The Mindtools L&D Podcast

Exploring the benefits of creativity in coaching and personal development, discussing techniques like collage coaching. Delving into the therapeutic effects of creative practices on growth mindset and emotional well-being. Discovering strategies for managing pressure and finding joy in small moments.

The podcast discusses the challenges of measuring productivity in knowledge work. It explores different approaches to measuring productivity in different contexts. The hosts also talk about the decline of Wirecutter and the impact of AI in HR. The chapter on Walkme introduces their solution to protect IT departments from shadow AI and explains how they help companies overcome software paralysis.

What do we mean by ‘evidence-based leadership development’? Development of evidence-based leaders? Or an evidence-based approach to leadership development? Well, both. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Nahdia are joined by Helen Bailey, Head of Learning and Development at Strategi Solutions, to discuss: ·       what ‘evidence-based’ leadership development looks like ·       what we mean by ‘evidence’ ·       how to measure leadership. During the discussion, Helen referenced the Centre for Evidence Based Management. For more on this topic, see: Beech, D.2018. Effective Leadership in Uncertain Times. Wisbech, UK: Cambridge Leadership Development. Also Michelle Parry-Slater’s book, The Learning and Development Handbook, and Michelle Ockers’ interview with Laura Overton for the Learning Uncut podcast. For more from Helen, check out strategisolutions.co.uk In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Helen referenced the CIPD Learning Work Survey Report 2023 and Evidence Based Practice Factsheet. For an excellent intro to scaffolding in a digital learning context, see: Shapiro, A. M. (2008). Hypermedia design as learner scaffolding. Educational technology research and development, 56, 29-44. This paper is behind a paywall, so you can also see this advice from Wiley. Ross discussed realistic AI avatars from HeyGen. For more from Mind Tools, 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.  You can also contact rgarner@mindtools.com. And finally, Ross promised some case studies of the kind of work that Mind Tools do. You can find these at: mindtoolsbusiness.com/case-studies Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·       Ross Garner ·       Nahdia Khan ·       Helen Bailey

Many organisations are accused of not doing enough to support marginalised groups. But even those who do try to make a difference often end up accused of hypocrisy. Is it safer to stay quiet than to talk about equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) at work? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Nahdia are joined by Heeral Gudka, founder of Convergent, to discuss: ·        the evolution of ED&I ·        the risks both of speaking up and staying quiet ·        the need for alignment between external messaging and internal reality. During the discussion, Ross and Nahdia both referenced our episodes with Margaret Greenberg and Gina Greenlee, authors of The Business of Race. See: ·        279 — Why work is the ideal place to talk about race ·        298 — How can L&D promote an anti-racist workplace? Ross also mentioned the book Creativity, Inc, by Ed Catmull. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross and Heeral discussed Zoom’s decision to mandate a return to the office. The article from The Economist that Nahdia referenced was ‘The working-from-home illusion fades’. For more from Heeral, visit Convergent. There you’ll find out more about her journey from the insurance sector to where she is now: curating 6 to 18 month learning journeys and providing pragmatic consultancy and support to senior leadership teams, People teams and HR directors. You can also find her on Linkedin, where she discusses a pragmatic and commercial approach And for the Mindtools listeners, Heeral has a special gift. Fill in this form to be sent Convergent's guide on Inclusive HR Policies and Practices (usually £4.99, but free to the first 20 people who use the link). For more from Mind Tools, 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.  You can also contact rgarner@mindtools.com. Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: ·        Ross Garner ·        Nahdia Khan ·        Heeral Gudka

The podcast discusses the controversial idea that most employees are not interested in L&D. They explore the importance of practical outcomes over theoretical aspects in learning, challenges faced by L&D departments, and the need to showcase tangible impacts. The episode also touches on trust in institutions, weekly learning reflections, and discounted theater tickets in London.

How do L&D leaders decide where to spend their time? Who gets access to their budget? How do we deal with those colleagues where we have to say: 'No, that's not a priority'. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G is chatting L&D governance with a panel of L&D pros: From Phoenix Group, Carl Akintola-Davies; from Mitie, Dolly Ogundimu and Marc Harvey; and, from Merlin Entertainments, James Clemence. We discuss: How to prioritize inbound requests and seek out opportunities How to work with business stakeholders to shape their needs How to measure the value that L&D teams bring to their organizations. During the discussion, a recurring refrain was the word ‘boondoggle’. We also referenced learner surveys. For more on this, see our episode with Dr Will Thalheimer. In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Carl discussed a paper on ‘zombie leadership’ from Professor Alex Haslam. It’s not published yet, but you can get some insight into the topic in this video. Dolly discussed the value of benchmarking. Marc discussed work from the NeuroLeadership Institute. For more from Merlin Entertainments, check out their: YouTube channel Instagram Podcast 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.  You can also contact rgarner@mindtools.com. Connect with our speakers  If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers: Ross Garner Carl Akintola-Davies Dolly Ogundimu Marc Harvey James Clemence

Learn about the effectiveness of scenario-based learning, creating engaging scenarios, AI impact on radiology, and insights on bouldering and crocheting in this intriguing podcast discussion.

In the past, if you had difficulty thriving in a traditional school, your parents travelled a lot, or you were a child actor, you had the option to study online. Post-Covid, that approach is growing in popularity.  On this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross and Nahdia are joined by Cambridge Assessment’s Matt James to hear his insights into online education. We discuss:  Techniques for engaging children in online learning  Building social connection and managing wellbeing online  How lessons from online schools apply to workplace learning.    In ‘What I Learnt This Week’, Ross discussed the impact that an AI assistant had on the performance of customer service reps: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/05/02/1172791281/this-company-adopted-ai-heres-what-happened-to-its-human-workers  Looking for help creating engaging digital learning for your workplace? Mind Tools can help. Contact custom@mindtools.com.   Connect with our speakers   If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers:  Ross Garner   Nahdia Khan  Matt James 

What makes a good presentation? When should and shouldn’t you use a presentation to communicate your ideas? Why do most presentations suck? On this week’s episode of the Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Andrea Pacini, Head of Ideas on Stage and author of Confident Presenter, to discuss: ·       why so many of us feel nervous about presenting ·       the importance of tailoring presentations to the action you want your audience to take ·       how to use the pSCORE method to deliver better presentations To pick up a copy of Andrea’s book, Confident Presenter, head to: https://amzn.eu/d/bKswMEe To get the most out of the book, start by taking the ‘Confident Presenter Scorecard’ to assess your presentation skills in under 3 minutes: https://ideasonstage.com/score If you’re interested in attending an Ideas of Stage web class, you can sign up here: https://www.ideasonstage.com/uk/masterclass In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen referenced the delightful ‘Tiny Awards’: https://tinyawards.net/ His favourite submission was ‘Acronymy’, whose goal is to define every word in the dictionary using an acronym: https://acronymy.net/ 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: Ross Dickie Owen Ferguson Andrea Pacini

On the podcast, key players discuss L&D's changing relationship with social media, surprising decrease in blended learning, and pandemic's impact on L&D priorities. They reflect on 20 years of data from the Learning Performance Benchmark, sharing insights and practical applications. The discussion also includes references to a book by Daniel Kahneman and employee wellbeing surveys.