Learning Uncut

Keith Heggart from the University of Technology Sydney joins Michelle Ockers to discuss the creation of the Graduate Certificate in Learning Design. He takes us behind the scenes of the design process—how he spent months consulting with industry experts, developing learner personas, and challenging traditional university structures to create a program that is fast-paced, practical, and immediately...

In this episode of Learning Uncut Elevate, Michelle Ockers speaks with Catherine Lombardozzi about her latest research with the Learning Guild, which explores how leadership development strategies are evolving. Catherine set out to understand what's changing in leadership development and how organisations are adapting to post-pandemic realities. Her findings highlight three key shifts: greater emp...

Australia has a critical structural engineering skills shortage, yet many qualified graduates and migrant engineers struggle to find jobs. In this episode, Michelle Ockers talks to Moly Ashtari and Alex Jovanovski, co-founders of Learnpedia. Moly shares her personal challenges as a migrant engineer seeking local experience. Alex highlights difficulties small businesses face hiring skilled engineer...

Australia's tech sector faces a critical skills gap. Women – who make up just 30% of the tech workforce – represent the largest untapped talent pool to close this gap. Michelle Ockers speaks with Kade Brown from RMIT Online and Rhiannon Yetsenga from Deloitte Access Economics about their latest research report into skills and talent diversity in Australia's tech workforce. They explore the key fin...

The 2025 Global Sentiment Report has been released, capturing the pulse of L&D professionals worldwide. In this episode, Michelle Ockers speaks with Donald H Taylor about the key findings and what they reveal about what L&D is paying attention to in 2025. AI continues to dominate conversations, but there's also continued interest in skills and data, with the creating value on the rise again. Don s...

Ryan Byrne, Senior Manager of Capability and Learning at Sydney Trains joins host Michelle Ockers to discusses the "First Impressions Count" performance campaign. This campaign focused on enhancing customer service through station cleanliness, uniform standards and empowering and engaging staff. Ryan shares insights on using employee feedback to identify barriers and build respectful, actionable s...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Michelle Ockers and co-host Laura Overton are joined by Lisa Christensen, Director of Learning at McKinsey, to explore the organisation's innovative approach to enhancing feedback skills. Lisa introduces the Receive to Grow program, a targeted initiative designed to help employees build the skill of receiving feedback effectively - a critical competency in McKins...

Michelle Ockers is joined by Dr. Cathryn Lloyd, founder of Maverick Minds, to explore how L&D professionals can shift their thinking and support others to shift their thinking. Cathryn shares how her own experiences of personal and professional transformation led to her work in helping individuals and organisations think differently. They discuss why shifting thinking is crucial for L&D profession...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Catherine Sharpe (Blackmores) and Mark Eggers (Yarno) join Michelle Ockers to discuss their award-winning learning solution. Recognised at the AITD 2024 Excellence Awards for both Best Use of Technology for Learning and Best Use of Gamification or Simulation, their initiative tackled the challenge of embedding financial acumen across Blackmores' diverse, multilin...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Millie Law discusses a highly successful blended learning initiative at ANZ Bank that won the 2024 AITD award for best blended learning solution. The program focused on developing business development capabilities among home lending specialists. The solution combined self-paced learning, peer workshops, and practical application, with strong support from internal...

In this special episode of Learning Uncut, Michelle Ockers presents an AI playbook for Learning and Development professionals. Drawing from conversations with industry practitioners throughout 2024, she distills key principles and practices for implementing AI effectively in L&D. The episode explores how organizations can move beyond the hype to create real value with AI, offering practical guidan...

In this special end-of-year episode, Michelle Ockers and Chemène Sinson reflect on the key themes explored in the 2024 Learning Uncut podcast episodes and connect them to broader trends and conversations in L&D. This year's standout themes include moving from talk to action with AI, adopting skills-based approaches, fostering community and collaboration, and driving real behaviour change. Underpin...

This episode of Learning Uncut offers a rare 'before and after' look at the design, execution, and outcomes of a workplace learning campaign. Michelle Ockers speaks with Matthew Murray, VP of Digital Learning, and Sydney Cannon, Senior Manager of Learning Engagement at Bain & Company, about their October Skills Boost campaign. The episode starts by exploring exploration their low-resource, email-d...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Michelle Ockers is joined by Adam Le Nevez and Adrian Manning from the Australian Public Service (APS). They explore how the APS L&D Community of Practice (CoP) fosters collaboration amongst L&D teams across over 100 agencies. They discuss the unique challenges of building capability in a decentralised system with over 170,000 employees and how the CoP helps redu...

Michelle Ockers speaks with Cameron Hedrick, Chief Learning Officer at Citi, about the complexities and opportunities of skills portfolio management. Cameron shares his insights on moving beyond traditional job roles to focus on skills as organisational assets, and how this shift can enhance workforce planning, internal mobility, and overall business resilience. They discuss the challenges of impl...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Michelle Ockers is joined by Brad Hodge, health innovator and educator at La Trobe University, to explore the role of generative AI in modern education, particularly in the rural health sector. Brad shares his journey in health innovation and how he is using AI, including chatbots, to enhance student support, drive behavior change, and foster innovation. They del...

Michelle Ockers is joined by Dr Thomas J. Tobin to explore the application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in an organisational context. They discuss how Learning and Development can act as a catalyst for fostering a culture that prioritises inclusivity in both design and content delivery. Tom shares his journey into UDL and explains why these principles are vital not just for the minority,...

In this episode of Learning Uncut, Lozanne Pretorius discusses how Mitsubishi Motors Australia has used the MiCareerTrak program to foster a customer-centric culture in an industry facing rapid technological and customer expectation changes. She explains how the program was designed to build adaptive skills and resilience, essential for navigating the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (V...

Pauline Rebourgeon and Peter Sheppard from Ericsson discuss how they are innovating with AI for learning and development. They outline how Ericsson's Learning NEXT community fosters a culture of experimentation with emerging technologies to support learning and development. Pauline and Peter discuss the importance of community in scaling these efforts, and the strategic balance between quick wins...

David Kelly, Chairman of the Learning Guild, joins Michelle Ockers to discuss how to make sense of technology trends as an L&D professional. Their discussion explores why trends matter and how to stay abreast of trends, including attending conferences, how to find experts to follow online, and leveraging your network. They also discuss how to think critically about trends and make better choices a...

Henriette Kloots and Evitha Scharloo, Co-founders of Interlocked, join Michelle Ockers to discuss the World of L&D and the World of Impact Maps. These maps use associative cartography to visualise the journey from learning to performance and impact. The World of L&D Map creates a tangible common language that prompts effective analysis within L&D teams, helping members to collectively shape their...

Mehri Doyle joins Michelle Ockers to discuss the use of small private online courses (SPOC) at Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. These online courses have a focus on social learning with the use of online asynchronous community through educators and peer collaboration. This program has had great success, increasing reach of learning resources 10-fold, receiving recognition throu...

Sonali D'Silva joins Michelle Ockers to discuss the importance of psychological safety for learning. Their discussion commences research backed benefits of fostering psychological safety both in individual teams and across the organisation as a whole. They then delve into five key strategies for fostering psychological safety in learning environments. This episode will leave you with practical app...

Dan Redman joins Michelle Ockers to discuss the development and implementation of a conversational AI coaching tool to improve performance in HSBC's contact centres. The tool has largely replaced face-to-face role plays with AI-powered simulations. This provides employees with a safe environment for on-demand skill practice with immediate AI feedback, and the option of sharing with managers for ad...