🎉New Season, New Episode

🎙️In this  mini trailer for 1AM Talks, your hosts introduce a conversation with leaders from Brunel Academies Trust about how a coaching and masterclass L&D programme supported leadership development, while the organisation was expanding.

As Brunel grew, leaders needed space to reflect, think strategically, and develop their own leadership practice. The L&D programme brought together coaching conversations and masterclasses to help leaders respond to new responsibilities, organisational priorities, and the realities of working in a complex education environment.

🎧You’ll hear about:

David West — Director of People & Culture, Brunel Academies Trust

Kirsty Fyfe — Brunel Academies Trust

Follow 1AM talks on Instagram for early releases and early updates

Podcast recording and production team: https://www.artifactfilms.co.uk/

#LeadershipDevelopment

#L&D

#SEND

#SpecialEducationalNeeds

#SENDLeadership

#MultiAcademyTrust

#StaffResilience

#EducationLeadership

What makes EDIB Global Majority leadership programmes effective in the workplace? Share your ideas here and listen to the stories and tips from our team of facilitation experts.

In part two of our Experts’ Masterclass episode, Andry, Rachael, and Miranda discuss what they have learnt about high quality design and delivery on effective EDIB (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging) leadership programmes. They focus on quality in Global Majority and Black leadership development programmes.

You will hear stories and gain insights into:

With thanks to Rosie Grundy, who inspired our Global Majority Leadership Programme.

Full Timestamps 

00:00:06:06 – 00:00:41:02: Introduction to the episode; designing learning that is systemic, sustainable, and rooted in lived experience 

00:00:41:04 – 00:00:57:08: Exploring the most impactful leadership programmes designed for underrepresented groups 

00:00:57:10 – 00:01:53:21: The Authentic Leadership programme: origins, impact, and the importance of lived experience in facilitation 

00:01:53:23 – 00:02:40:09: Addressing imposter syndrome and creating spaces for underrepresented Global Majority leaders to thrive 

00:02:40:09 – 00:03:25:06: Evolving language: from "Ethnic Minority" to "Global Majority" leadership programmes 

00:03:25:06 – 00:03:47:24: Developing tailored programmes for Global Majority and Black staff 

00:04:30:22 – 00:05:19:14: Leadership without titles: encouraging individuals to step up and create their own opportunities 

00:05:19:14 – 00:06:09:08: The importance of preparation and follow-up: why one-off workshops are not enough 

00:06:09:08 – 00:07:15:05: Ethical considerations in programme design; ensuring participants are supported beyond the workshop 

00:07:15:07 – 00:07:55:02: Long-term impact: career progression and the value of action learning, coaching, and networks 

00:07:55:08 – 00:08:44:17: Face-to-face vs. online delivery: what works best for leadership development? 

00:08:44:19 – 00:09:34:07: Scaffolding for success: what organisations need to have in place for programmes to be effective 

00:09:34:13 – 00:09:55:19: Systemic change: working collectively and collaboratively for lasting impact 

00:09:55:21 – 00:10:16:16: Tips for co-creating learning programmes with participants and organisations 

00:10:16:18 – 00:11:17:13: Designing for engagement: moving beyond tick-box training to meaningful participation 

00:11:17:15 – 00:12:08:00: Sustainability and longevity: providing practical tools and follow-up support 

00:12:08:04 – 00:12:54:18: The power of consultation and authenticity in programme design 

00:12:54:18 – 00:13:34:24: Creating opportunities for collaboration and ongoing conversation 

00:13:35:01 – 00:14:52:24: Designing from lived experience, research, and flexibility; embracing both serious and joyful mindsets 

00:14:53:01 – 00:15:49:08: Beginner’s mind: staying open, curious, and adaptable as a facilitator 

00:15:49:08 – 00:16:09:23: Key takeaways: the importance of what happens before, during, and after a programme 

00:16:10:00 – 00:17:00:17: Episode closing and preview of the next episode: exploring a learning programme from three perspectives

This episode is for learning and development professionals, facilitators, and coaches who want to move beyond tick-box training and create programmes that empower leaders, foster inclusion, and drive real organisational change.

As you listen, you are invited to reflect on what resonates for you—and to share your own thoughts and experiences with us. Please add your reponses  here.

To find out more about your hosts, Andry, Miranda, and Rachael: linktr.ee/andryam . To find out more about the team’s workshops, coaching, and consultancy work with UK organisations for your staff: thelearningmoment.org .

#LeadershipDevelopment #EDIB #GlobalMajority #Facilitation #L&D #OrganisationalDevelopment #WorkplaceLearning #InclusiveLeadership

What if you don’t need a title to be a leader?

In this trailer for 1AM Talks, your hosts explore a powerful insight: leadership is not about the job title—it’s about how you show up. Many people wait for permission or a promotion to step into leadership, but sometimes leadership happens when you take ownership, create opportunities, and lead responsibly from where you are.

This mini 1AM Talks trailer gives you a flavour of the 20-minute leadership and EDIB-focused masterclass episode, where you’ll hear how experienced facilitators and coaches—Andry, Miranda, and Rachael—help participants recognise their own leadership potential, even without formal roles. You will also hear how they lead on EDIB Global Majority leadership programmes.

You’ll learn:

Whether you are a facilitator, coach, aspiring leader, or someone ready to make an impact at work, you’ll  discover tips to lead EDIB programmes effectively.

The full 20-minute episode is released later this week.

#1AMTalks #LeadershipWithoutATitle #StepUpAndLead #OwnYourLeadership #Facilitation #Coaching #WorkplaceLearning #CareerGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #Empowerment

What keeps experienced facilitators and coaches curious, engaged and successful after years of practice?

In this Expert Tips Masterclass episode of 1AM Talks, three experienced facilitators and coaches reflect on  insights they have gleaned over the years, including what to do when things go wrong.

This episode looks at how learning happens not just through techniques, but through attention to what’s happening in the room, in our mindsets, between people, and within wider organisational systems — and how this shapes facilitation and coaching practice over time.

You’ll hear reflections on:

A thoughtful, experience-led episode for facilitators, coaches and L&D and OD practitioners who are  interested in reflective, successful learning.

As you listen, you’re invited to reflect on what resonates for you — and to share your own thoughts and experiences with us.

#1AMTalks

#Facilitation

#Coaching

#CoachingMasterclass

#FacilitationMasterclass

#ExpertTips

#OrganisationalDevelopment

#ReflectivePractice

#SystemicPractice

#RelationalPractice

#BeginnerMind

#WorkplaceLearning

#GlobalMajorityCoaches

#GlobalMajorityFacilitators

#FemaleFacilitators

What does 25 years of coaching and facilitating teach you?

Introducing the Expert Tips Masterclass episode, where three experienced facilitators and coaches share practical insights from real life — including what helps when workshops feel challenging or don’t go to plan.

The full episode explores how practitioners stay resilient, keep refining their practice, and what they have learned from years of lived experience working in L&D and OD.

In the full episode you’ll hear:

Honest, grounded, and full of takeaways you can use straight away.

#1AMTalks

#ExpertTips

#Facilitation

#Coaching

#OrganisationalDevelopment

#WorkplaceLearning

#ReflectivePractice

#LearningFromExperience

#ContinuousImprovement

#ResilientPractice

#Facilitators

#Coaches

How do you design for culture change using  a coaching and leadership programme — including enabling leadership presence  for Women of Colour? How do you do set up that L&D culture change   programme in a  friendly, values-driven organisation?

How do you facilitate  L&D and OD programmes for teams where staff care deeply about their work but sometimes find accountability, difficult conversations, and stress hard to navigate?

In this episode of 1AM Talks, Andry McFarlane and Miranda Gay speak with Luna Ali and Aurora Arista from Spiral Learning, an inclusive charity supporting younger adults from underrepresented backgrounds.

Together they share how a truly inclusive programme was shaped to help staff build calm, strengthen accountability, and support their work with clients — all within a workplace culture that aimed to keep client focus and professionalism at its core, while developing leadership,  including leadership by Women of Colour.

A behind-the-scenes look at how thoughtful design and delivery — grounded in EDIB, safeguarding, and partnership — lays the foundation for meaningful transforming workplace-culture.

We’d love to know your thoughts:

💭 And when you’re working with teams who are friendly — even friends — but sometimes lack clear boundaries, how do you design learning that helps them stay supportive and professional?

💭 How do you lead learning programmes for youth-focused teams that build safeguarding and wellbeing into the design, set-up and communication — not just the workshops?

#LearningAndDevelopment #ProgrammeDesign #CultureChange  #Accountability #OrganisationalDevelopment #WorkplaceWellbeing #YouthDevelopment #EDIB

#InclusiveDesign

#YouthEmpowerment #YoungAdults

Contact 1AM talks: 

📧 E: [email protected]


📱 Insta: @pod1amtalks

Guest details:

Aurora Arista and Luna Ali at Spiral Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spiralskills/posts/?feedView=all

https://www.spiralskills.co.uk/

00:11 – Welcome to 1AM Talks — Andry McFarlane and Miranda Gay introduce the series and their experience in learning and development.

00:59 – Introducing Spiral Learning — why the charity commissioned a post-Covid culture-change and wellbeing programme.

01:33 – Meet Aurora Arista and Luna Ali — how Spiral supports young people from under-represented backgrounds.

02:27 – The organisational challenge — communication, trust, accountability and managing conflict in a friendly culture.

04:13 – Designing the programme — six-session coaching cycles, workshops, and senior-leadership consultancy. Luna being a Woman of Colour in leadership.

07:28 – Building psychological safety — confidentiality, coaching boundaries and reassurance for staff.

09:23 – Embedding inclusivity and Safeguarding into learning design.

10:19 – Reflections from Luna —  cultural background, slowing down, stress, and learning to support young people calmly.

13:55 – Closing thoughts — wellbeing, culture change and partnership.

14:48 – Outro — connecting with 1AM Talks and The Learning Moment.

Discover the impact of the 18 month culture-change journey at Spiral Learning. You’ll hear how clearer boundaries, honest conversations, and steady relationship-based work helped the team build a more sustainable and positive workplace culture and supported their work with young learners. After 18 months of development with Spiral, see how staff have created healthier ways of working and made intentional space for younger and more culturally diverse leadership to grow.

At the heart of the episode is Luna’s leadership story. A British Black woman working in a youth-focused organisation, her journey shows how identity, culture and experience shape leadership. We hear how she steps into new leadership roles, grows alongside  her work with younger learners, and finds a more grounded sense of personal power.

For OD and L&D practitioners, this episode shows:

An uplifting episode for anyone interested in culture change, Global Majority leadership, anti-racism, and creating healthier workplaces.

Guest details:

Aurora Arista and Luna Ali at Spiral Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spiralskills/posts/?feedView=all

https://www.spiralskills.co.uk/

#1AMtalks #CultureChange #OrganisationalDevelopment #InclusiveLeadership #GlobalMajorityLeadership #BlackWomenInLeadership #FutureOfWork #LeadershipJourney #YouthWork #PeopleAndCulture #HumanCentredWorkplace #LearningAndDevelopment #CoachingCulture #WorkplaceWellbeing #EquityAtWork #QualityAtWork

We’d appreciate  your ideas: 

*What do you want to hear on future episodes?

*How could your organisation better support younger, female or  Global Majority staff stepping into leadership roles? 

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03:18 – 04:09

04:09 – 05:47

05:47 – 07:25

07:25 – 08:51

08:51 – 10:34

10:34 – 15:00

This two-minute trailer offers a glimpse into a powerful 15-minute episode about real culture change — how an organisation found clearer boundaries, a more sustainable office culture, and space for younger and more culturally diverse leadership to thrive.

In the full episode, you’ll hear Luna’s leadership story. It’s compelling — a British Black woman stepping into new leadership identities in a youth-focused organisation, growing alongside younger learners, and finding a more grounded sense of personal power.

If you want to hear more, head to the full episode.

00:00 – 00:10

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00:30 – 01:00

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01:30 – 01:55

01:55 – 02:00

#CultureChange #LeadershipDevelopment #GlobalMajorityLeadership #BlackWomenLead #YouthWork #OrganisationalDevelopment #LDPodcast #WorkplaceCulture #CoachingCulture #AntiRacismAtWork #LearningAndDevelopment #PositiveWorkplace  #1AMtalks

What does inclusive learning design look like for a culture change journey? In this 1AM Talks trailer, we share with you what’s in Episode 3, where we join Aurora Arista and Luna Ali from Spiral Learning — an organisation supporting young adults from underrepresented backgrounds.

They discuss how a Coaching and Culture-Change Programme was created to strengthen communication, accountability and wellbeing, support staff's work with young adults, while staying true to the charity’s values of inclusion and safeguarding.

Hear how leadership, embedding diversity and values alignment,  are driving themes in an organisational  journey, that aims to support both staff and impact on the young people they work with.

#LearningAndDevelopment #CultureChange #InclusiveLeadership #YouthDevelopment #Safeguarding #OrganisationalDevelopment #EDIB #WorkplaceWellbeing #qualityatwork

🤔How do you help busy staff engage, grow and make confident career decisions when they’re stretched  and not yet ready to focus? In this episode of 1AM talks, we explore that practical challenge  - something nearly every  for every Head of L&D, OD, organisational  coach and facilitator faces. 

At South London NHS  Mental Health Trust , Amanda Cummins and Karen Nelson and other staff  took part in a coaching programme and a  communication skills workshop — that led to real workplace impact: clearer career direction, renewed confidence, several  promotions, study choices and role changes across the team.

Hosts Andry McFarlane and Rachael Palmer join Amanda and Karen for a 360° look at impact and learning journeys; simple grounding practices that helped staff be focused and resourceful, managers taking part in the same learning as everyone else, and thoughtful workshop preparation that ensured everyone came more ready to learn.

Karen, a woman of colour with lived experience of mental health, describes how being genuinely understood by her coach gave her the skills to ground herself daily — and gave others the confidence to speak up, take initiative and influence colleagues at work. Amanda reflects on seeing every team member make a decisive move in their professional journey — proof of how presence  and confidence translate directly into career growth and talent development.

For internal coaches and trainers, this episode offers practical insights into how to make learning stick in pressured environments by:

It’s a reminder that when any learning begins with a good foundation, people don’t just learn better — they also act differently, in ways that have a positive impact on their work and careers.

🎧 We’d love to know your thoughts: What helps you create the right conditions for staff to focus and grow when they are not yet ready for learning?

⏱ Episode guide

🎧 For coaches and facilitators who want to see visible impact — from confidence to career growth.

Guest Details: 

Amanda Cummins and Karen Nelson at South London NHS  Mental Health Trusthttps://www.linkedin.com/company/south-west-london-and-st-george's-mental-health-nhs-trust/?originalSubdomain=uk

#WorkplaceCoaching #LearningAndDevelopment #CareerDevelopment #CoachingCulture #PsychologicalSafety #SpeakingUp #Grounding #LeadershipDevelopment #WellbeingAtWork #1AMtalks