
L&D Disrupt
The world and the L&D space are changing faster than ever, but are you evolving with it?
L&D Disrupt brings you tactical advice, proven tactics and honest experiences from people in the industry, helping you drive more impact every day.
Every week, join Gary Stringer and Nelson Sivalingam for the podcast that's powered by HowNow, to empower every L&D professional.
Latest episodes

Jan 10, 2024 • 44min
Getting The L&D Basics Right For More Impact In 2024 | L&D Disrupt | Episode 56
Experienced L&D professional, Paul Matthews, discusses the importance of problem discovery, stakeholder collaboration, effective behavior change, and the basics of successful L&D in 2024. Emphasizing the value of listening and understanding organizational impact, this insightful episode provides practical tips for building a strong L&D foundation.

Jan 9, 2024 • 51min
AI In L&D: How To Move Beyond The Gimmicks | L&D Disrupt Live | Episode 50
The buzz around AI for L&D has never been higher but the conversation is surface level and dominated by gimmicky ideas.
Egle Vinauskaite takes us beyond that in this episode, diving into the challenges and practicalities of using AI for L&D. From the ethics to the context and the core principles you need to get it right.
Running order
0:00 Intro the show
1:12 Meet Egle
5:28 Why is organisational context so crucial?
12:03 Lessons from speaking to business leaders.
16:35 Why motivation and environment are key
23:11 Privacy, bias and the ethics of AI in L&D
31:46 Does more information mean better decision making?
35:11 How is AI currently perceived in your business?
39:23 Audience Q&A
How to connect
Find Egle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinauskaite/
Find Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/
Get 37 Lessons For A Winning L&D Strategy: https://www.gethownow.com/disrupt

5 snips
Dec 20, 2023 • 38min
The Fundamentals Of Collecting Useful Feedback | L&D Disrupt | Episode 55
Matt Laybourn, Founder of Rockee, discusses the basics of capturing useful content feedback, emphasizing trust, timing, and personalization. Topics include improving content through feedback, low-hanging fruit wins, storytelling, and keeping feedback personal. Strategies for effective feedback collection in L&D and HR, analyzing survey data, avoiding biases, and optimizing performance through ruthless content auditing are also covered.

Dec 7, 2023 • 58min
The Shift From Hiring To Upskilling | Live Webinar
Nelson Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder of HowNow and Kasper Spiro, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Easygenerator to discuss the shift from hiring to upskilling.
Expect to learn the smart ways of identifying your urgent skills gaps, pitfalls that can derail your efforts and how you can get started with skills-first learning.
Learn more about HowNow here: https://www.gethownow.com/
Learn more about Easygenerator here: https://www.easygenerator.com/
Connect with Nelson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/
Connect with Kasper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasperspiro/

Nov 30, 2023 • 57min
Data-Backed HR Trends For 2024 | L&D Disrupt Live | Episode 54
Backed by the latest HowNow and Lattice research, this episode takes you through four realistic HR trends for 2024. No gimmicks, just proven tactics for more impact in the year to come.
Learn more about HowNow here: https://www.gethownow.com/ Learn more about Lattice here: https://lattice.com/
Timestamps
0:00 Intro to HowNow and Lattice
4:26 The issue with career conversations
10:54 Having better career conversations
18:19 Flexible working in 2024
29:03 The shift from hiring to upskilling
38:54 What AI means for HR and L&D
42:34 Recapping 2024 HR Trends
43:28 Putting this into practice
50:26 Q&A
How to connect:Find Jules on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julietstrong/ Find Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/

Nov 27, 2023 • 38min
Was Slack's Week-Long Learning Shutdown A Bad Idea?
There’s been a lot of talk about Slack’s recent week-long hiatus dedicated to learning in the past few weeks.
"Ranger Week" involves employees temporarily putting aside their regular work duties to study various modules offered through Salesforce's Trailhead online learning platform.
And to achieve Ranger Status, Slack employees need to complete approximately 40 hours of online learning.
With all the debate on this approach, HowNow Head of People, Pauline Taylor, joined Gary to talk through the pros, cons and improvements to be made.
Read HR Grapevine’s article on this: https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/2023-10-24-slack-announces-radical-week-long-shutdown-due-to-an-internal-skills-crisis
Running order:
0:00 Slack’s week-long shutdown
2:28 Taking people out of the workflow
6:09 The importance of context
10:23 Relevance and structure in learning
17:51 Learning with purpose and autonomy
25:14 Feedback for learning initiatives
27:05 The impact on wellbeing
29:36 How to improve this approach
How to connect
Connect with Pauline on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulineparsley/
Connect with Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/
Follow HowNow on LinkedIn: https://www.gethownow.com/ Learn more about what we do: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10956378

Nov 15, 2023 • 1h 1min
5 Realistic L&D Trends For 2024 | L&D Disrupt Live | Episode 53
Backed by the latest research, Nelson and Gary take you through 5 realistic L&D trends for 2024. No gimmicks, just proven tactics for more impact in the year to come.
From using AI intentionally, to aligning with you organisation’s goals and upskilling people for the future, you’ll want to hear this conversation.
Download The 2024 L&D Trends Report here: https://try.gethownow.com/2024-trends
Running order
0:00 Introduction
2:15 Aligning with company goals
10:49 Problem discovery
13:05 The shift to upskilling
17:20 Skills and retention
20:43 The cost of inaction
22:29 Skills-first L&D
28:30 Time and engagement as barriers to learning
34:18 People can’t find information they need
40:58 Using AI intentionally
46:40 Audience Q&A
How to connect
Find HowNow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10956378
Visit our website: https://gethownow.com/
Find Nelson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/
Find Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/

Nov 2, 2023 • 60min
Advice For Solo And Small L&D Teams | L&D Disrupt Live | Episode 52
As small and solo L&D teams, there’s so much we can do - but how do we focus on the stuff that drives impact?
We want to build good relationships with people, but pushing back and saying no are key to solving problems.
And how do we keep enjoying the ride and build a network around us to share it with?
In this episode, Emma Aplin, Eryn Frost and Annie Woodcock joined us to share their honest experiences and best advice.
Running order
0:00 Intro to the show and today’s guests
1:10 How can L&D teams prioritise to add value?
16:06 Borrowing skills from internal experts
27:13 Advice on building your external network
30:56 Getting buy-in across your business
48:20 Audience Q&A
How to connect
Find Emma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aplinej/
Find Eryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eryn-frost-2b607b21/
Find Annie on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-woodcock-177037a7/
Find Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/

Oct 18, 2023 • 36min
How Can HR & L&D Build Skills And Drive Performance Together? | HiBob’s Winnie Amoaku | L&D Disrupt
In this episode, Gary's joined by Winnie Amoaku, UK Partnerships Manager at HiBob, to discuss the relationship between HR and L&D and what’s needed for it to flourish.
From their common audience and shared foundation, to how they collaborate to drive performance and retention, this is a brilliant conversation.
Running order
0:00 Intro to Winnie and her background
2:14 Roles and responsibilities for HR and L&D
5:30 The balance between hiring and upskilling
11:11 Discussing Amazon’s data-led upskilling
14:20 Making development part of employee benefits
19:00 Building the employer brand and the problem with losing knowledge
25:21 Tech frustrations and learner expectations
30:37 HR’s in tech adoption
How to connect
Find Winnie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winnieamoaku/
Learn more about HiBob: https://www.hibob.com/
Read their latest research with CIPD: https://www.hibob.com/blog/research-hr-digital-transformation/
Find Gary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-stringer-copywriter/
Learn more about HowNow: https://www.gethownow.com/

Oct 12, 2023 • 2min
The 2024 L&D Trends Report Is Now Live | Announcement
Download your copy of The 2024 L&D Trends Report today 👇https://try.gethownow.com/2024-trendsBringing together all the best data from 20+ reports and conversations with dozens of L&D experts and professionals.👉 Realistic and unbiased L&D trends based on the latest data.👉 Context of how we got here.👉 Recommendations for getting ahead of every trend and challenge.👉 Insights from L&D and people experts.