Learning Uncut

Recognition is often written off as a "nice to have." In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Sarah McVanel, Canada's recognition expert and founder of Greatness Magnified, and Lisa Anstey, manager of Medical Device Reprocessing at Waterloo Regional Health Network, to make the case that recognition is not soft. Recognition is one of the most powerful learning and behaviour-change tools...

Eight years. Nearly 200 episodes. One consistent heartbeat.    In this special Elevate episode, Michelle Parry-Slater sits down with Learning Uncut founder Michelle Ockers to reflect on eight lessons from eight years of the podcast.    From community as the engine that started it all, to the quiet discipline of showing up and being of service without knowing where it leads...   Transcript and rela...

The brief was simple: we need an L&D function. Go and start one. In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Elyse Toomey, Head of Learning and Development at Ironbark Financial Group, about what it really takes to build an L&D department from nothing in a fast-moving financial services business, from coaching coaches to become trainers and launching peer-to-peer onboarding at scale, to dou...

Most leadership programs start with the how; the workshop, the elearning, the coach. The business case often comes later, if at all. In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Tina Robinson, founder of WorkJoy and author of Developing Your Business Leaders, and her client, LaTanya Foster, VP of People at global travel accessories brand BÉIS, about what happens when you start with the why i...

We rarely stop to look back. One achievement blurs into the next, and before long we've accumulated years of practice without ever taking stock of what we've actually learned. In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater invites Greg Wilton - a St. Louis-based L&D practitioner with a career spanning darkroom photography, web publishing, global e-learning, and generative AI - to do exactly that. Together...

Most conference chairs open with applause and slip off stage. At Learning Technologies, chairing starts two months before anyone sets foot in the room. In this Elevate episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with three Learning Technologies 2026 chairs: Niall Gavin, Helen Palmer, and Anit Mahay. Join our range of Chairs, both new and experienced, as we discuss what it really takes to prepare speaker...

Hearing loss is more common than most workplaces acknowledge. Around one in six Australians, one in eight Americans, and one in five UK adults lives with some form of hearing loss, tinnitus or D/deafness. Yet at HSBC UK, only a handful of colleagues had formally disclosed a hearing loss before this project launched. In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Georgie Cooke from Lima Delta a...

Arnika Knight and Michelle Parry-Slater share the decade-long journey of modernising L&D for 80,000 volunteers at Girlguiding UK. From navigating change resistance to building a multi-modal learning ecosystem, their story is packed with practical lessons for any L&D professional working at scale. The conversation explores respecting volunteers' time, supporting motivation and using a clear learnin...

Sydney Trains frontline staff face customer aggression daily. They knew the de-escalation models. Applying them under real pressure was another matter entirely. And they'd made one thing clear: no more role play. In this episode, The Two Michelles speak with Ryan Byrne from Sydney Trains and Dr Nathan Moore from Frameless Interactive about Project CIVIL: Customer Initiated Violence Interactive Lea...

Matthew Peade from TFE Hotels discusses their award-winning People Leaders Program, a 12-month leadership development initiative that's seen 300 graduates and an impressive 86% promotion rate. Matthew shares how the program weaves together a blend of three learning streams of on-the-job experience through business change projects, peer learning with dedicated mentors, and formal sessions led by le...

Michelle Ockers speaks with Learning Uncut co-host, and author, Michelle Parry-Slater about her book, The Learning and Development Handbook, A Learning Practitioner's Toolkit . Sharing ideas from within the book, Michelle talks through why practitioners "…must be advocates of the right solution, for the right problem, for the right people, at the right time, for the right reason, delivered in the...

Liz Seskus and Kate Schultz from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood discuss their development of a virtual tour to support the induction of new hematology registrars. They share how they applied learning science, user testing, and a co-design approach to create a practical, cost-effective learning tool that reduces cognitive load and enhances understanding of blood processing procedures. Winner of 202...

Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with co-authors Michelle Ockers and Laura Overton about their book, The L&D Leader. Principles and practice for delivering business value , released in October 2025. They reflect on the collaboration behind the book, the research and evidence that informed it, and its practical relevance for learning professionals. The conversation offers insights into leading with imp...

Peter Brace from Sodexo Australia shares how his path into L&D, including training under trees in Papua New Guinea, shaped his practical and learner-centred approach. Hosted by Michelle Ockers and co-host Michelle Parry-Slater, this episode explores adapting learning to diverse environments, building flexibility into facilitation, and the value of connecting learning to real-world settings. Transc...

In this year-in-review episode, Michelle Ockers and Michelle Parry-Slater reflect on 2025 through the lens of Learning Uncut. They discuss professional highlights, patterns emerging across the podcast's case studies, and what the year revealed about relevance, value and the human role in L&D. The conversation explores learning culture, co-design, learner agency and the normalisation of AI, alongsi...

This episode explores NAWIC ACT's award-winning mentoring programme for women in construction. Jo Farrell from Build Like a Girl and Jana Clyde from Wisdom Learning discuss addressing gender equity challenges through structured mentoring. They cover participant matching, workshops, psychological safety measures, and the importance of time in building trust. Jo shares her journey from apprentice to...

Donald H. Taylor joins Michelle Ockers and co-host Michelle Parry-Slater to unpack findings from the latest instalment of his multi-year research on AI in L&D, conducted with Eglė Vinauskaitė: The Race for Impact . They discuss how AI has reached an inflection point, becoming a standard part of the L&D toolkit, along with its growing use in research and analysis. The conversation also examines thr...

Hannah Ryan, Learning and Capability Manager at Versent, joins Michelle Ockers to share how she helped shape a vibrant learning culture at the Australian technology consultancy, recognised with the 2025 AITD Excellence Award for Best Learning Culture. As Versent's first and only L&D professional, Hannah reflects on how she reshaped her role managing an LMS and leadership program to enabling learni...

Matthias Nauwelaers, Learning Experience Lead at Imec, joins Michelle Ockers to discuss how Imec is building the capability of its frontline people leaders. In a fast-growing, highly technical R&D environment, consistent leadership is key. Matthias shares how Imec replaced ad hoc, inconsistent manager development with a scalable, structured program grounded in real work, peer support, and behaviou...

Christine Gaynor-Patterson joins Michelle Ockers to share how she and her L&D team enabled 10,000 professionals in a large US-based organisation to support workforce AI literacy. Drawing on her blend of experience in education, change management and learning design, Christine approached AI as a tool to enable humans to do better work. She discusses her team's framework for AI literacy, change enab...

Michelle Ockers is joined by Ben Campbell, CEO of the Australian Institute of Training and Development, and organisational capability expert Lisa Elias to discuss the development of AITD's first-ever L&D Capability Framework. In addition to being our podcast host, Michelle was the Project Lead on this community-driven initiative, and offers insight into how the project came to life, its collaborat...

When James Swift moved from Sales into his L&D role at Leyton UK, he started as many do—trusting the 'L&D experts', buying content, and chasing engagement. But it didn't deliver results. So he flipped the script. In this episode, James shares how he built a culture of accountability, motivation, and autonomy—putting learners in charge of their own development. Discover how informal coaching evolve...

Lane Hannah and Ange Forde from One New Zealand, alongside Dan Hibberd from Makeshapes, discuss how One New Zealand transformed its learning model to enable consistent, scalable, and engaging learning. The shift was driven by the need to support a diverse workforce across locations and roles, particularly during a major brand transition. The trio explore how peer-to-peer learning, supported by the...

How do you equip a workforce for an AI-enabled future? Amy Vig from KPMG Australia joins Michelle Ockers to share the story behind KPMG's AI Learning Academy. Amy discusses how her team fostered innovation, psychological safety, and continuous learning while navigating rapid technological change. Discover practical insights into designing an internal learning solution that blends self-directed lea...

In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater returns to Elevate to explore how L&D professionals can make their budget stretch further. With the current environment of budget constraints and rising business expectations, Michelle and Michelle Ockers share practical approaches to prioritising spend, aligning learning with business needs, and tapping into existing resources—both internally and externally....