The Mindtools L&D Podcast

What does good management look like? What skills and capabilities does a manager need? Are you a good manager? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson are joined by Dr Anna Barnett, from our own in-house Insights team, to discuss the findings of our latest report: ‘Building Better Managers’. In the first of three episodes exploring how we can improve management capability for our people and organizations, we discuss: ·       How we define a ‘good’ manager ·       The capabilities all managers need to perform, no matter their industry ·       How to measure manager capability. We’ve used the results of Anna’s research to develop our own manager skills assessment. It can help your managers identify skill gaps, while also giving L&D leaders an insight into critical development areas that exist across their organisations. To speak to us about running our management skills assessment with your people, get in touch! Email custom@mindtools.com or visit mindtools.com/business/poducts/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting. During the discussion, Anna referenced the following papers: Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 42(2), 241-251. Carmeli, A., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Ziv, E. (2010). Inclusive leadership and employee involvement in creative tasks in the workplace: The mediating role of psychological safety. Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 250-260. Our report, ‘Building Better Managers’, will be released on July 9. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen shared how disagreement is often mistaken for bad listening. Ross discussed the app Finch, for motivating behavior change. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can’t be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Dr Anna Barnett

For eight years, the team here on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast (formerly The GoodPractice Podcast) have been chatting work, performance and learning with some of the brightest minds in learning and development. This week, to celebrate the release of our 400th episode, our friends Phil Willcox from Emotion at Work and Ady Howes from Digital Skills People have pulled together a tribute episode for us. We discuss: ·       the Mind Tools team’s favourite episodes ·       what we learned from 400 episodes of podcasting ·       what others think of the podcast. During the discussion, Ross Garner referenced his favourite episode: 279 — Why work is the ideal place to talk about race. Margaret Greenberg and Gina Greenlee’s book is The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workplace and Why It's Actually Good for Business (published by McGraw-Hill). The coauthors work with organizations to embed racial equity into their business strategy. For more information go to their website BusinessofRace.com and click on the Work with Us tab. Ross D’s favourite episode was Don Taylor’s regular Global Sentiment Survey appearances. Nahdia picked: 382 — You don’t have to talk to add value, with Georgie Rudd. Owen picked: 323 — Making decisions with data and intuition, with Oded Netzer. Gemma picked: 300 — Celebrating live from London!, with Phil Willcox and Julie Dirksen. Thanks to David Hayden, Sukh Pabial, Michelle Parry-Slater, Dan Wiseman and ChatGPT for their contributions. Ross G’s novel, Centauri’s Shadow, is available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can’t be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Phil Willcox ·       Ady Howes ·       Ross Garner ·       Ross Dickie ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Gemma Towersey ·       Owen Ferguson

Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on option to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often these libraries get dusty, bogged down by out-of-date content with little relevance, or hidden away in a dark corner of the intranet where no one can find them.  So in this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Virgin Money’s Martin Ritchie, Digital Learning Manager, joins Ross Garner and Lara to share: How Virgin Money raise awareness of their Mind Tools content library  Techniques for promoting a proactive learning mindset  ‘Push’ vs ‘pull’ learning.  During the discussion, Ross referenced a recent academic paper: Albarracín, D., Fayaz-Farkhad, B., & Granados Samayoa, J. A. (2024). Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-16.  In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discussed ‘pebbling’, as covered by The Guardian.  For more on how Mind Tools work with Virgin Money, see our case study.  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.   Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can’t be used with any other offer.  Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:  Ross Garner  Lara Kidd  Martin Ritchie 

In ‘Measure of a Man', episode nine of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew debate whether their robot companion, Data, is truly alive. More interesting for us, though, is the way they interact with artificial intelligence (AI) in general. Not just for what it tells us about how AI tools might evolve, but also for how we humans work with them. So in this special episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Ganer, Claire, Ross Dick and Nahdia discuss: ·       How closely the Enterprise computer reflects current tools like ChatGPT, ·       Whether we want robots to work alongside us, ·       Whether the Turing Test still has relevance. During the discussion, Ross Garner talked about how Moderna is using ChatGPT, how ELIZA passed the Turing Test, and the ongoing discussion around whether ChatGPT’s new voice is too similar to Scarlett Johansson’s. Ross D discussed Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs, Brian Christian’s book The Alignment Problem, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s views on neural networks. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Nahdia recommended the movie Atlas, available on Netflix. Ross Garner recommended following visual effects artist Todd Vaziri. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Ross Dickie ·       Claire Gibson

We humans are social creatures. We form organic communities wherever we go, based on shared interests, passions and needs. But when we try to impose top-down learning communities on an employee population, things get more difficult. Is it possible for L&D to create a flourishing community? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Nahdia Khan are joined by Andy Lancaster, author of Organizational Learning Communities, who offers a framework that can help. We discuss: ·       Types of workplace learning community ·       The key characteristics of successful communities ·       A framework that you can use to establish an effective community Andy’s book is available now from Kogan Page. During the discussion, Ross mentioned our podcast with JD Dillon and his book The Modern Learning Ecosystem. Ross also referenced our podcast on Working Out Loud Circles, from way back in 2017. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Nahdia recommended the ‘Women in Learning’ community. Ross discussed the weird way language affects our sense of space and time. For more from Andy, visit reminaginepeopledevelopment.com For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com Finally, it wouldn’t be appropriate to plug Ross G’s critically acclaimed debut novel Centauri’s Shadow on a regular basis but, since Andy brought it up, it’s available from Amazon US and Amazon UK. It has 4.8 stars out of 5, by the way. Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Andy Lancaster

In learning and development, we typically want people to do something that they are currently not doing, or to stop doing something that they shouldn't be. One obvious approach is training, but there are in fact a broad spectrum of interventions that we can deploy. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross and Owen are joined by Wil Procter, Strategy and Innovation Director at Nazaré, and by Jessica Holt, Senior Behavioural Science Consultant at Inizio Engage XD. We explore: ·       What behavioral science is, ·       What interventions can help change people’s behavior, ·       How the COM-B model can help structure discovery conversations. To find out more about the COM-B model, see behaviourchangewheel.com The book that Owen referenced was Coaching for Improved Work Performance by Ferdinand F. Fournies. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Jess discussed a new meta-analysis of behavior change interventions: Albarracín, D., Fayaz-Farkhad, B., & Granados Samayoa, J. A. (2024). Determinants of behaviour and their efficacy as targets of behavioural change interventions. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-16. Ross asked and answered a dumb question about birds. New Scientist explains why there are not dead birds everywhere. For more from Wil, see: nazarelearning.com For more from Jess, see: xd.inizioengage.com For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com Connect with our speakers    If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Owen Ferguson ·       Wil Procter ·       Jessica Holt

As professionals, we want to know if our work has had the impact we originally intended and to tell others about it. This means getting comfortable with data and crafting compelling data stories. On this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Neil Cunningham, founder of Align | Learn | Do and author of Narratives and Numbers, to discuss practical and mindset shifts L&D can take. We explore: why people think it’s too difficult to measure the ROI of learning how to get stakeholder buy-in to measuring and evaluating learning how to craft credible L&D data stories. You can get a copy of Neil’s book, Narratives and Numbers, from the Align | Learn | Do website. Use the offer code mt10 at checkout for a 10% discount. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discovers the many reasons why lorry drivers might accidentally crash into a bridge via this curiously fascinating X thread. For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. 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 us on LinkedIn: Ross Garner Neil Cunningham

You’ve got a brilliant idea for the next big thing in tech and have gathered the smartest engineers and designers to build it (plus the cash to pay them). Will it end up being a success? You’ve got the best team to deliver it, so why wouldn’t it be? Well… Gemma, Ross and Martin Gonzalez, Google’s Effective Founders Project founder and author, discuss this situation on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast. We explore: ·       how and why it’s people issues that often lead to (startup) business failure ·       the balances that need to be struck by those creating and working in teams ·       the uncomfortable “bullsh*t circle” exercise, as a step towards fixing people issues. During the episode, Martin talks about how the “hiding hand principle” is critical for some projects to get going: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiding_hand_principle In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Martin references Gary P. Pisano’s Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation  Find out more about Martin and Josh's book The Bonfire Moment by visiting bonfiremoment.com For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. 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 us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Gemma Towersey ·       Martin Gonzalez

If you’re thinking, isn’t positive psychology a bit ‘woo woo’, and a bit like forcing yourself to take a sunny outlook, then this episode is for you. As an approach to a happier, more balanced inner and outer life, positive psychology is not woo – it has a solid scientific foundation with practical methodologies. Gemma, Ross Garner and their guest, Leadership coach Sandra Berko, discuss these very points this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast. We explore: ·       what positive psychology is and isn’t ·       what the science suggests we do to find balance ·       how you can help others to use positive psychology. Ross mentioned an earlier episode of the podcast on job crafting. You can listen to Episode 271 – Jobcraft Country wherever you get your podcasts, or on our website: podcast.mindtoolsbusiness.com/271-jobcraft-country In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross recommended the “Great Minds on Learning” podcast episode on Generative AI Theorists with Donald Clark. Sandra spoke about emotion codes, which feature in a course she’s currently enrolled in. Emotion codes are based on theories developed by Dr Bradley Nelson.  For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. 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 us on LinkedIn: ·       Ross Garner ·       Gemma Towersey ·       Sandra Berko

Adaptive courses come in many forms, but generally respond to the learner’s existing knowledge and skills: thereby optimizing the time to completion. But do they improve learning outcomes?  In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are joined by Roy de Vries, Learning Innovator at aNewSpring, to explore the results of an experiment they ran to compare adaptive vs linear courses.  We discuss:  Forms of adaptive learning content;  The potential advantages of adaptive learning;  The results of an experiment carried out by aNewSpring.  Details of the study we discussed are online at: anewspring.com/articles/adaptive-learning-reduce-study-time   During the discussion, Ross referenced our AI-powered difficult conversation simulator: AI Conversations. It gives your people an opportunity to practice a variety of off-the-shelf or custom scenarios. You can find details on our website: mindtools.com/business/products/ai-conversations  In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended the book Smart Swam, by Peter Millers.  If you want to hear The L&D Dispatch jingle again (and why wouldn’t you?), it’s available from Suno.com.   For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.    For aNewSpring, visit anewspring.com   Connect with our speakers     If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:  Ross Garner  Owen Ferguson  Roy de Vries