The Mindtools L&D Podcast

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 imp...

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...

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 crit...

What are the benefits of podcasts for learning? How does L&D respond to people leaving the profession? Should we get rid of email? In this week's episode of  The Mindtools L&D Podcast , Ross G is joined by Anna and Ross D to answer your questions! During the discussion, Ross D referenced our post ' If your podcast isn't available on mobile, does it make a sound? ', and Cal Newport's  Deep Work . R...

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...

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 in...

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...

Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on   option   to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often these libraries get dusty, bogged down by out-of-date content with little relevance, or hidden away in a dark corner of the intranet where no one can find them.   So   in this episode of   The Mindtools L&D Podcast ,   Virgin Money's Martin Ritchie, D...

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 org...

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 Ros...

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 T...

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, le...

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...

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 inc...

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...

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 Developme...

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 co...

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...

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...

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 , grump...

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 Will...

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 th...

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...

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 le...

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 altern...