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.
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Delving into the ethical and practical implications of AI in decision-making, this episode examines how AI can both simplify and complicate managerial choices. It highlights the challenges of AI's artificial empathy and its limitations in relational contexts, while also providing strategies for leveraging AI to identify and mitigate human biases. The hosts emphasize the crucial role of human self-awareness, authentic leadership, and continuous learning in navigating this evolving landscape.
According to Donald Taylor and Egle Vinauskaitė's recent AI in L&D: The Race for Impact report, 'creating learning content' and 'learning design tasks' remain the primary use cases for AI in learning and development. But should they be? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , L&D consultant Heidi Kirby joins Ross D and Claire to discuss: the obvious appeal of using AI to scale learning content; why Heidi believes outsourcing development to AI is a mistake; what L&D ...
All children play but, over time, that instinct goes away. We don't lose it, we don't forget. Instead, we get taught to stop. For author and toy designer Cas Holman, that's a problem. With a very real impact on business performance. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Cas joins Ross G and Gemma to discuss: how traditional workplaces surpress play the business benefits of play at work how to encourage play when your organization won't tolerate it. You can find out more about...
Why does L&D so often feel like the drive-thru window of requests—'one leadership program, hold the ROI please'? As L&D professionals, it's not who we understand ourselves to be. So how can we flip the script so that we're seen and treated as strategic business partners? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , we're joined by Jess Almlie, author of "Order taker no more!" We discuss: What keeps us stuck in an order taker role? What are the foundations of great strategic ...
Decision-making is a key aspect of being a manager, and a complex mix of skills, experiences, judgments and instincts. So how do you help your managers make smarter decisions at work? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , our own Dr Anna Barnett reveals insights from our new report 'The empathy problem: Balancing emotion in decision-making', part of our Building Better Managers series. We discuss: Whether managers are more inclined to delegate difficult tasks than those they ...
Last week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , L&D Detective Kevin M Yates joined Ross D and Dr Anna to talk about isolating the impact of training at work. When listening back, Ross G took umbrage at some of the claims made by his Mindtools colleagues and so, this week, we re-litigate! We discuss: Are control groups really worth it? How else can you measure impact? Why Dr Anna thinks learning NEVER leads (directly) to business impact To find out how Mindtools can help you measure the business...
Is it up to the humble L&D pro to change people's behavior at work? Or is it up to everyone? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , return guest Kevin M. Yates (aka The L&D Detective) speaks to Anna and Ross D about: How to isolate the impact of training at work What other factors influence performance How L&D pros can demonstrate the value of their roles. You can find out more about Kevin's work at kevinmyates.com For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools...
As learning and development professionals, we spend most of our days thinking about how we help others build their skills. But how many of us neglect our own development while doing so? It's what L&D advisor, writer and speaker David Kelly calls 'The Irony of L&D', and in this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , David joins Ross G and Claire to discuss: how to make time for personal development how to build this habit among your team the extent to which AI makes personal de...
Objectives and Key Results have long been a staple of the working world. You set a stretch objective, define the results that will tell you if the objective has been met, and scaffold throughout the organization. Then what? Often, nothing happens. The OKRs were too vague. In extreme cases, the worst happens: people bend the rules to hit aggressive targets. For author Radhika Dutt, there is another way: Objectives, Hypotheses, and Learnings (OHLs). In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D ...
Here at Mindtools Towers, we're no strangers to benchmarking in L&D. We've regularly mentioned our Learning Performance Benchmark over the years, and we dedicated an entire episode to 'The value of benchmarking' back in 2021. So, naturally, we were intrigued when David James released the 'L&D Maturity Model', and wanted to invite him onto the show to discuss it. This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , David joins us to explore: Why David developed his maturity model, and what makes ...
Now for something completely different! A couple of weeks ago, Carl Akintola wrote a provocative guest post for The L&D Dispatch , challenging L&D practitioners to interogate their motives for measuring learning impact. Are they in it purely for the sake of evaluation and continuous improvement? Or are they merely trying to justify their own existence? This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Carl takes over hosting duties, and runs Ross G and Ross D through the scenario he outlined ...
We know that surrounding ourselves with diverse people at work brings variety in expertise, opinions and ways of working, which can boost creativity and productivity. Sometimes those differences however, can be challenging. How can we make the most of difference? This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Liggy Webb, author of Tolerance: How to respect and accept differences joins Ross G and Gemma to examine the skill of tolerance. We discuss: What tolerance means The benefits of being tolerant...
In their new book, In Praise of the Office , Wharton professor Peter Cappelli and workplace strategist Ranya Nehmeh argue that 'the case for in-office work has never been stronger'. This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Peter and Ranya join Ross D and Claire to explain why they believe this to be true. We discuss: The benefits and downsides to in-office work, both from an employer and employee perspective The challenges of returning to office post-pandemic, and why mandates alone often do...
If we want to motivate learners to engage with an experience, it stands to reason that we need to present that experience in a way feels authentic and relatable to them. But what are the limits to authenticity in the workplace? And are some of the conventions of learning design at odds with authentic communication? This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Kineo's Matt Mella joins Ross D and Claire to discuss: What 'authenticity' looks like in the context of learning design Why it's important...
If you spend any time scrolling LinkedIn, attending L&D conferences, or listening to industry podcasts, it might seem like AI is about to usher in the end of e-learning as we know it. But is e-learning really dying, or is it just evolving? This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Kineo's Cammy Bean joins Ross D and Ross G to discuss: The probability that AI will bring about the e-learning-pocalypse How the work of learning designers might change over the coming years The risks L&D ne...
Frontline managers have to support decisions they didn't make, translate organizational goals into actions, identify meaningful opportunities for people to develop, remember to acknowledge successes, regulate their emotions, and resolve team conflicts. And they're usually 19-years-old. This week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast , one of our favourite guests - JD Dillon - returns to the show to share insights from his upcoming book on the role of frontline managers. We discuss: The pressures face...
Exciting news at Mindtools Towers this week, as we launch our first 'Expert Skill Bite' course with Dr Markus Bernhardt, available now to all Mindtools Content Hub users! To share more about what the course covers, and how it builds capability over time, Markus joined Ross G and Claire to discuss: Why a 'big top-down AI strategy' is never coming How to help managers build AI skills What to do if your organization bans AI tools. Log in to Mindtools.com now to subscribe to the Skill Bite and try i...
This week, we're handing the reigns of The Mindtools L&D Podcast over to our friends at Assemble You. Including the show notes! In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Ross Garner and Paul Buller of Mindtools to explore one of the most pressing topics in L&D today: the role of AI in content creation and the future of learning. Ross is Chief Learning Officer at Mindtools and a former Learning Designer of the Year. He's also a long-time podcast host and co-author of the L&D Di...
Remember 'performance support'? Amid all the talk of AI, adaptive learning, and skills, it's kind of been forgotten. But not by us! Or by respondents to Don Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey , who ranked it 11th hottest trend this year (up two from last year). In the first of a two-part series of crossover episodes with our partner Assemble You, Ross G and Paul are joined by Adam Lacey to discuss: What makes great performance support? What conditions make performance support effective? What role ...
Should we be adopting AI more into our day to day lives? How can L&D professionals move beyond reactive training on specific tools to cultivate a continuous learning mindset in team members? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Dr Anna are joined by to Head of L&D at Newsquest Media Group, Mel Cooley to explore L&D's relationship with AI. We discuss: how L&D is thinking and talking about AI; what L&D can do to support AI integration; how to measu...
Armed with a STEM qualification or two, you might think technical brilliance is all one needs to succeed in the space sector. Is this the case though? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross D and Anna are joined by Victoria Craig to discuss: the importance of 'soft' skills in a 'hard' science environment; sector-specific skills gaps; how L&D can bridge these gaps. In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross reminisced about playing a Sega game called Mickey Mania . Take a loo...
Effective marketers have an uncanny way of knowing what we want and convincing us to click 'Like', add to Checkout and in under 20 seconds, buy their thing. Clever. Meanwhile, over in L&D, we find it more difficult to motivate someone to take action or change their behaviour. So, what does marketing do that we don't? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Bianca Baumann and Mike Taylor, authors of Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro: Strateg...
Having the opportunity to set up a new team can be both exciting and daunting. Where would you start when it's an L&D team? In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast , Head of People Development Daneille Ware speaks to Gemma and Ross about her approach to creating an L&D team from scratch. We discuss: · The triggers for creating a new or evolved L&D department · How to get started with quick wins · Using data to support decisions In 'What I Learnt This Week', Ross ment...
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...
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 ...
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 c...
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...
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 gatheri...
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 Ratcliffe 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 cult...
