Learning Changemakers podcast

Is AI our next silver bullet? That's the question Laura and Michelle explore this week. Not just whether it will fix everything, but something closer to the opposite: are we firing it straight through the heart of the things we're trying to build? What they uncover is that the real risk isn't that AI will fail us, it's that we'll use it to do the same things faster without ever asking what we need...

How do you plan when everything keeps changing? Laura and Michelle think the answer might lie somewhere unexpected: in the story of Polynesian navigators who crossed thousands of miles of open ocean without maps, instruments, or GPS. What they uncover is that the problem with most L&D plans isn't a lack of rigour, it's that they're built for stable ground. Drawing on the Polynesian concept of the...

Your stakeholder walks in and asks for a course. Say yes or say no? Laura and Michelle think that's the wrong choice to make. In this episode, they reframe the course request entirely – not as a problem to manage, but as a trigger for curiosity and a doorway into a different kind of conversation. Drawing on real stories, including a food safety programme that turned into a behaviour change campaig...

Is L&D becoming irrelevant? Laura and Michelle think it might be the wrong question entirely. What they uncover instead, is a more uncomfortable one: are we keeping ourselves stuck? Through the lens of the "conspiracy of convenience," they explore how the comfort zone traps both L&D and the business in a loop that feels safe but quietly erodes value. They look at what it takes to break out, with s...

What do we hold on to from our past, and what do we need to let go of? In this episode, Laura and Michelle dig into our thinking habits - what makes them stick, and what it takes to build new ones. They use the lens of the TRI principles to look back at previous work, including a compliance programme that became a catalyst for genuine behaviour change. They discover that understanding why somethin...

Laura Overton and Michelle Ockers return with a question that turns out to be anything but simple: if L&D professionals have more models, tools, and frameworks than ever before, why do so many still feel stuck? What they uncover is that the problem isn't a lack of knowledge - it's an excess of it. Drawing on twenty years of benchmark data and the principles at the heart of The L&D Leader, they int...

Laura Overton and Michelle Ockers open the Learning Changemakers series with a question they thought would be simple: what does it actually mean to lead in L&D? What they discover is that leadership in this profession isn't about a title or a team - it's about orientation. How you see yourself, how you show up, and whether you're willing to step forward even when nobody's asked you to. Along the w...

Working out the future of L&D together.   Some of the most important moments in professional development don't come from training programmes or frameworks. They come from a conversation that stop us mid-thought and make us see something differently.   That's what this podcast is for.   Hosted by researcher and pattern-maker Laura Overton, Learning Changemakers is a space for working through the re...