Leading Learning Podcast

As a management consultant, executive coach, and facilitator, Liz Kislik has three decades of experience helping organizations break through barriers to develop high performing leaders and workforces. She is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, as well as a TEDx speaker on Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It. In this episode of Leading Learning – recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis – Celisa talks with Liz about the idea of conflict—good and bad conflict and how to encourage the good while limiting the bad. They also discuss ways to improve the customer (or learner) experience and learner engagement, what to consider when selling and marketing in times of crisis, and suggestions for reducing stress through self-care. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode235. 

The coronavirus pandemic is impacting life as we know it, including how we learn. Limits to travel and social distancing have created a resurgence of interest in online learning, and many organizations are rushing to launch or expand their e-learning efforts. But—and this “but” is critical—learner expectations are higher than in the past. Also, competition from direct competitors has increased as well as competition for people’s time and attention, especially as many are working and learning from home. And it’s important for learning businesses to take some time to think about what this moment—the pandemic, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and so on—might mean for the future of online learning.  That’s why in this episode of the Leading Learning podcast, we reflect on the situation to discuss implications of the current moment for the future of online learning, including the related benefits, challenges, and opportunities. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode234. 

Robbie Kellman Baxter, founder of Peninsula Strategies, is a strategy and marketing expert with more than two decades of experience and an extensive list of blue chip clients. She is also a sought after keynote speaker and author of the bestselling book, The Membership Economy (which we interviewed her about in a previous podcast episode), as well as the recently released, The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Robbie is back to discuss what has changed since her last book related to the membership economy and key concepts behind her new book related to building forever transactions. She and Jeff explore ideas related to launching, scaling, and leading a membership-oriented business over time, as well as her thoughts on pricing and the powerful relationship between community and subscription. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode233. 

Jim Fong, chief research officer at the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and founding director of UPCEA’s Center for Research and Strategy, has combined his extensive expertise in the areas of marketing, research, and analytics to focus on making an impact in higher education. The self-professed trend watcher also has a particular interest in exploring generational differences and how they are impacting education and the new economy. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Celisa talks with Jim about the value of looking at these generational differences, the idea that newer generations find it "creepy" when asked too much information too soon, and what you can do to lower your level of "creepiness" with prospects. They also discuss what Jim sees on the horizon for learning including a growing need for higher ed institutions to unbundle the traditional degree to offer alternative credentials. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode232.  We are grateful to our sponsor for this quarter, Web Courseworks: ** Web Courseworks is a leading learning technologies and consulting company that is forging a path of innovation in the eLearning industry. The company’s experiences and expertise guide its partners to become the leading providers of education in their fields. Web Courseworks channels organization learning efforts to deliver on the promise of revolutionary performance improvement. CourseStage, the learning management system (LMS) from Web Courseworks, is built for organizations and professional development initiatives. It enables organizations to customize learning experiences, track users’ success, and make data-driven decisions. CourseStage LMS is designed specifically to handle continuing education and professional development activities for organizations who want to grow their learning business.

Social learning. It’s a topic that most of us have been hearing about for well over a decade at this point. But it has recently been making a resurgence in the learning landscape, only this time, it’s for different reasons.   With the growing emphasis on learning in the flow of work as well as new and emerging technologies, social learning has been steadily gaining traction again as a rising trend. But with what is now happening with COVID-19, the focus on it is likely to intensify dramatically as we look for ways to adapt to a (previously unimaginable) new era of social interaction. In this episode of Leading Learning, we further discuss the reasons social learning is particularly relevant right now and offer our definition of it, including its four dimensions. We also share four simple steps to help your learning business design for it. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode231.  We are grateful to our sponsor for this quarter, Web Courseworks: ** Web Courseworks is a leading learning technologies and consulting company that is forging a path of innovation in the eLearning industry. The company’s experiences and expertise guide its partners to become the leading providers of education in their fields. Web Courseworks channels organization learning efforts to deliver on the promise of revolutionary performance improvement. CourseStage, the learning management system (LMS) from Web Courseworks, is built for organizations and professional development initiatives. It enables organizations to customize learning experiences, track users’ success, and make data-driven decisions. CourseStage LMS is designed specifically to handle continuing education and professional development activities for organizations who want to grow their learning business.

Design thinking is a human-centered, flexible approach to solving big problems. And Carol Hamilton, principal and founder of Grace Social Sector Consulting, uses her background in organization development combined with her expertise in design thinking, to help nonprofits and associations solve those big problems to become more strategic, effective, and innovative. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Celisa talks with Carol about the topic of design thinking, including what it is and how it can be used in the context of a learning business (drawing on Jeanne Liedtka’s four-question formulation: what is, what if, what wows, and what works). They also discuss areas adjacent to design thinking, such as journey mapping and innovation, as well as what could be considered the opposite of design thinking—the sunsetting of products and services. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode230.  We are grateful to our sponsor for this quarter, Web Courseworks: ** Web Courseworks is a leading learning technologies and consulting company that is forging a path of innovation in the eLearning industry. The company’s experiences and expertise guide its partners to become the leading providers of education in their fields. Web Courseworks channels organization learning efforts to deliver on the promise of revolutionary performance improvement. CourseStage, the learning management system (LMS) from Web Courseworks, is built for organizations and professional development initiatives. It enables organizations to customize learning experiences, track users’ success, and make data-driven decisions. CourseStage LMS is designed specifically to handle continuing education and professional development activities for organizations who want to grow their learning business.

Which learning trends are going to have the most impact on your learning business, and how do you know if they are here to stay? Being able to track how each of these trends actually evolve over time, while separating their related hype from true potential value, can provide answers to these often difficult questions. This is why Web Courseworks, in an effort led by Andy Hicken, Vice President of Technology Solutions, now publishes an annual eLearning Hype Curve (based on the Gartner Hype Cycle theory) to create a visualization of what’s “trending” in eLearning. By analyzing data from over 60 influencers on Twitter, they have been able to gain valuable insights related to how learning technologies are likely to evolve this year, and in the future. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Jeff talks with Andy about the Hype Cycle model including its various stages, how they’ve adapted it to create their eLearning Hype Curve, and the specific predictions that have emerged for 2020. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode229.  We are grateful to our sponsor for this quarter, Web Courseworks: ** Web Courseworks is a leading learning technologies and consulting company that is forging a path of innovation in the eLearning industry. The company’s experiences and expertise guide its partners to become the leading providers of education in their fields. Web Courseworks channels organization learning efforts to deliver on the promise of revolutionary performance improvement. CourseStage, the learning management system (LMS) from Web Courseworks, is built for organizations and professional development initiatives. It enables organizations to customize learning experiences, track users’ success, and make data-driven decisions. CourseStage LMS is designed specifically to handle continuing education and professional development activities for organizations who want to grow their learning business.

Virtual conferences are something we’ve been deeply immersed in for years—both because we’ve done a lot of research and writing about them, such as with  The Virtual Events Report—and also because we’ve been practitioners of them with our annual Learning • Technology • DesignTM (LTD) virtual conference, which we recently wrapped up for 2020. In this episode, we discuss the many compelling reasons of why more learning businesses need to seriously consider making virtual events a serious part of their portfolio of offerings including their related benefits for both organizations and learners. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode228.

Outfield Leadership founder, Dave McKeown is a leadership expert who helps individuals, teams, and organizations achieve excellence by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. And his recent book, The Self-Evolved Leader: Elevate Your Focus and Develop Your People in a World That Refuses to Slow Down is based on the premise that to be an effective leader in today’s busy world requires a uniquely different mindset and skillset than what was necessary in the past. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Celisa talks with Dave about the idea of self-evolved leadership, why successful leaders and learners need to be vulnerable, and how to prevent learned helplessness. They also discuss his belief that leadership should be seen as series of disciplines that take time to master, including the idea of of attention management and why he views it as the number one discipline for leaders to develop.    Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode227.

As the chief revenue officer for AIIM International ­– a membership association offering training and certification for information professionals – Tony Paille is responsible for managing the sales and marketing teams while driving revenue growth. He is also a featured speaker at our upcoming Learning • Technology • Design virtual conference where he will be talking about how to get more visitors to click the “buy” button. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, Jeff talks with Tony about his role as chief revenue officer and how AIIM was able to dramatically increase the conversion rates for its training catalog. They also discuss the challenges related to selling education and the evolving role of the sales function in learning businesses. Full show notes available at https://www.leadinglearning.com/episode226.