The Mindtools L&D Podcast

Published in 2003, Michael Lewis' Moneyball charts efforts by the Oakland Athletics baseball team to use analytics and statistical methods to assemble a competitive team on a comparatively small budget. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Owen, Ross D and Nahdia share their thoughts on the book and it's relevance to L&D and HR professionals. We discuss: how General Manager Billy Beane transformed his team's approach to scouting talent the impact of statistics and subjective judgement on decision making the challenges inherent with implementing a statistical approach to L&D. Show notes Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, is available from all good booksellers. Some of the criticism directed at Moneyball is covered in The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/the-many-problems-with-moneyball/245769/ For details of Mind Tools' 77-page workbook, 'Becoming a Positive Leader' - free to new members - visit MindTools.com. In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed potential UI improvements to the Tesco loan calculator: chrisannetts.com/blog/tesco-loan-calculator  Nahdia discussed the colour of Sesame Street's Big Bird across different cultures: buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/big-bird-international-colors  And Ross G revealed that he'd had a most epic morning listening to Hidden Citizens: hiddencitizens.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 Dickie - @RossDickieEW Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT (new handle!) Nahdia Khan - @_nahdia_khan

Creativity in online learning, agile learning frameworks, the role of HR, and business ethics are just some of the topics we tackle on this week's show as we answer questions from the audience. Mark Baker asked: Do you think as face-to-face trainers move into more virtual learning, is there a risk that they lose creativity in their learning experiences? Shilpa Nimbalkar asked: How can L&D experts build an Agile Learning framework that supports business requirements (at scale and speed) and ensures learner experience? Carl Akintola-Davies asked: Is there any value in workplace learning that isn't tied to strict behavioural outcomes? Sean Brown asked: When push comes to shove, is HR there for the people or the business? Sharon Green asked: What role does or could L&D and or HR play in business ethics? Show notes Owen referenced the '5Di Learning Design Process', which you can find online at: aconventional.com/2015/04/the-5di-learning-design-process.html And he discussed the 'Concern Task Resource Model': aconventional.com/2015/03/concern-task-resource-model.html In What I Learned This Week, Owen discussed the ultra clickbaitly titled academic paper: 'Large Scale Analysis of Multitasking Behavior During Remote Meetings', online at: hci.stanford.edu/publications/2021/cao_remote/CHI2021-RemoteMeetingMultitask.pdf (Yes, we're going with 'clickbaitly'!) Gemma discussed Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall: amazon.co.uk/Prisoners-Geography-Everything-Global-Politics/dp/1783962437  Nahdia discussed the death of actor Michael K Williams: theguardian.com/film/gallery/2021/sep/07/michael-k-williams-a-life-in-pictures  And Ross shared the podcast 'The Rest is History', hosted by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. Their recent two-part episode on the history of Silicon Valley features Netscape co-founder Marc Andreeseen as their guest: play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/93.siliconvalleypart1  Fans of the game Risk may also enjoy Polytopia, available from the App Store: polytopia.io/  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 Towersey @GemmaTowersey Owen Ferguson @OwenFerguson Nahdia Khan @NahdiaKhan

Creating videos for training purposes is easy; launch a smartphone camera app and hit record. Creating effective pieces of drama that allow viewers to make their own meaning through compelling storylines and characters is not so easy. However, it is a skill that learning designers can study and put into practice. This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma T and Ross G are joined by Tom Hickmore, to discuss: why drama is an effective learning delivery mechanism when to use drama scripting techniques. Show notes Ross' freaky Friday 13th frequency fact came from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th#Occurrence Gemma found out about the history of Paralympic games in this National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-the-paralympic-movement-evolved-into-major-sporting-event Tom's book "Watch & learn" can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Learn-Designing-commissioning-producing-ebook/dp/B09FB4M471 To watch the "What can TV teach L&D" video series that Tom has made, follow these links:  Series 1: https://www.nicemedia.co.uk/season-1-what-can-tv-teach-ld/ Series 2: https://www.nicemedia.co.uk/season-2-what-can-tv-teach-ld/ 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: Tom Hickmore @nicemediauk Ross Dickie @RossDickieEW Gemma Towersey @gemmatowersey

The pandemic has been both a trigger and an opportunity for reflection and ultimately, change. We've had to forget, or "unlearn" our old ways. This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Gemma T and Ross D are joined by Mark Gilroy to discuss: what 'unlearning' is the link between unlearning and curiosity how we can help each other to "unlearn" effectively. Show notes Mark recommended the following resources: "How organisations Learn and Unlearn (Hedberg, 1981)" http://johnljerz.com/superduper/tlxdownloadsiteWEBSITEII/id167.html  The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. Available at all good bookstores. The B=MAT model: https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/bj-foggs-behavior-model/  Mark made a surprising claim about rainfall during "What I learned this week". Here's his data source: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-precipitation-Rainfall,London,United-Kingdom  Ross talked about Iceland's four-day week, which you can read more about here: https://autonomy.work/portfolio/icelandsww/ Ross and Gemma referred to Adam Grant's book, Think again: https://www.adamgrant.net/book/think-again/ 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: Mark Gilroy @thatmarkgilroy Ross Dickie @RossDickieEW Gemma Towersey @gemmatowersey You can also find out more about Mark's organisation, TMSDI.

What is organisational learning? Is it the same thing as people in organisations learning? And how does it overlap with learning culture? This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Nahdia are joined by Nigel Paine to discuss: what 'organisational learning' actually means the difference between organisations that learn and individuals that learn the role L&D can play in supporting organisational learning the distinction between 'learning cultures' and 'cultures of learning'. Show notes To find out more about Nigel's work, check out his website: https://www.nigelpaine.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 Dickie @RossDickieEW Nahdia Khan @_nahdia_khan Nigel Paine @ebase

'What did you think of the trainer' and 'How was the lunch?' These are two questions we won't be asking today, as we get stuck into effective learner surveys. Ross G and Owen are joined by Gent Ahmetaj, Head of Research at Mind Tools for Business, to discuss: the problem with traditional learner surveys the features of an academically robust survey issues with this approach and how to resolve them. Show notes For more details on our Insights team, and a delightful photo of Gent, see: https://emeraldworks.com/solutions/mindtoolsinsight In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed The Oatmeal's 'Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal' and 'Why it breaks your brain to take a compliment'. Gent discussed Veritasium's YouTube video on the '3x + 1' problem: youtube.com/watch?v=094y1Z2wpJg And Ross discussed the time that the Australian army went to war with the emus, and lost: blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/the-great-emu-war-in-which-some-large-flightless-birds-unwittingly-foiled-the-australian-army/  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 Owen Ferugson - @OwenFerguson Gent Ahmetaj - @GentAhmetaj

Over the last two years, L&D has been forced to adapt to rapid, unprecedented change. As learning leaders find new ways of supporting their organizations, is now the perfect time for them to rethink their learning strategy? This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, the two Rosses are joined by Michelle Ockers to discuss: what we mean when we talk about 'organizational learning strategy' what a good strategy looks like in practice how to develop a strategy that accounts for uncertainty the common pitfalls to avoid when developing a strategy Show notes To find out more about Michelle's work on learning strategy, check out her website: https://learninguncut.global/ For details of the Australian Public Service's learning strategy, visit: https://www.apsc.gov.au/learning-and-development/highly-capable-future-ready-aps-learning-and-development-strategy In WILTW, Ross G shared a story about Utah's novel approach to 'restocking' fishless lakes. You can find out more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/13/fish-plane-video-utah-lake The book Michelle mentioned was How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman. Connect with our speakers If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: Ross Dickie - @RossDickieEW Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Michelle Ockers - @MichelleOckers

'Jobs To Be Done' (JTBD) is a framework that can be used to define consumer needs and identify how to meet them. In this week's Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are joined by aNewSpring's Ger Driesen to explore how this can be applied to learning design. We discuss: what 'Jobs To Be Done' is examples of Jobs To Be Done how to apply this framework to your learning design challenges. Show notes Jobs to be Done, by Anthony W. Ulwick, is available as a free e-book at: jobs-to-be-done-book.com  Clay Christensen's 'milkshake' explanation is on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=sfGtw2C95Ms  This article explains why you only need five users for user testing: nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/  Ger has blogged at: linkedin.com/pulse/jobs-to-be-done-approach-empathy-matters-learning-design-ger-driesen/ And his colleague Corjan Bast also wrote on this topic, at: anewspring.com/professionals-dont-want-training-they-want-the-result-of-the-training/ In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen shared a study on 'bullshit ability as an honest signal of intelligence': Turpin, M. H., Kara-Yakoubian, M., Walker, A. C., Walker, H. E., Fugelsang, J. A., & Stolz, J. A. (2021). Bullshit Ability as an Honest Signal of Intelligence. Evolutionary Psychology, 19(2), 14747049211000317. 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: Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Ger Driesen - @GerDriesen

We tend to assume that, faced with the same problem on separate occasions, professionals will typically arrive at the same judgements — doctors will make the same diagnoses, mortgage lenders will set the same rates, judges will hand down the same sentences. But is professional judgement really as reliable as we think it is? This week on the The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, the team discuss Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement, the new book from Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. We cover: what 'noise' is in the context of judgement the distinction between noise and bias strategies for minimising noise potential implications for L&D Show notes Noise is out now and is available from all good booksellers. The ProPublica article Ross G mentioned can be found at: https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing He also referred to 'This Place Is Full of It: Towards an Organizational Bullshit Perception Scale', a paper which is explored in this article: https://www.psypost.org/2021/07/researchers-explore-employee-perceptions-of-bullshit-in-the-workplace-with-the-organizational-bullshit-perception-scale-61415 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 Dickie - @RossDickieEW Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Ross Garner - @RossGarnerEW Nahdia Khan - @_nahdia_khan Gemma Towersey - @gemmatowersey

It's been 17 months since we last spoke to authors Mark Britz and James Tyer. Since then, the world has shut down - on multiple occasions - and many of us have been working from home on a long-term basis. In this context, how do we make organizations 'social by design'? Ross G and Owen are joined once again by Mark and James to debate. We discuss: the impact that Covid-19 has had on their earlier predictions whether widespread 'working from home' has made organizations more (or less?) social the small changes that we can make to increase opportunities for social connection. Show notes Social by Design is available now. The audio version is available in the US and Canada: audible.com/pd/Social-by-Design-Audiobook/B097TTWYVJ (US) audible.ca/pd/Social-by-Design-Audiobook/B097TSRRGZ (Canada) For more from Mark, visit: sxdsolutions.co  James referenced the Beezy 2021 Digital workplace trends report. Find it online at: beezy.net/2021-digital-workplace-report  He also referenced soundbite.ai and solvable (social by design for ESG and sustainability teams). In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed Github co-pilot. See copilot.github.com for details and fastcompany.com/90653878/github-copilot-microsoft-openai-coding-tool-backlash for backlash. Mark discussed the impact of chance encounters on innovation: nytimes.com/2021/06/23/upshot/remote-work-innovation-office.html  And Ross combined his two great loves: Star Trek and behavioral science: timharford.com/2021/07/me-spock-is-not-as-logical-as-hed-like-to-think/  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 Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson Mark Britz - @Britz James Tyer - On LinkedIn