The Learning & Development Podcast

Has the role and remit of Instructional Designers changed in the era of Google and YouTube? What needs to happen to counter the vast suite of bad ‘click next’ e-learning? Dr Robin Sargent explores the approaches and skills required for the Instructional Design profession to evolve and meet the demands of the modern hybrid workforce. KEY TAKEAWAYS An instructional designer is somebody who can analy...

By pivoting their approach from a learning orientation to a performance orientation, Fredrik and Teemu have built a reputation for achieving real results. This has led to them being recognised within their organisation, including them being asked to take over the entire Learning & Development function at Telia and Teemu being awarded Telia Reinventor of the Year. As well as this, they were awarded...

Learning & Development roles can vary greatly depending on the individual’s specialism, ambition, and the opportunities within any given team. But the opportunity to run an L&D department solo is a unique experience and one that brings as much freedom and excitement as it does challenge and resourcefulness. In this episode, Aimee compares and contrasts her experience in L&D teams and her solo role...

We learn how to do Learning & Development in the organisations and sectors we work in but what is the experience like in the US Air Force and Elon Musk’s SpaceX? In this episode, I speak with Matthew Gjertsen, who has done both and learned some important lessons about what really works. KEY TAKEAWAYS Good instructors and L&D professionals can identify the gaps and know how to fill them. If someone...

Learning In The Flow of Work - or Workflow Learning - has been a hot topic in Learning & Development in recent years but how does this approach match up with employees’ expectations and what they believe to be effective to meet their development goals? In this special episode, David and Bob Mosher explore the findings of a recent survey conducted to explore the expectations of learners and percept...

Learning & Development seems to be constantly evolving but at the same time revisiting and reinventing what has come before. In this episode, we discuss the emerging trends that have their origins in the past and the pioneers that we all need to pay more attention to. KEY TAKEAWAYS Even today, much of what we do in L&D is not evidence-based. This has to change. We are not taking successful methods...

In response to the COVID pandemic, remote working became the norm for organisations to continue operating. As restrictions eased and employees both proved that remote working was viable and preferable, Hybrid Working emerged as a term to describe the mainstream adoption of this flexible approach to working from home and commuting, when required. However, in line with a new way of working emerged a...

Adult Learning Theory can help L&D to improve learner engagement, knowledge retention and skills application. In this episode, Dr Carrie O. Graham explores this topic and its application to the priorities of today’s L&D departments.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Adult learning theory focuses on the fact that adults learn very differently from children. Improving information retention and ensuring new skills are...

Where is L&D going? Ask vendors and they will tell you it’s heading in the direction of their product. Ask a seasoned L&D professional with a keen eye on the future of work and you get a balanced and nuanced view of the factors affecting our profession and its practitioners. In this episode, Lloyd Dean shares his experience, his view of the profession and practical steps forward.   KEY TAKEAWAYS V...

With a backdrop of cuts in the L&D team at ETS, Gabe needed to re-evaluate how he could achieve the aims of the function. By refocusing on problems experienced within the organisation rather than learning to provide and applying the principles of lean, powered by automation, he achieved more than many L&D teams do with bigger teams. But how did ETS do this?    In this episode we explore what it me...

AI sells platforms. But what are we buying? Too often it’s just recommendations for off-the-shelf content. But AI is about so much more and its potential in helping us achieve the aims of L&D is huge. In this episode, we explore the potential of AI in L&D, burst some of the myths around it and challenge the profession to expect more, much more from it.   KEY TAKEAWAYS AI has huge implications for...

In this episode, Paul Matthews explains how a workflow approach to people development can link learning to the work itself and make a demonstrable difference to the way the work is done.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Learning workflow is not the same as learning in the flow or blended learning. Learning workflow is a sequence of orchestrated activities that are designed to achieve a behavioral change. Behaviora...

Fully established in other fields, Product Management is finding its way into L&D. As an emerging discipline in L&D, Product Management is growing in prominence due to its focus on delivering demonstrable, meaningful results.  Anne-Marie Burbidge has been applying the principles of PM to her L&D and as a successful Head of L&D has recruited for Product Managers. So what is it? How is it different?...

Learning & Development functions need to move beyond education if they are to fulfil their potential but what does that actually mean? In this episode, Nick shares his Learning Maturity model and we discuss what this means practically for L&D, organisations and each stakeholder within it. KEY TAKEAWAYS Learning Maturity is Person-Centred Design. Audience interest is critical. You need to address t...

When the role of Learning & Development - and Enablement - is linked to employees’ readiness to perform it is critical that solutions work and demonstrably prepare people to perform. Strangely, too many in Learning & Development focus too much on the ‘learning’ and not enough on the actual ability to perform.  The criticality of the focus on preparation and performance led Alexis to up skilling fr...

This is the last in the L&D’s Pivot to Performance series, recorded on December 15, 2021. OPWL’s Dawn Snyder and Steve Villachica join David James, Guy Wallace, Anne-Marie Burbidge, and Sebastian Tindall. In addition to responding to the questions of previous webinar participants, the panel takes on new questions about their approaches and examples of their work.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Single-page busine...

The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organizational performance, achieving much more as a consequence.   Dr. Villachica has consulted and worked in business, government, and non-profit settings for more than 25 years. He joined the faculty of the Department of Org...

The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organisational performance, achieving much more as a consequence.  For the fifth episode, Guy Wallace and I speak with Filip Lam, Head of L&D at Klarna about how his performance-oriented approach, coupled with smart technology,...

The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organisational performance, achieving much more as a consequence.    For the fourth episode, Guy Wallace and I speak with Dawn Snyder. Dawn consults on learning and performance strategies, curriculum architecture, performance a...

The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organisational performance, achieving much more as a consequence.  For the third episode, Guy Wallace and I speak with Anne-Marie Burbidge, Head of Learning & Development at Utility Warehouse (a UK-based multiservice utility pr...

The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organisational performance, achieving much more as a consequence.  For the second episode, Guy Wallace and I speak with Sebastian Tindall, Head of Learning & Development at Vitality. Sebastian has also held strategic roles in S...

This is the first in the ‘L&D’s Pivot To Performance’ series, in which David James and Guy Wallace speak with Dr. Kenneth Yates about Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA).    The aim of this series is to highlight the important shift that some L&D leaders and practitioners have made in order to more predictably and reliably affect individual and organisational performance, achieving much more as a conseq...

As the last episode of 2021, we pause for reflection, summarise some of the learning from 26 episodes so far and look forward to next year. The first episode of 2022 will be released on 11th January.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Digital is about working with those to overcome challenges not about the next shiny object. L&D  needs to take a more rigorous approach to analysis. Results can be and should to be meas...

TikTok and Facebook are just two companies that consider their culture to be crucial to their success and this week’s guest, Michal Oshman, has not only worked for both but she is Head of Culture at TikTok EMEA. In this episode, we explore what culture is; why it’s important; and what Michal does at TikTok to maintain and grow theirs When culture is at the heart of a company it is everything and b...

Curation is a term that has been used in L&D for a number of years but its actual purpose often seems to be diluted down to ‘making more content’. As discussed in this episode, curation is a useful skill to have in the L&D kitbag to draw on expertise and know-how that resides elsewhere, repurposed as solutions to real problems. Thank you to Shona Hodgson for suggesting this topic. KEY TAKEAWAYS Cu...