The Mindtools L&D Podcast

This week on the GoodPractice Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Mike Prokopeak, Editor in Chief at Chief Learning Officer magazine, to discuss what it takes to be a great learning leader.  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson and @Prokotweet.   To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice or @GoodPracticeAus. If you're interested in checking out the Chief Learning Officer Breakfast Club Podcast for yourself, you can listen to all the episodes at clobreakfastclub.com

It's been six years since the Learning & Performance Institute put out their first Capability Map. So what's changed? This week on the GoodPractice Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by guests Michelle Ockers and Donald Taylor to discuss their work on the 2018 Capability Map, and the skills L&D practitioners need to be successful.  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson, @MichelleOckers and @DonaldHTaylor. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice or @GoodPracticeAus. To check out the Capability Map for yourself, visit the LPI website.  You'll find the FiveThirtyEight article Owen referenced here. And, if you want to learn more about the discrepancies between men's and women's pockets, you can read the full piece on The Pudding.  

This week on The GoodPractice Podcast, we're revisiting inclusion with a focus on gender. How do we understand the phrase 'gender gap' and what can be done to make equality a feature of our organisations? Ross G and Cat from the GoodPractice team are joined by Emerald Publishing CEO Vicky Williams and AoEC CEO Gina Lodge to discuss. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @CatGoodPractice and @Emerald_VW. You can get in touch with Gina via LinkedIn or by tweeting @TheAoEC. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. The article Cat referenced on one couple's decision to raise a gender neutral child is here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/theyby-gender-neutral-child-parents-raise-couple-kyl-myers-zoomer-a8286876.htm  She also recommends this clip on 'gender neutral education': https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05d9kmz The New Zealand Prime MInister's maternity leave was covered here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45027923 The book Cat referenced was Inclusive Leadership by Charlotte Sweeney and Fleur Bothwick: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inclusive-Leadership-Definitive-Developing-Executing/dp/1292112727  The World Economic Forum published 'The Global Gender Gap Report 2017' here: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2017  Lord Davies' report on the composition of FTSE 350 boards is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-davies-ftse-350-boards-should-be-33-female-by-2020  For more on the composition of boards, check out the work of the 30% Club at: https://30percentclub.org/  The 'Heidi vs Howard' clip referenced by Gina is online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZA8hu4jN8 

In our second visit to the land of xAPI, Ross G and Jonny from the GoodPractice team are joined by experts from overseas. Author and performance strategist Ajay Pangarkar and Instructional Developer for the Internet of Things Anthony Altieri share their views, with a focus on leveraging data to improve performance. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @BioFractal, @BizLearningDude and @AA_Altieri. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. Ajay regularly speaks and writes on performance topics. You can find out more about him at about.me/ajay.pangarkar or read his articles at elearningindustry.com/members/ajay-pangarkar-ctdp-cpa-cma. He's also an instructor for LinkedIn Learning at www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/ajay-pangarkar. You can follow the latest on xAPI adoption at: www.ieeeicicle.org/  The book that Jonny recommended was Parasite Rex, available from: www.amazon.co.uk/Parasite-Rex-New-Epilogue-NaturesMost/dp/074320011X  Ross recommended 'The Morality of Diversity', from the BBC's Moral Maze: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bbr3zs

It's an exciting week on The GoodPractice Podcast as Cathy Moore joins Ross G and James to explore her 'action mapping' technique. Action mapping is an outcomes-focused approach to behaviour change that we use at the start of every project. It was a real thrill to discuss it in detail (and check that we were doing it right!). If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @JamesMcLuckie and @CatMoore. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. Cathy is speaking at the OEB conference later this year if you want to hear from her in person. Find out more at: https://oeb.global/  She blogs at blog.cathy-moore.com  The assessment concept Ross discussed, 'consequential validity', is covered here: Boud, D. (1995). 'Assessment and learning: contradictory or complementary'. In: Knight, P. ed. Assessment for Learning in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page/SEDA. pp. 35-48. Yes, Ross is back at uni, so look forward to another 10 weeks of academic references. 

Is it possible to bring different functions together to enhance the employee experience? Or are we doomed to live in a world where all 20 cartons of milk have a different department name written on them? In this week's GoodPractice Podcast, Ross G and Owen are joined by EPIC's Gary Cookson to explore the impact that interactions across departments have on the employee experience. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @OwenFerguson and @Gary_Cookson. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. You can find more from Gary at epichr.wordpress.com. The paper Owen discussed was: Camerer, C. F., Dreber, A., Holzmeister, F., Ho, T. H., Huber, J., Johannesson, M., ... & Altmejd, A. (2018). Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015. Nature Human Behaviour, 1. The man behind the concept of 'statistical significance' was William S. Gosset. He was not a fan on the 5% threshold. You can find out more here: https://priceonomics.com/the-guinness-brewer-who-revolutionized-statistics/  Playing with your statistics in an effort to find a significant result is often referred to as 'p-hacking', a practice that is somewhat encouraged by the existence of the 5% threshold. You can find out more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_dredging  Ross also discussed American Sign Language (ASL), based on an episode of The West Wing Weekly podcast: https://thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/220 

Way back in episode 103 ("We need to stop overcomplicating learning"), Owen and Ross D proposed a special episode focused on the non-fiction books that thought an L&D professional could learn from. This week on The GoodPractice Podcast, we're releasing that episode. As well as recommendations from Ross D, Owen, Gemma and Ross G, we've got a long list of books that our extended podcast family have suggested via Twitter. So dust off your library card and prepare to fill your tote as we dive in to the world of non-fiction books for L&D folks. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @Ross__Dickie, @OwenFerguson, @GemmaTowersey and @RossGarnerGP. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. Owen recommended Bad Science (by Ben Goldacre) and Creativity Inc. (by Ed Catmull). Gemma recommended Critical Thinking (by Richard Paul & Linda Elder), Visual Storytelling (published by Gestalten) and Happy City (by Charles Montgomery). Ross G recommended Factfulness (by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund) and Freakonomics (by Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner). He also claimed that Rosling's main points were captured in his excellent TED talk, somewhat ruining his own book recommendation. The talk is excellent though: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en  Ross D recommended Checklist Manifesto (by Atul Gawande) and What Money Can't Buy (by Michael Sandel). The books recommended via Twitter were: Black Box Thinking (by Matthew Syed), recommended by David Hayden and Michelle Parry-Slater. The 4-Hour Workweek (by Tim Ferris), recommended by Lloyd Dean and Wes Atkinson. Turn This Ship Around (by David MarQuet), recommended by Garry Turner and Michelle Parry-Slater. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (by Greg McKeown), recommended by Danny Seals and Jamie Good. The Drunkard’s Walk (by Leonard Mlodinow) recommended by David D’Souza. And The Tiger that Isn’t (by Blastland & Dilnot), recommended by Rachel Burnham. With thanks to everyone else who made recommendations. We may revisit them in the future. Also this week, we managed to squeeze in our regular feature: What I Learned This Week. The article on wellness programs discussed by Owen was from the New York Times at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/upshot/employer-wellness-programs-randomized-trials.html Ross G learned the word 'zeugma', a word that received so little enthusiasm from the wider team that he took his belongings and his leave. He first heard this word on The West Wing Weekly podcast episode "Ellie", available at: http://thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/215  Gemma learned that coconut oil, according to one professor, is actually like 'pure poison': https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/ae331eb1-8576-4228-8562-569efc2a9ee7  And Ross D filled us in on the history of the 'interrobang', as heard on the 99% Invisible podcast: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/interrobang/  UPDATE (29/08/18): Ross' panic about the dangers of alcohol have subsequently been addressed by David Spiegelhalter here: https://medium.com/wintoncentre/the-risks-of-alcohol-again-2ae8cb006a4a 

As political rhetoric becomes more divisive, public and private organisations have been moving in the opposite direction: putting diversity and inclusion centre stage. But who is responsible for ensuring that such programmes actually make a difference to organisations and people? And how do we make sure that words translate into action? In this week's episode of The GoodPractice Podcast, Ross G is joined by Cat MacLeod and Reed Business Information's Sukh Pabial to share their ideas. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @CatGoodPractice and @SukhPabial. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. Sukh podcasts at threegood.podbean.com. The blog by Daniel Juday that Ross referenced is available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inclusion-isnt-being-asked-dance-daniel-juday/  The Harvard Implicit Association Test is at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ The study Ross referenced, comparing the callback rate for resumes with 'white names' vs 'African-American names' is a little old, from research carried out between July 2001 and January 2002: http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html  A more recent study, from 2016, found similar results: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/minorities-who-whiten-job-resumes-get-more-interviews  Sukh's thoughts on Starbucks' racial bias training are captured in this thread: https://twitter.com/sukhpabial/status/1003535776146165760 The growth mindset article Sukh mentioned is at: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/24/growth-mindset-theory-doesnt-translate-directly-from-kids-to-adults-telling-an-adult-they-are-a-hard-worker-can-backfire/  The Lancaster bomber VR experience Ross discussed is covered in more detail here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/3098c1cd-36e7-4d35-bfbf-8687c8ba2872. This link includes details for where you can try it yourself.

Everyone loves workplace learning. It means two days away from the office with the potential for a decent lunch! But it shouldn't actually involve 'learning', should it? In this week's episode of The GoodPractice Podcast, Nick Shackleton-Jones from PA Consulting joins Ross G and Owen to ask if we need to reposition workplace learning so that it can truly make a difference in our colleagues' lives. We ask what 'proper' L&D would look like, and discuss the importance of discomfort. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @OwenFerguson and @ShackletonJones. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. Nick blogs on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/shackletonjones/detail/recent-activity/posts. PA Consulting can be found at www.paconsulting.com. The blog post on feedback that Nick mentioned can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stop-giving-feedback-start-asking-nick-shackleton-jones/. For a crash course on Piaget's theory of assimilation, visit the Wikipedia page at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget%27s_theory_of_cognitive_development#Assimilation_and_Accommodation. The interview with James Dyson that Owen discussed is at: https://www.recode.net/2018/6/16/17114742/james-dyson-design-technology-vacuum-interview. Ross' examples of New York soda jerk lingo were taken from an article on Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soda-jerk-slang 

Managers in many organisations are increasingly encouraged to adopt a 'coaching' approach to team development. But what does this mean? Can you 'be a coach' after just a two-day workshop? And how do you navigate the power dynamic that exists between manager and team member? On this week's GoodPractice Podcast, coach Jo Wainwright joins Ross G, James and Gemma to share her experiences. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @JamesMcLuckie, @GemmaTowersey and @Jo_Coaches. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice and @GoodPracticeAus. The wedding photography guidance from the New York Times is available here: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/fashion/weddings/howtosubmitwedding.html  Ross heard about it on an episode of The West Wing Weekly podcast, which he strongly recommends: http://thewestwingweekly.com/