In the first of three bonus episodes to celebrate our 250th show, Ross G talks to Myles Runham about product management. This interview was recorded for the episode: 250 — Documentary Special: What can L&D learn from product management? Find the full episode in your podcast feed. Show notes Myles has written extensively on product management on his blog, at: mylesrunham.com/tag/product-management/  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, you can chat to us on Twitter using the hashtag #MindToolsPodcast. Or connect with our speakers: Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Myles Runham - @MylesRun

We're trying something new! For five years, The Mind Tools L&D Podcast (formerly The Good Practice Podcast) has enjoyed a conversational format. Today, for this anniversary special, we thought we'd try emulating the documentary-style podcasts we love: This American Life, Freakonomics and Radiolab. So this week we're asking: What can L&D learn from product management? We're speaking to independent consultants Myles Runham and Sukh Pabial, as well as Venndorly founder Danny Seals and Legal & General's Gemma Paterson. We discuss: what product management is what L&D can learn from product management what 'the product' is in L&D - is it L&D itself? Show notes Myles has written extensively on product management on his blog, at: mylesrunham.com/tag/product-management/  Sukh also wrote about the role of a product manager in L&D at: pabial.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/the-role-of-a-product-manager-in-ld/  The product that Danny's working on is Venndorly: venndorly.com/  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.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, you can chat to us on Twitter using the hashtag #MindToolsPodcast. Or connect with our speakers: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieEW Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Myles Runham - @MylesRun Sukh Pabial - @SukhPabial Gemma Paterson - @GemStGem Danny Seals - @TheDannySeals

Back in mid-March we spoke to Emerald Works' CEO John Yates and Frontline Pedagogy Lead, Laura Watkin, about their experience of starting senior roles remotely. This week on the Mind Tools L&D podcast, Gemma talks to freshly recruited team members from the same organisations - Emerald Works team member, David Sharkey and People Coordinator at Front, Simi Manik - on their remote onboard experiences. We discuss:  what remote onboarding involves - the positives and negatives how it's different to joining a company "in person"  what organisations might consider doing to best support remote newbies Show notes Gemma's tomato-based factoids came from James Wong's book, How to eat better. Simi recommended the book Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. David's nugget about door frame heights came from Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.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: Simi Manik - www.linkedin.com/in/simi-manik-b8a763123/ David Sharkey - www.linkedin.com/in/david-sharkey-117319135 Gemma Towersey - @GemmaTowersey

Zahra Clarke-Johnney, Sami Chan, and Nahdia Khan discuss forging a career in L&D. They talk about varied paths to L&D, finding inspiration, overcoming challenges, starting a career in L&D, remote learning and hybrid working, interesting facts about Yuri Gagarin and adulterated food, appreciating small victories, binge-watching Fargo, and casual conversation on TV series, learning, and gratitude.

In this 1-minute announcement, Ross G, Ross D and Gemma reveal some exciting changes taking place at Emerald Works. To check out our new-look website, visit: emeraldworks.com  We'll be back next Tuesday as normal!

In this special episode, the regular Good Practice Podcast team have given up the microphone to Frontline's Laura Watkin, who returns to the show as guest host. Laura last appeared on episode 236, 'Working with strangers', and wanted an opportunity to reflect on her experience by leading a conversation with Ross G and Ross D. This episode includes some material we would normally cut, in order to provide a behind-the-scenes look at podcast production. We discuss: what makes a great podcast tips for taking part in a podcast tips for hosting a podcast. Show notes For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross shared an article from The Atlantic: 'The Life in The Simpsons Is No Longer Attainable': theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/life-simpsons-no-longer-attainable/617499/  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Laura Watkin - @TalentEdMagpie Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Ross Dickie - @RossDickieEW

When we think of 'innovation', we tend to picture the bright ideas that people have in the bath. In reality, innovation is the product of hard work, collaborative effort and repeated failures. In this week's episode of The Good Practice Podcast, Ross G and Owen explore innovation with Alan Cabello, Senior Research Fellow and Innovation Lecturer at ETH Zurich, and founder of SparkWorks and Sparkademy. We discuss: the environmental factors required for innovation to happen how organizations can increase the chances of innovation taking place what individuals can do to become more innovative. Show notes In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen recommended Stephen Johnson's book Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer.  If you're wondering what Ross was talkng about in response to Owen, he was mangling a reference from The Political Gabfest: slate.com/podcasts/political-gabfest/2021/04/biden-first-100-days  Ross recommended Dungeons and Dragons as a team activity. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. There, you'll also find details of our award winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. You can find SparkWorks at: sparkworks.ch, and SparkAdemy at: sparkademy.com  Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Alan Cabello - @AlanSKbyo

The menopause might seem like a strange topic for a show about work, performance and learning - but half of the world's population will experience the menopause, and it does not take place around working hours. So, this week, Ross G is joined by Emerald Work's Katie Danes and Jamie Thomas, as well as Emerald Publishing's Erika Valenti, to share their experiences. We discuss: what the menopause is the impact on the workplace what organisations can do to support women. Show notes Katie wrote about her experiences at: mindtools.com/blog/working-through-menopause/  In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross recommended the podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon, available at: bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2  Katie recommended Kaye Adam's the book STILL HOT!: 42 Brilliantly Honest Menopause Stories. Erika recommended the book H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald. And Jamie recommended Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, by Henry Marsh. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.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 - @RossGarnerEW Katie Danes - @DanesKatie Erika Valenti - @Valenti5_Erika Jamie Thomas - Find him on LinkedIn! 

How do you accurately measure the effectiveness of your learning and development function? Can you provide clear evidence that your team are delivering value for your organisation? And how do you compare to other L&D teams? If your answer to any of these questions is: 'I have no idea', then benchmarking might be a good place to start. This week on The Good Practice Podcast, Owen and Ross G are joined by Carrie Horvath and Gent Ahmetaj - the team behind the Learning Performance Benchmark - to explore benchmarking and how it can help you develop your strategy. We discuss: what benchmarking is the benefits of benchmarking the value of collaboration and competition in a community. Show notes You can find details of Emerald Work's Learning Health Check at: emeraldworks.com/research/learning-health-check  Get started now for free! As a small production note, we were trying a new recording method this week and the sound quality suffered at times. We're always learning! Which brings us to... ...'What I Learned This Week', where Owen talked about Boris Becker's revealing habit. You can watch the video of Andre Agassi discussing this story at: twitter.com/tennistv/status/1387758939534675972?s=21  Ross spoke again about rapid, low-quality Covid testing (previously discussed in episode 208). These are now available for free to anyone living in the UK: nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/regular-rapid-coronavirus-tests-if-you-do-not-have-symptoms/ 

If you work in L&D or HR and are looking to procure any kind of service, how do you know who to trust? If you work for a vendor or supplier, what approach do you take? On this week's episode of The Good Practice Podcast, Ross G is joined by L&D buyer Gemma Paterson and L&D seller Danny Seals to explore vendor relationships. We discuss: the characteristics of great supplier relationships making the most of conference exhibitions the importance of recommendations. Show notes Some of the stats Danny referenced were taken from this infographic by Invesp: invespcro.com/blog/the-importance-of-online-customer-reviews-infographic/  The importance of customer reviews is further covered by Econsultancy at: econsultancy.com/ecommerce-consumer-reviews-why-you-need-them-and-how-to-use-them/  The difficulties created by the 'Spotify Model' are discussed here: agility11.com/blog/2020/6/22/spotify-doesnt-use-the-spotify-model  In 'What I Learned This Week', Gemma spoke about Hans Rosling's book Factfulness: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factfulness:_Ten_Reasons_We%27re_Wrong_About_the_World_%E2%80%93_and_Why_Things_Are_Better_Than_You_Think Rosling's TED talk is online at: ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen  The podcast that Ross recommended was 'Great Minds on Learning: The Cognitivists with Donald Clark', available online at: johnhelmerconsulting.com/great-minds-on-learning-the-cognitivists-with-donald-clark/  You can find more about Danny's recommendation service, Venndorly, at: venndorly.com/  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.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 - @RossGarnerEW Gemma Paterson - @GemStGem Danny Seals - @TheDannySeals