The Mindtools L&D Podcast

How and where have people been working over the past 12 months? What barriers to learning have they faced? And how have perceptions of workplace learning shifted? These are the kind of questions we're exploring on this weeks episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, as we dig into this year's 'Learner Intelligence' report. Ross G, Owen and our own Dr Anna Barnett discuss: how work across industries has changed since the start of the pandemic how learner challenges vary from in-person to remote positive shifts in workplace learning during the pandemic. The 'Learner Intelligence' report will be available from mindtoolsbusiness.com next week. For tickets to our live show in London, on the evening of May 4, see: eventbrite.co.uk/e/live-show-mind-tools-300th-podcast-episode-tickets-315236830847  In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed DALL·E 2, an AI system that creates images from natural language: openai.com/dall-e-2 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 Dr Anna Barnett - @DrAnnaBarnett Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson

In a first for The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, we are coming to you this week LIVE FROM THE METAVERSE. Gemma, Mike, Jonathan and Claire met in Horizon Workrooms to discuss: what it feels like to meet in VR applications of VR that go beyond health and safety training which VR experiences are meaningful, and which are still 'fluff'. The VR experiences discussed were: Richie's Plank (oculus.com/experiences/quest/1642239225880682/) Bodyswaps (bodyswaps.co) Training for nuclear plant employees (ans.org/news/article-3164/virtual-reality-in-the-nuclear-community) The National Autistic Society's Too Much Information experience (autism.org.uk/shop/products/merchandise/too-much-information-virtual-reality-headset) VirtualSpeech (virtualspeech.com) In 'What I Learned This Week', Jonathan discussed the 'Mandela Effect'. Are you living in an alternate reality? telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/20/are-you-living-in-an-alternate-reality-welcome-to-the-wacky-worl And Gemma discussed ptarmigans: wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/grouse-partridges-pheasant-and-quail/ptarmigan  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 Mike Shaw - @MikeShawLD Claire Gibson - @ClaireIsDigital Jonathan Hancock - @J_B_Hancock

In this podcast, you'll learn: what learning outcomes are how to write learning outcomes and why presenting outcomes as a bulleted list is boring at best, and ineffective at worst. But seriously, this week join Ross D, Ross G, Tracey and Sean as they explore the characteristics of good learning outcomes and their connection to business objectives. For more on this topic, see Dr Will Thalheimer's blog 'Rethinking Instructional Objectives': worklearning.com/2013/05/13/rethinking-instructional-objectives/ For more on 'advance organizers', see: Gurlitt, J. (2012). Advance organizer. Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning, 148-151. Online at: link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_157 In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross G discussed the Peter Principle, and why there are so many bad bosses. Check out Freakonomics for details: freakonomics.com/podcast/why-are-there-so-many-bad-bosses/  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 Tracey McDonald - @TraceyMcDonald Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT Sean Brown - @SeanBrownHRTech

What are L&D practitioners excited about in 2022? Will we be drawn to bright, shiny objects like skills-based talent management? Or will we continue to focus on the lasting impact of Covid-19? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Donald Taylor to discuss the results of this year's Global Sentiment Survey. We cover: the headline takeaways from the report regional differences in the data the long shadow of the pandemic predictions for the future To find out more about the Global Sentiment Survey, head to Don's website: https://donaldhtaylor.co.uk/research_base/global-sentiment-survey-2022/ In WILTW, Owen mentioned the rise of the email newsletter platform Substack: https://substack.com/ Ross D talked about 'steam bending', a woodworking technique his friend Alice Dudgeon uses to create artwork: https://www.alicedudgeon.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 Dickie - @RossDickieMT Owen Ferguson @OwenFerguson Donald Taylor @DonaldHTaylor

Is curiosity a trait that we have, or a muscle we can build? To find out, Owen and Ross G are joined this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast by Stefaan van Hooydonk of the Global Curiosity Institute. We discuss: What curiosity is What stops us being curious at work How we can develop our curiosity. For more from Stefaan, including access to his free diagnostic, visit: globalcuriosityinstitute.com  In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross shared fun Mad Hatter facts from the 'Killer Fashion' episode of podcast The Rest is History: play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/158-lethal-fashion  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. And here's a thing! The free Learning Performance Benchmark is now open for another season. If you're curious to benchmark your learning function against other organisations, check it out now: mindtoolsbusiness.com/solutions/learning-performance-benchmark  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT Owen Ferugson - @OwenFerguson Stefaan van Hooydonk - @StefaanVanHooyd

Why do learning professionals tell stories? How do we tell them to greatest effect? And where can we find them? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Ross D find answers to these questions with the help of instructional designer, learning strategist and author Hadiya Nurridin. We discuss: Where stories are more effective than 'telling it straight' How to identify the stories that you can share How to help others find and craft their stories. For more from Hadiya, visit: duetslearning.com  Or check out her book, StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories That Connect. For more on the #KyivNotKiev campaign, see: wikipedia.org/wiki/KyivNotKiev 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 Hadiya Nuriddin - @HadiyaNuriddin

Today is International Women's Day and we're celebrating it in partnership with Working Chance, a UK-based charity set up to help women with criminal convictions to find jobs. Today on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Nahdia talk to Helen Sweet, Head of Employability at Working Chance. We discuss: Employability barriers facing women with convictions What the Employability Programme comprises How you can support Working Chance To go directly to Working Chance's BIG GIVE campaign for International Women’s Day, please visit workingchance.org/IWD You can also find out more about Working Chance via its social media channels: instagram.com/working_chance twitter.com/WorkingChance facebook.com/workingchance Nahdia's discovery about our changing sleep patterns came from "The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'" article from the BBC. You can read it by following this link bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep Gemma's bog factoid came from the Scottish Wildlife Trust's 50 for the Future publication. The 'Peatland blanket bogs' article is online at scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/2015/10/50-for-the-future-peatland-blanket-bogs/ 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 Nahdia Khan - @NahdiaKhan

In 2008, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein published Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. Since then, nudges have been applied to public policy, healthcare, business and tech. Today on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma, Ross G, Ross D and Sean look at how nudge theory can be applied to workplace learning. We discuss: What nudge theory is How understanding learner context helps us identify nudges Criticisms of nudge theory. The book we based most of this discussion on has just been revised. Check out the latest version of Nudge here: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300262285/nudge  We also referenced Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman: wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow  We mentioned Dan Pink's Drive: danpink.com/books/drive  And Deci and Ryan on 'Self Determination Theory': wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory  If you want to hand over cash to help you make commitments, then stickK offers this service: stickk.com (We've never tried it, so this isn't an endorsement). In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross G discussed The Book of Boba Fett, now streaming on Disney+. For more on spinning space stations, you nerds, check out: wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station  And Gemma discussed her experience of Julie Drybrugh's Write Nights: fuchsiablueblog.wordpress.com/write-nights-at-fuchsia-blue/  Julie joined us to discuss writing back in episode 278. You'll find that episode in this podcast 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: Gemma Towersey - @GemmaTowersey Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT Sean Brown - @SeanBrownHRTech

Is 'education' a liberating force that prepares children for a rapidly changing world? Or a system of control that kills their enthusiasm for learning. On this week's Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Ross D are joined by Patrick Cootes, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer of Mindstone, to debate. We discuss: Traditional perspectives on education The purpose of education How systems reinforce one another. During the discussion, Ross D mentioned a podcast segment about students who wondered what it would be like to live on the moon. This was a reference to The Ezra Klein Show: nytimes.com/2022/02/11/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-johann-hari.html  Ross G referenced the Freakonomics episode 'Freakonomoics goes to college: Part 1': freakonomics.com/podcast/freakonomics-goes-to-college-part-1  And research from Pew: pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/05/15/chapter-5-the-monetary-value-of-a-college-education  In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D shared the story of Lena Forsen, covered by Wired: wired.com/story/finding-lena-the-patron-saint-of-jpegs And the story of Shirley Page, covered by 99% Invisible: 99percentinvisible.org/episode/shirley-cards  Ross G shared trivia from the Martin Scorsese film Casino: imdb.com/title/tt0112641/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv For more from Patrick, see: mindstone.com Patrick has also written about education at: medium.com/@patrick_85173/the-future-of-learning-3196b05452a3  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 Patrick Cootes - @MindstoneHQ | LinkedIn

What is a 'brand'? Why is it important? And how can your team 'build their brand'? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Nahdia are joined by branding expert Professor Doctor Jonathan Wilson to explore these questions. We discuss: personal branding the benefits of building a brand the effort required to connect with your audience. For more from Jonathan, see: drjonwilson.com Jonathan offers a course on personal branding at: futurelearn.com/experttracks/developing-your-personal-brand The book Ross mentioned, by Dorie Clark, was Stand Out: dorieclark.com/books In 'What I Learned This Week', Nahdia discussed research from McKinsey into 'The rise of the inclusive consumer': mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-rise-of-the-inclusive-consumer Jonathan shared Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora of The NFL Show discussing racism in hiring practices: linkedin.com/posts/drjonwilson_black-coaches-have-to-be-great-and-it-is-activity-6896410129554554880-fuyX See more at: linkedin.com/posts/drjonwilson_flores-sues-nfl-teams-in-racism-claim-activity-6894754539036061696-khgA  Jon also discussed the ongoing Joe Rogan backlash. See: linkedin.com/posts/drjonwilson_what-the-joe-rogan-backlash-reveals-about-activity-6894645124333133824-LtY7 And: edition.cnn.com/2022/02/05/media/joe-rogan-racial-slur-apology-india-arie/index.html Ross discussed Allison Robicelli's night at Chicago O'Hare airport: washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/01/11/ohare-airport-things-to-do 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 Jonathan Wilson - @DrJonWilson | LinkedIn