L&D Must Change

There are a lot of different brains in the world and all of them are good. But they may process information in alternate ways that don't look "typical" from the outside. It doesn't mean learning isn't happening. The goal of designing for neurodiversity is to make learning accessible for all those brains.  Today's guest is neurodiversity expert, Jessica Michaels. After receiving her own diagnosis of autism and ADHD in her late 30's, Jessica started to use her own personal experiences combined with her knowledge of L&D to amp up learning design with options that make sense for all the different types of brains.  Listen in on my conversation with Jessica to learn more about:  An explanation of neurodiversity A different type of "multi-modal" design Focusing more energy on the outcome than the process The fluctuation of learning preferences The importance of self awareness and humility when designing for and working with neurodiverse brains Jessica Michaels is an award-winning speaker, former stand-up comic, and manager development specialist. In her 30s, she discovered she was autistic and had ADHD. She now combines her experience and knowledge of L&D to educate, advocate, and advise on neurodiversity in business. With humor and directness, she shows her audiences how every employee benefits from a neuroinclusive environment. As a coach, she works one-on-one with professionals, trying to build the toolbox to work with their brains, not against them.  Through her YouTube channel, she provides free resources with content like The Procrastination Fairy and The Neurodiverse Workplace. Her latest venture is a new networking and coaching group for neurodivergent professionals, and anyone interested in a neuroinclusive work environment. Jessica, her wife Ellie, and their dog Detritus live in Denver. Together, the humans host the Gifted Kid Messy Adult podcast, while the dog supervises.   Find out more and connect with Jessica Michaels here:  LinkedIn Website: www.coachjessicamichaels.com YouTube Channel: Coach Jessica Michaels Podcast: Gifted Kid, Messy Adult Udemy Course: Supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace: A Manager's Guide to Unlocking High Performance in Employees with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, and Other Neurodivergencies Find out more and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Newsletter: L&D Must Change  Website: Learning Business Advisor Consulting

It's one thing to try and gather a few numbers, it's another to integrate measurement into every fragment of L&D. But yet, this is where measurement becomes most valuable. When integrated, measurement can provide the insights and actions needed to inform decisions. It doesn't just fade away, it endures as a valuable source of quality information.  This is why today's guest, Peggy Parskey, co-author of Measurement Demystified and other books, insists that measurement needs to be tied to a change effort. But she also insists that starting to measure is better than waiting to know everything. It's a nuanced and flexible necessity for L&D pros today.  Listen in on my conversation with Peggy to learn more about:  Integrating measurement into every fragment of L&D The measurement ecosystem model Balancing measurement as you build it out The changing nature of measurement Considering the unintended consequences of measurement Determining current organizational capacity for measurement Sharing actionable data Getting started with measurement in L&D Career benefits of learning more about measurement Peggy Parskey has over 25 years of experience driving strategic change to improve organizational and individual performance. She focuses on team and organizational performance improvement leveraging measurement, management of change and organizational design to ensure sustainable capability. Peggy owns her own consulting firm, Parskey Consulting, focused on organizational improvement initiatives. She is also a Principal Consultant and part-time staff member with Explorance. Her clients are large and midsized firms requiring performance measurement of core business processes including employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, culture change, and talent programs such as training, mentoring, and performance management. Peggy collaborates with her clients to build sustainable measurement capability to drive continuous improvement. She has co-authored three books on learning measurement as well as several book chapters and magazine articles on measurement strategy, learning analytics and visual storytelling. Find out more and connect with Peggy Parskey here:  LinkedIn Book: Measurement Demystified: Creating Your L&D Measurement, Analytics, and Reporting Strategy Book: Measurement Demystified Field Guide Book: Learning Analytics: Using Talent Data to Improve Business Outcomes Find out more and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Newsletter: L&D Must Change  Website: Learning Business Advisor Consulting

Online training can be better than in person training. Are you a believer? Or are you thinking that will never be true? Today's guest is none other than online learning pioneer and virtual training hero, Kassy LaBorie who is a firm believer that online training is equal to and can be better than in person training. Of course, the trajectory of online and virtual training shot up after the COVID pandemic and associated lockdowns. We all realized that online learning can be engaging and efficient. It can help to scale and save us time and money. But many of us still think of it as "less than" in person training. Kassy wants us to shift our thinking. She shares how with some practical takeaways.  Listen in on my conversation with Kassy to learn more about:  How Kassy got started as a virtual training pioneer Stopping ourselves from putting up blockers that online training is "less than" before we explore how it could be "better than" in person How tech is cool, but people are cooler The difficulties that come with learning something new Challenges that come with working remotely, even for a pro The story of a chocolate maker who adapted and created a "better than" offering online Practical steps to start creating your own "better than" online learning experience Kassy LaBorie is the founder and principal consultant at Kassy LaBorie Consulting, LLC. She is a professional speaker, author, facilitator, and instructional designer who specializes in virtual engagement for learning and development professionals and business owners who get to use web conferencing technology to connect with people around the globe.  In her previous role at Dale Carnegie & Associates, she was the director of virtual training services, a corporate consultancy that partnered with organizations to help them develop, design, and deliver successful online training strategies. Kassy also served as the product design architect responsible for developing the company’s live online training product and experience, leading a team that built a $4 million dollar business in 4 years. Kassy is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and the co-author of two books about engaging online (see links below).  Find out more and connect with Kassy Laborie here:  LinkedIn Website: kassyconsulting.com Website: kassyspeaks.com Book: Interact and Engage! 75+ Activities for Virtual Training, Meetings, and Webinars Book: Producing Virtual Training, Meetings, and Webinars Find out more and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Website: Learning Business Advisor Consulting One more fun link from this episode:  Laughing Gull Chocolates

It's time to ditch the way we view onboarding. In most companies, onboarding is a formal time period that ends when the L&D team walks out, and the manager walks in. But new employees aren't ready to work autonomously after onboarding and far too many managers aren't set up to continue developing them to get there. This often results in anxiety, confusion, and even regression on the part of the new employee. It's time to stop onboarding and start everboarding, a systems approach that swaps a defined training time period for a continuous development cycle focuses on longevity and success over time.  After discovering that onboarding was a poor predictor of future performance, Amber Watts started asking why. That led her to dive in and design an employee's training experience differently. The concept of everboarding, focusing on the systems and people who support performance, was born.  Listen in on my conversation with Amber to learn more about:  The components of everboarding that make it different than onboarding Equipping and supporting managers as part of the new employee experience Establishing a mentor program in addition to a buddy program L&D's role in aligning employee targets/KPIs in everboarding Measuring effectiveness in an employee's ramp up Questions to ask frontline managers when learning about their needs The importance of partnership with the talent acquisition team Amber Watts has over a decade of expertise in Talent Development and Sales Enablement, and deeply cares about fostering performance science wherever she goes. Throughout her career, she has left a significant impact on various industries. Currently serving as the Chief Revenue Officer at Magnet Medical. She holds a B.S. in Business Management & Leadership and a certification in Virtual Training Design. She was an Emerging Training Leader from Training Magazine in 2019, earned a Stevie Award for Sales Training/Coaching Program in 2020, and an award for Excellence in Learning Leadership with ATD Nebraska in 2023. Find out more and connect with Amber Watts here:  LinkedIn Website: makelearningrad.com Find out more and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Website: Learning Business Advisor Consulting

Stories have the power to hold us in anticipation, motivate us to learn more, and connect with others on a human level. Rance Greene discovered this by accident when he made the move from directing actors on the stage to directing the creation of compliance training in business. Suddenly, ethics and compliance jumped to the top line item in the company culture survey. People knew what to do, listened to the stories, and reported that they were looking forward to the next round of compliance training. Can you imagine this happening in your company?  Rance achieved this seemingly impossible feat using powerful stories in the compliance training. Stories that humanized the learners, provided a strong conflict, and motivated them to resolution.  Listen in on my conversation with Rance to learn more about:  Working with stakeholders and SMEs as humans first and sources of information second.  The disrespect shown by not including observable actions in training. The importance of defining relatable characters, strong conflict, and a desire for resolution in a story designed for learning.  Three questions to ask when starting any design project.  Rance Greene is often known as the "Story Man," but he prefers the title "Story Designer." He formed needastory.com and the School of Story Design (schoolofstorydesign.com) for those who struggle with storytelling at work. His methodology—Story Design—gives leaders and talent development professionals a systematic and creative way for discovering who their audience is and how to persuade them to act on new ideas. He helps leadership teams, entrepreneurs and instructional designers discover that they are uniquely equipped to tell the best story for their audiences. Rance is the author of Instructional Story Design, a practical guide for developing stories that train. He coaches, teaches, speaks, and writes often on the benefits of stories to connect people to one another. Find out more and connect with Rance Greene here:  LinkedIn Website: www.needastory.com School: www.schoolofstorydesign.com "Story Zone" Blog: https://www.schoolofstorydesign.com/blog Book: Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories That Train Email: info@needastory.com Find out more and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Learning Business Advisor Consulting

It's time to dive into performance consulting with today's guest, Christopher Adams, Principal Consultant for Performance Change Strategies LLC. Performance consulting focuses on the gaps that exist between the performance of people and the desired business results. Sometimes training can help to close those gaps and sometimes it cannot. We owe it to our stakeholders, who come to us with a pain point that needs solving, to help figure out the best solution.  Christopher and I discuss:  Why it isn't enough for L&D to be experts in producing specific learning solutions. How L&D needs to develop a clear mindset around how work, the performance of people, and business results work together (and a mental model to do this).  Asking questions that influence instead of simply gather data.  The importance of investing in relationships in order to move from serving as a helper to working as a partner. As principal consultant for Performance Change Strategies LLC in Charlotte, NC, Christopher (Chris) has facilitated capability building programs for leading organizations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He is also an associate member of the graduate faculty at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He frequently writes and speaks about performance consulting, leading educational sessions at international conferences. In 2019, Chris co-authored the 2019 TD@Work: Focus First on Results. He has also been personally endorsed by Jim and Dana Robinson, authors of the book, Performance Consulting, to carry forward their work of building strategic capability in talent teams.  Find and connect with Christopher Adams here:  Website: www.resultscomefirst.com LinkedIn  Find and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Learning Business Advisor Consulting Additional resources mentioned in this Episode:  Book: Performance Consulting: A Strategic Process to Improve, Measure, and Sustain Organizational Results by Jim & Dana Robinson, et. al.  Book: Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Peformance by Thomas F. Gilbert Book: Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organizational Chart by Geary A. Rummler and Alan P. Brache  

It's episode 4 and we're talking all things belonging with researcher Wendy Gates Corbett. She's on a mission to show everyone who wants to make a difference in their work culture how easy and possible it is to do just that, especially when it comes to belonging in the workplace. It turns out, a sense of belonging doesn't stem from big engagement programs and events, but from small (free) actions that anyone can do. As L&D professionals, we are in a unique position to help lead the way for these small actions to ultimately turn the tide on retention and engagement.  Wendy and I discuss:  The importance of creating a sense of belonging at work Three main components of belonging: connect, respect, and protect How we can simplify (and not overcomplicate) actions that lead to belonging How L&D can lead the way to model and advocate for belonging in the workplace The need for rest and recovery as an important part of belonging One thing you can do today to get started Wendy Gates Corbett, CPTD, stands at the forefront of Belonging and Leadership, wielding her expertise with a vibrant energy that transforms workplaces and speaking stages alike. Her personal journey as a biracial individual has profoundly influenced her mission to cultivate spaces of unconditional acceptance, a mission that she brings to life as a top-tier organizational culture consultant, global training executive, belonging researcher, and Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Management in all of Duke University’s graduate engineering programs. Wendy's research, which has touched over 150,000 people worldwide, pinpoints the behaviors that foster a genuine sense of belonging within organizations. Wendy's #1 bestselling book, "The Energy of Belonging: 75 Ideas to Spark Workplace Community," is a continuation of her vital discourse on the subject. Whether consulting in the boardroom, lecturing in the classroom, or captivating an audience on stage, Wendy Gates Corbett is a beacon of progress, hope, and action guiding a path toward a more inclusive, empowered, and thriving future. Her work sparks impactful change, encouraging everyone to claim their space, their voice, and their power to create spaces where belonging thrives. Find and connect with Wendy Gates Corbett here:  LinkedIn Websites: www.wendygatescorbett.com / www.signature-presentations.com Book: "The Energy of Belonging: 75 Ideas to Spark Workplace Community" on Amazon: https://bit.ly/belongingenergy Find and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Learning Business Advisor Consulting  

In Episode 3, I'm starting with a topic that's currently abuzz in the L&D Must Change community, check the box training. Then, I'll talk with Massimo Backus, executive coach and leadership development consultant about a leadership skill that we rarely discuss and even more rarely include as part of our leadership development strategies - self-compassion. Based on his experience with over 3,000 leaders, Massimo has found that a lack of self-compassion is the thing that is most often likely to contribute to leaders feeling "stuck" and also most likely to make them ineffective. How can we, as L&D practitioners, help the leaders in our organization to develop self-compassion?  Massimo and I discuss:  One common struggle that exists for all leaders The three core pillars of self-compassion Benefits of self-compassion in the workplace Changing our relationship with our "Well Intentioned Misinformed Protectors" (WIMPs) How a lack of self-compassion contributes to leaders feeling stuck and ineffective The first step to help leaders in our organizations improve their self-compassion The simplest way to start becoming more self-compassionate Massimo is a Seattle-based executive coach and leadership development consultant who specializes in managing the shadow side of the top performers in organizations. He is on a mission to help one million leaders believe they are enough. Prior to starting his firm, he was the head of global leadership development at Slalom Consulting and now works with executives at Amazon, Nintendo, Sony Entertainment, and more. In September, he'll publish his first book, Human First, Leader Second: How Self-Compassion Outperforms Self-Criticism. Find and connect with Massimo Backus here:  LinkedIn MassimoBackus.com Find and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Learning Business Advisor Consulting Additional links:  Feelings Wheel

Here we go! Diving into Episode 2 of the L&D Must Change Podcast, I start off with a few thoughts on what's "abuzz" in the L&D Must Change community these days: Measurement and... emotion! Then, I talk with Stephen Mostrom, founder of Develop Daily, about how learning happens in the context of real life more often than it happens in the pristine environments of classrooms and e-learnings. Thus, the question becomes, how can we, as L&D professionals, develop learning experiences that align with our learners' real lives, amidst the chaos, stressors, and growing 'to do' lists?  Stephen and I discuss:  How learning happens within the context of real life vs. within formal rational pristine environments (classrooms).   A strategy for employees to strategically 'Develop Daily' in less than 15 minutes per day for habit-forming, skill-stacking growth that activates learning and engagement at scale.  Specific and strategic identification of the skills each individual needs to develop within their own career. The ultimate skill to keep us all competitive and growing, the ability to continuously re-skill. The three enemies of growth that professionals run into on a dailly basis: The 'Learning Cliff,' random acts of learning, and employee disengagement (quiet quitting).  The importance of understanding learners' everyday realities and one action L&D can take to start better understanding these realities as well as how learning might happen within them. Stephen Mostrom has several letters behind his name – JD, MBA, and PMP. But his titles are more important: DaDa and Founder. After spending a decade building internal L&D programs at Bank of America and Silicon Valley Bank, Stephen made the jump to entrepreneurship. He’s the Founder of Develop Daily, a career development consultancy. When Stephen’s not delivering workshops, he’s busy reading and crushing it on LinkedIn, where he publishes his Develop Daily newsletter. He enjoys hiking, red wine, podcasts, traveling, and a good indie film.  Find and connect with Stephen Mostrom here:  LinkedIn Develop Daily Find and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter Learning Business Advisor Consulting Additional links:  LinkedIn 2024 Workplace Learning Report

It's Episode 1 of the L&D Must Change podcast and we are starting off with a bang! Today we welcome talent development leader, author, speaker, and Back to the Future aficionado JD Dillon to talk about shifting our L&D mindsets to creatively match the needs of the people in our businesses. In many ways, we need to get out of our own way and move away from our own legacy thinking.  You'll hear: The math problem that makes up our biggest challenge in L&D today and why it can no longer be addressed with traditional tactics.  How we need to shift our mindset from that of providing traditional learning solutions to one where we are doing what is needed to help everyone in the organization do their best. When we, in L&D, get in our own way and create our own barriers.   How L&D should start by using the tools, tactics, and technologies that are already easily available to people as they do their jobs.  The necessity of L&D to have strong cross-functional partnerships in order to help people do their best work. The need for L&D to proactively understand how work and businesses will transform via emerging tech.  How to start shifting perceptions of L&D by helping with minor issues, establishing a bottom-up approach. And most importantly, how L&D can and should act more like Alfred and less like Batman (copyright Warner Brothers).  JD Dillon is a veteran talent development leader, internationally recognized author and speaker and dedicated Back to the Future aficionado. Over the past 20 years, he's led operations and L&D teams at Disney, Kaplan and AMC. Today, JD advises organizations around the world on learning and enablement strategies as Axonify’s Chief Learning Architect and Founder and Principal at LearnGeek. He’s also never ridden a bicycle. Find and connect with JD Dillon here: LinkedIn LearnGeek  Axonify Find out more about JD's book (which Jess believes should be required reading for anyone in L&D) here: https://jdwroteabook.com/ JD's talk show, In the Know Find and connect with Jess Almlie here:  LinkedIn  Subscribe to the L&D Must Change Newsletter  Learning Business Advisor Consulting