The Mindtools L&D Podcast is a must-listen for anyone involved in Learning and Development or Human Resources. The weekly show features regular appearances from the Mind Tools team plus special guests to get right to the heart of issues affecting the L&D and HR communities. From learning needs analysis and evidence-based practice through to the impact of technology on work and hot topics at industry conferences, you'll get critical insights into the world of work, performance and learning.
Collaboration is a vital skill across many fields and disciplines. But effective collaboration is about much more than just working together. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Paula are joined by Fraser Mcdonald, Head of Collaboration at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and Deputy Director of the Data for Children Collaborative, to discuss: why collaboration is important when it comes to solving 'wicked problems'; how Mindtools worked with the EFI to develop a gam...
Whether it comes to facilitating workshops, designing learning experiences, or developing campaign assets, L&D practitioners are increasingly expected to bring creativity to their roles. But how do you do this if you don't have a creative background, or if you don't think of yourself as a 'creative person'? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Gemma are joined by Kenny Temowo, Senior Director of Talent Acceleration at SharkNinja and host of the Inside the Art of Makin...
Often on this podcast we've spoken about how AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are enhancing our capabilities. But do they also come at a cost? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross Stevenson from Steal These Thoughts joins Ross G and Dr Gent to discuss: the relationship between tasks and skills; whether we are over-relying on AI; the long-term impact of AI use on critical thinking. During the discussion, Ross S discussed the recent robot race in Beijing and the conce...
The Mindtools L&D podcast explores the benefits of podcasts for learning, how L&D can support people leaving the profession, and strategies for improving email efficiency. The hosts discuss using podcasts for accessible learning, managing change, and the importance of psychological safety at work. They also share personal anecdotes and practical tips for L&D professionals.
What drives your delegation decisions? Is it what's best for the business? Is it what's best for your team member? Is it what's best for you? In this week's edition of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna discuss: Why managers sometimes delegate tasks that they know are too difficult How the organization's culture shapes those decisions How to help managers delegate better. The paper we discussed throughout this podcast was: Maas, V. S., & Shi, B. (2023). The effects of target ...
Many organizations treat 'inclusion' and 'wellbeing' as separate issues, but Dr Serena Huang - author of The Inclusion Equation - argues that the two are intrinsically linked. And, that data is how you can make better decisions about how to make a positive impact on both. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Serena joins Ross G and Dr Anna to discuss: Why these two areas are inseparable Why data in this space isn't as 'unmeasurable' as it seems Two approaches to data gathering t...
We might think that what makes our team culture great (or awful) is different from what supports our learning and development. Are they so different, though? In this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Gemma are joined by L&D professional turned Culture Manager , Lois Ratcliff e to discuss: what ‘culture’ is and how it gets measured; what it takes to have a good feedback culture; the features of a learning culture. Lois refers to the three layers of organisational culture pr...
Martin Ritchie from Virgin Money shares strategies for driving engagement with digital learning content libraries. He discusses proactive promotion, consistent messaging, and tailoring content to user needs. The episode also covers practical techniques such as single sign-on, easy content access, and leveraging internal communication channels.
Most organizations offer some kind of content library to help their people develop. But how much content is too much? How do you give your people choice, without overloading them? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Ross D are joined by Rosemary Hoskins (formerly of AstraZeneca), to discuss: Why are extensive content libraries a problem (as well as a solution) for organizations? What mechanisms help people find the right content, at the right time? Does it matter if ...
Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence once again topped the results of Donald Taylor’s Global Sentiment Survey. Almost every other option on the survey lost vote-share this year, with the exception of the ‘value trio ’ . So, what do these findings tell us about the state of L&D, and how the profession is evolving? In t his week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Don joined Ross D and Ross G for our annual breakdown of the survey’s results. We discuss: what the Global Sentiment Survey is ...
It’s ‘Bring Your Paper to Work’ day at Mindtools Towers, as Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna each take turns to share an academic study that they think has key insights for L&D professionals. We discuss: The impact of AI on critical thinking, as investigated in: Lee, H. P. H., Sarkar, A., Tankelevitch, L., Drosos, I., Rintel, S., Banks, R., & Wilson, N. (2025). The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowled...
The World Economic Forum’s recent ‘Future of Jobs’ report positioned ‘AI and big data’ and ‘technological literacy’ as skills that will become increasingly important over the next five years. But what do these skills look like in practice? What do we mean when we talk about ‘AI literacy’? In t his week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Anna are joined by Erica Werneman Root, legal consultant and co-founder of Knowledge Bridge, to discuss: what ‘AI literacy’ means in different c...
In last week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we explored sales enablement from the perspective of sales and marketing teams. But where do product teams fit in? Beyond building products, what role do these teams play in generating revenue? For the second instalment in our two-part series on sales enablement , Ross D and Lara are once again joined by Darren Bezani , Chief Salecologist at Salecology , to discuss: why it’s important to involve product teams in sales enablement; the behavior...
All sales training is sales enablement, but not all sales enablement is sales training. In this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross Dickie and Lara are joined by Darren Be zani , Chief Salecologist at Salecology , to discuss: what ‘sales enablement’ means, and why it’s intentionally broader in scope than sales training; what sales enablement is designed to achieve, beyond increased sales ; the role of managers in sales enablement. To learn more about Darren’s work, head to salecol...
Those of who work in learning and development like to think we're in the business of behavior change . But w e often don't have an in-depth understanding of what current behaviors are , or how to change them. In this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross Garner is joined by Ross Dickie and Dr Anna Barnett to discuss: methods for understanding behavior ; digital learning methods for changing behavior ; methods for measuring change. During the discussion, Ross Garner described the Dun...
The National Trust is Europe’s largest conservation charity, established 130 years ago to look after the UK’s nature, beauty and history . Its leaders have diverse areas of focus, from protecting woodland to managing properties – and even running a gold mine! In this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Ross D find out just how the Trust develops these leaders, with Development Specialist Carole Thelwall-Jones. We discuss: how a leader needs to think ‘to be’ lists, rather tha...
Author, podcaster and award-winning filmmaker Topaz Adizes specializes in creating deeper human connections. So, in this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , he joins Ross Garner and Owen for an in-depth chat about: how to formulate questions to build understanding ; how better conversations help us partner with our clients and stakeholders ; t he benefits of online and in-person conversations . In ‘What I Learned This Week ’, Ross discussed the growing capabilities of ‘Large Behavior M...
At last year’s Learning Technologies Awards, Mindtools and South Western Railway won Gold in the ‘Best use of blended learning – commercial sector’ category. In this week’s episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, Ross D and Claire are joined by Becky Eason, Leadership Delivery Manager at South Western Railway, to discuss: The context in which the program was developed, and the problems it was designed to solve; How we used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and a valid and reliable...
Do remote and hybrid managers need different skills to those who work in-person? If so, what are those skills and how do we develop them? In this first episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, Ross Dickie and Ross Garner are joined by return guest Gary Cookson, author of Making Hybrid Working Work. We discuss: The ‘sensory loss’ that takes place when managers move to a hybrid environment The digital signals that help managers understand their teams Strategies for building hybrid management...
Another year, another Christmas Special! We've scraped the barrel of festive ideas and selected Love Actually , the "greatest Christmas movie of all time", as the unfortunate premise of this year's audio horrorshow. In this edition, Ross G will be asking questions that are very loosely based on the Richard Curtis classic, with answers from Ross D, Anna and Owen. Including: In Love Actually , grumpy husband Alan Rickman gets into trouble when he buys a necklace for a woman who isn't his wife. If ...
When your team are faced with a crisis, you want them to be prepared. But how do you build those capabilities when crises are rare, and you hope they never occur? In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Owen explore the use of simulations to build capability. We’re joined by Chris Peschanel, who ran crisis management at Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 12 years, and by Phil Willcox from St8 of Play. We discuss: · why simulations are the best approach for developing real-world ...
Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to revisit this 2018 classic with Dom Price, from Atlassian. It'll help you think about whether the habits and behaviors that have helped you navigate the world to this point, are still useful today. Regular show notes below. --- In the early stages of our careers we learn how to do our jobs, manage office politics and earn promotion. But those habits and behaviours that initially help us advance can become a burden. We end up in meetings ...
As Ben Betts wrote in a recent blog post, ‘the LMS is the first point of entry to learning; the front-of-house of our industry.’ While that front-of-house may look a little different now than it did twenty years ago, and despite the oft-repeated claim that the LMS is dying, it remains the default gateway to digital learning in organizations. But are things about to change? To answer that question and others, Ben joins Ross D and Owen on this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast to discus...
How can we help managers demonstrate care for their teams, while maintaining high standards of accountability and performance? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Ross G and Dr Anna Barnett are joined by Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Managing Without Power , to discuss: why nice managers can still provide mediocre management how managers can balance care for their teams with high levels of performance and how to build better managers. For more from Joris, visit managingwithoutpower...
Are you an over-committing over-achiever? In Toxic Productivity , author Israa Nasir argues that you can only maintain that approach to productivity for so long. Eventually you’ll burn out, exhausted by all those ‘time management hacks’ that organizations (like Mind Tools!) keep suggesting. So this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Israa joins Ross Dickie and Ross Garner to offer an alternative approach. We discuss: how toxic productivity manifests in our lives how getting rewarded for our pr...
Learning measurement is difficult, complex, and expensive. Or is it? In Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring , Dr Alaina Szlachta applies a Build-Borrow-Buy approach to learning measurement, and joins The Mind Tools L&D Podcast this week to share her insights with Ross Dickie and Owen. We discuss: the importance of asking the right questions how to bake measurement into your programs what ‘Build ’, ‘Borrow’ and ‘Buy’ look like in practice . Find out more abo ut Measurement and Evaluation o...
Measuring management capability is intrinsically complex. Unlike sales training , where you have sales, or customer-service training , where you have CSAT scores, management doesn’t have a built-in metric we can use to quantify learning impact. So, what’s the solution? This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Ross Dickie is joined by Owen and Anna to discuss our new ‘Manager Skills Assessment’ — a scientific diagnostic that managers and their organizations can use to evaluate their capability. ...
If you work in learning and development, you probably get some direction from your senior leadership team about what to focus on and how much to spend. But, once you get into the details, you have lots of room to play. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Chief Learning Officer Marc Steven Ramos joins Ross Garner and Ross Dickie to discuss: · the strengths and weaknesses of different genAI tools · whether tools like ChatGPT are living up to the hype · how L&D can start experime...
In Power to the Middle , McKinsey consultants Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field argue that the ‘middle manager’ is key to organizational success. Long maligned (often by McKinsey), the manager is in fact responsible for delivering objectives, addressing underperformance, building trusting relationships, and resolving team conflicts. In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Ross Garner, Ross Dick and Nahdia Khan discuss: · why managers are so important · the role of ‘ma...
This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are joined by Kathryn Hume, strategic workforce planning and L&D consultant, and author of the book Learn, Solve, Thrive . In the book, Kath argues that learners have a responsibility for managing their own learning and outlines strategies that anyone can adopt to make that process easier. We discuss: · why we can’t ‘wait around for someone to teach us’ · some of the difficulties we experience when we try to learn · the relati...
