revolutionize your career in learning and development. The hosts discuss the importance of diverse experiences and effective problem definition. Listen to insights on navigating L&D challenges and evolving trends in content consumption. Uncover the history of animation with the fascinating story of the first feature film, and delve into the mystery of lost Civil War gold. Plus, explore habit formation with the innovative Not Boring Habits app.

Explore the impact of digitalization on learning culture in organizations, learn about top-performing organizations' characteristics, and practical advice from the Annual L&D Benchmark Report. Discover recommended experiences like the Abba Voyage concert and insightful articles on temperature perception differences.

Have learners engaged? Learnt what we set out for them to learn? More importantly, have they bought that learning into how they perform? Is this having the wider impact we wanted? All the questions. So, how do we, as learning professionals, measure the impact our learning experiences have? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma discusses with teammates Claire, Sean and Tracey, about measuring impact. We discuss: what measuring impact means tools and methods we use some of the challenges involved. During our chat, Sean mentioned that more than 95% of CLOs know it’s important to measure impact, but less than 5% know how. The statistic came from this blog netcomlearning.com/blogs/55/10-ways-to-measure-the-impact-of-learning-for-the-ultimate-roi.html In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Gemma spoke about the first woman who summited Mont Blanc, Marie Paradis. You can find out more about her here chamonixallyear.com/lady-legends-women-in-mountaineering 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:  Gemma Towersey - @GemmaTowersey Claire Gibson - @Claireisdigital Sean Brown - @Seanbrownhrtech Tracey McDonald – @Traceymcdonald

Rather than defaulting to pre-pandemic habits, or continuing with pandemic arrangements, we now have an ideal opportunity to rethink how and where we work. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Nahdia and Gemma talk to Gem Dale, author of How to work remotely, about working well, in and out of the office. We discuss: why we need to be strategic and purposeful in how and where we work challenges for organisations and managers in balancing organisational and individual needs skills for effective remote working. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Nahdia told us why some houses in Amsterdam are so narrow amsterdamhangout.com/why-do-houses-in-amsterdam-are-so-narrow/ Gemma mentioned an episode from the language learning podcast series Coffee Break German coffeebreaklanguages.com/2022/07/cbg-mag-2-06-labskaus 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.  To find out more about Gem, see hrgemblog.com/ and her book koganpage.com/product/how-to-work-remotely-9781398606111 Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:  Gemma Towersey - @GemmaTowersey Nahdia Khan - @NahdiaKhan Gem Dale – @HR_Gem

People are more satisfied by explanations that contain neuroscientific jargon and images. Why? Because dopamine fires up the hippocampus, and that’s a fact! (Warning: It’s not.)  This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Owen and Ross G are separating fact from fiction as we discuss neuroscience with Amy Brann, author of Make Your Brain Work.  We discuss:  The meaning of neuroscience (as a discipline vs in popular media)  The relevance of neuroscience for HR and L&D  Practical insights from neuroscience.  During the discussion, Owen referenced two papers:  Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, J. R. (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 20(3), 470-477. Online at: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778755/  Farah, M. J., & Hook, C. J. (2013). The seductive allure of “seductive allure”. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 88-90. Online at: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26172255/   In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen discussed Wordle (nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html), Heardle (.spotify.com/heardle/) and Framed (framed.wtf/)   Ross discussed the Freakonomics series ‘What Can Blockchain Do for You?’: freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/what-can-blockchain-do-for-you/   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.   To find out more about Amy, see amybrann.com/ and synapticpotential.com/   Connect with our speakers   If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:   Ross G - @RossGarnerMT   Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson  Amy Brann – @Amy_Brann