Learning for Good | L&D Solutions and Leadership Development for Nonprofits

All too often, L&D feels like a last resort in the workplace. We, as L&D, need to be brought in earlier in the process of decision-making. We have experience and expertise to share and we have value to add, and we can help shape that final decision. In this episode, I’m sharing some tips to help build relationships so that L&D can become the first response in your nonprofit. ▶️ Is L&am...

Work is a major contributor to well-being. Your leaders influence the well-being of everyone on their teams. So those leaders become an important part of the conversation.  That's why I'm so excited to have well-being strategist Loretta Turner as my guest today. We’re exploring how you can take a well-being approach to leadership development.  ▶️ A Well-Being Approach to Leadership Devel...

I talk a lot about training as an avenue to create trusting relationships and psychological safety in your nonprofit. But what do you do when the training facilitates a large cohort of learners and it becomes harder to build those relationships? Today I am talking about what you can do to make those large cohorts of learners feel a bit more intimate. ▶️ How to Make a Large Cohort of Learners Feel...

The skills you need as an individual contributor are different than the skills you need as a manager. We hear it time and time again - you promote your very best individual contributor to a supervisory position and they struggle because they aren’t equipped with the skills they need. That’s why I’m so excited to have Summer Davies, an award-winning leadership development expert with over 15 years...

Let's say you are kicking off 2024 with a new program or service. Are your staff prepared to implement it? Have they had a chance to build the skills and confidence they need? Or will they be struggling to figure things out on the job? In today’s episode, I’m discussing just how Learning and Development can support your nonprofit as you’re changing program or service offerings. Have a listen...

Today’s episode is all about humor. I’m not talking about corny jokes or puns, but rather the lightheartedness and energy that you need in your nonprofit to get things done and to help teams work together.   My guest, Gita Kulkarni, explains why we need to care about humor and how to use humor as nonprofit Learning and Development leaders. Gita is a humor coach who helps people find and express th...

Hey friend and Happy New Year! Today's episode is a quick one. I wanted to kick off 2024 with something kind of fun and different. I’m sharing  24 tips for L&D leaders. From knowing your worth as an L&D leader to building relationships with other business units and teams, these tips will help you get 2024 off to a great start. Let’s jump right in. ▶️ 24 L&D Tips for Nonprofit Pros...

If you're doing a year-end reflection, you need to listen to this episode.  I have some tips for how to do your time of reflection so that you get the most out of it. Because at the end of the day, I want you to learn from this time of reflection because when you learn from what you've done in the past, your perspective changes for what you can do in the future. ▶️ Once You Reflect This...

Do you ever feel like you're having two different conversations with someone? It’s like you're saying one thing, and they are hearing something completely different. This happens regularly in our workplaces. Your Gen Z staff are waiting for you to set clear expectations and if you don't, they just might leave. In this episode, I’m going over three ways we can help ensure clear expec...

How do we know when we are successful? And how can we actually measure that? I know this can be frustrating, but it can be done. And who better to guide us than today’s guest, L&D Detective, Kevin M. Yates. I am so excited to have Kevin as a guest,  not only is he the L&D detective and an expert on measurement, but he also has his own nonprofit and we're going to hear about both of th...

The skill sets your staff need  are expected to change by 50% in 2027. That's according to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report. 50% in just a few short years. With so much changing, Learning and Development has a role to play. In today’s episode of the Learning for Good podcast, we are exploring two techniques L&D can use to prepare your staff for the future. ▶️ One Goal, Two Techni...

Culture can be a complex thing and it's what allows you to attract, retain, and develop your staff. That’s why I’m so excited to have Rebecca Marchiafava on the podcast today, to discuss culture change and to help you successfully lead or navigate that change. Rebecca is the founder of Culture Work LLC, where she consults with organizations to develop healthy environments and improve well-bei...

Have you ever left a meeting thinking that could have been an email? As a nonprofit consultant working on training and leadership development projects, I lead a lot of meetings. And my goal is to make them an effective use of time, every time. Today, I want to share some ways you can make your meetings more effective. So no one leaves thinking it could have been an email. You’re going to want to t...

How do global nonprofits bring people together for a global learning cohort, despite the challenges, for the good of all involved? That's what we're going to explore on today’s episode of Learning for Good with Tommy Lee. Tommy is a seasoned leader with extensive experience in the areas of faith and work integration, organizational development, and strategic planning and he has a wealth...

Most subject matter experts are open to redesigning activities and interactions, but when you talk about cutting content, that can be a challenge because it feels personal. So how do I navigate situations like these? And what can you do to navigate similar situations as you are working with your subject matter experts? I have three tips to share with you today. ▶️ Need to Cut Content? How to Work...

One of my favorite things is when a nonprofit comes to me with a strategic plan that specifically mentions developing their people, their staff. But this isn’t always the case. Regardless of whether Learning and Development has been written into your strategic plan or not, it still has a large role to play. In today's episode, Carol Hamilton and I sit down to discuss the strategic planning pr...

Depending on your experiences with training or coaching, you might have a preference for one over the other. But should we make organizational decisions based on our preferences? I'd argue no. Which is why I wanted to bring this episode to you. It's an episode where we will compare leadership training versus coaching and explore when to use which solution in your nonprofit organization....

You know you need a comprehensive training program based on your organization's prioritized competencies. But if you don't know how to get there, it can be overwhelming to start. This is one of the common questions I get when working with my nonprofit clients to create competency models. It's that now what question. Today, I want to explore how you can use your competency model to d...

We made it! Today is the 50th episode of the Learning for Good podcast and we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at Skill Masters Market, my consulting business that powers this podcast and helps nonprofits all over the country achieve their staff development and training goals. I’m also giving you a sneak peek into my plans for the future! ▶️ Behind the Scenes at Skill Masters Market: Helping Non...

I am so excited for today's episode; it's an Ask Me Anything episode and I've collected some great questions from listeners just like you, as well as from past clients.  There's one thing you should know. You can ask me anything, anytime. But in today’s episode, we cover questions on everything from custom competency models and competency assessments to email training for nonpr...

Today we're getting an inside look at the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective - a free virtual community for talent management, DEI, and learning and development leaders to share ideas and learn from each other. I’ll be sharing what the Nonprofit L&D Collective is (and what it isn’t), the value of the Nonprofit L&D Collective, and what exactly goes on inside of it. ▶️ Want L...

As Learning and Development leaders, we spend so much of our time thinking about training. Who needs training? What do they need? How will it benefit them? How will it benefit the organization? What is the value and ROI? Today, I want to explore the qualitative impact of training. That's why I'm bringing the stories of impact from across my network. These are stories that were shared wit...

We need a training. You've probably been approached by someone in your nonprofit telling you this. They didn't come saying we have a problem, or can you help us? They said, “we need a training.” But we all know that training isn't always the answer. And while we can set up processes to help mitigate how often this happens, it still happens. And this is one reason it's helpful t...

When I decided to do an episode on identifying learner needs, I wanted to showcase an organization that used multiple approaches and saw results from their work. That's why I've invited Trang Truong-Hill from the YMCA of the USA to join me today to explore a project that we've worked on together as well as many other projects they have going on inside of this nonprofit. Trang shares...

When you say you expect good communication skills, do your staff know what you mean? Is it verbal communication or written? Do you mean that they are using clear concise language or that the communication is error-free? When you talk about communication, are you talking about with their colleagues, or with organizational partners, or industry leaders? There are so many ways you can communicate. So...