Frontline Unscripted

To go or not to go? That is the question when it comes to industry events.

The conference landscape changed dramatically in 2020 as in-person events were replaced by online activities. Today, employees have hundreds of online options - webinars, events, podcasts, livestreams - to support of their development. Does this mean in-person conferences are a thing of the past, or are they still a meaningful part of professional development that’s worth the investment?

David Kelly, CEO of The Learning Guild, sits down with JD Dillon to discuss the realities of industry events in our increasingly hybrid workplace. David shares his perspective on the value of in-person conferences along with his vision for enabling professional development across the global L&D community. David also previews The Guild’s upcoming Learning 2022 (Orlando) and DevLearn (Las Vegas) conferences.

Plus, JD shares 10 expert tips for getting the most of our your conference experience.

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube Channel.

Pre-order JD's new book - The Modern Learning Ecosystem - before it drops on November 29, 2022 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ATD. Learn more at jdwroteabook.com.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

Bring your skills strategy to life!

The skills conversation is everywhere. Everyone appears to want skills - people's proven ability to do the work - to be the foundation of their workforce strategies. It makes sense - on paper. But there are still plenty of questions left to be answered, including: 

• What is a skill?
• How do you measure skills?
• How do you operationalize skill data to improve the employee experience and add value to the business?

Dani Johnson, Co-Founder and Principal at RedThread Research, stops by to set the record straight on skills. Dani and JD Dillon explore the potential for skill-based approaches to transform talent development.

JD also breaks down his biggest issue with the ongoing remote work debate.

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube Channel.

Read the RedThread article that inspired this conversation.

JD's new book - The Modern Learning Ecosystem - is available for pre-order via Amazon and ATD. Learn more at jdwroteabook.com.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

Turn off the training firehose!

Here’s the biggest secret about workplace learning: people are built to forget. We can only retain so much information in a short period. This is why traditional courses don’t work - people aren’t built to learn that way. Instead, L&D should deliver and reinforce training in short bursts over extended periods. Instead of relying on courses, think about learning programs as campaigns.

Amy Wallace, Vice President of Learning and Development at Members 1st Federal Credit Union, joins JD Dillon to share her insights into campaign-based learning. Amy and JD discuss the process of breaking down courses into short, digestible bites as well as how learning campaigns can help you move beyond check-the-box compliance and drive measurable behavior change. 

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube Channel.

JD's new book - The Modern Learning Ecosystem - is available for pre-order via Amazon and ATD. Learn more at jdwroteabook.com. 

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

What do L&D professionals actually do?

It can be hard for L&D pros to explain their jobs to people outside the profession. Sometimes they’re teachers. Sometimes they’re media designers. And sometimes they’re the people who make employees finish those boring compliance courses. In reality, L&D is a dynamic profession with lots of opportunity for people with different interests and skills.

Do you know your options for building a career in L&D? Does your company have the right L&D roles in place to properly enable your business?

Tracie Cantu, Senior Manager - Talent Operations at Atlassian, joins JD Dillon to discuss L&D careers. They share their L&D origin stories and explore some less familiar L&D jobs that play critical roles in modern learning and enablement functions. 

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube channel.

Follow JD on LinkedIn to catch his daily BIG LIST of Cool L&D jobs.

Pre-order JD's new book - The Modern Learning Ecosystem - via Amazon or ATD.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

The news is hot off the press: Axonify acquired Nudge! Together, we’re about to take the frontline digital experience to the next level.

What does this partnership mean for frontline employers? How is Axonify going to transform the employee experience through learning, communication and execution technology? And how can we help companies become employers of choice in a competitive talent marketplace?

JD Dillon is joined by Jordan Ekers, Co-Founder and COO at Nudge, to share our vision for the not-so-distant future of the frontline employee experience.

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube channel.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

L&D professionals are lifelong learners who inherently understand the importance of ongoing skill development. But do they prioritize building their own skillset to keep up with the rapid changes in the workplace? Unfortunately, the biggest irony in workplace learning is how little professional development the learning and development people tend to do.

JD Dillon is joined by John Hinchliffe, Head of Engagement at Jam Pan and Founder of the Global Learning and Development Community (GLDC). They debate the essential skills L&D pros need to be successful in today's workplace as well as best practices for continuous development during a rousing game of Agree to Disagree.

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube channel.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

Content is a constant headache in workplace learning. It’s expensive to buy. It’s time consuming to build and maintain. And most of it sits on a shelf unused. Delivering good training content is hard. Doing it in an engaging way at the speed required is almost impossible … or is it?

Let’s find out how a modern content strategy can save time, money and headaches. JD is joined by Ingrid Carreres - Senior Bilingual Instructional Designer at Sonnet Insurance. Ingrid  explains how her team leverages a strategic mix of OTS and home-grown content to deliver timely, relevant training that boosts L&D credibility and drives results.

BONUS: JD showcases Axonify's new AI Content Assistant!

BONUS BONUS: JD shares the exciting news of Axonify's acquisition of Nudge!!

Check out this case study to learn more about Sonnet's strategy for training frontline advisors.

Watch the full video of this episode on the Axonify YouTube channel.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

How difficult is writing a GOOD multiple-choice question?

a) It’s so easy anyone can do it.
b) It’s a standard skill for all L&D professionals.
c) There’s a lot more that goes into it than most people realize.

The answer is always C - and that’s the problem! A well-written multiple-choice question can efficiently measure a wide range of important learning outcomes - not just recall. Unfortunately, we’ve all taken bad tests with unclear questions, tricky distractors and answer choices packed with so much legalese that the correct option is obvious.

So what constitutes a GOOD multiple choice question? Let’s ask Patti Shank, PhD, International-recognized learning expert and author of Write Better Multiple-Choice Questions To Assess Learning. JD and Patti discuss the benefits of good questions, how to write them and why they’re an essential part of a modern workplace learning strategy.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

Mickey Mouse. Harry Potter. Cara North!

The ATD International Conference & Expo is the biggest event of the year in workplace learning and performance in North America. But don’t worry if you couldn’t make it to Orlando for ATD22. We’ve got you covered!

JD breaks down the #ATD22 experience with Cara North, Director of Learning and Development at Circulo Health. They explore the most popular trends from the event along with big ideas that are making a real impact on workplace performance. JD and Cara also discuss topics that didn’t get enough airtime and what it means for the L&D profession.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.

Playing games at work? What a waste of time! Or is it …

Gamification has been a hotly debated topic in L&D for the past 15 years. Some people contend that it’s just a buzzword. Others swear by its ability to foster motivation and build good learning habits. Gamification is more than adding points and leaderboards to boring eLearning. To do it right, you must thoughtfully apply the right mix of mechanics based on a deep understanding of your workplace culture.

Let’s settle the gamification debate once and for all with the man who literally wrote the book on the subject. JD is joined by Karl Kapp - professor, author and gamification consultant - for a no-nonsense conversation on the dos and don’ts of gamification. Karl also gives us a behind the scenes look at his new YouTube series - The Unofficial, Unauthorized History of Learning Games.

In The Know is brought to you by Axonify, the mobile-first training and communication solution that helps make sure your frontline workforce is ready for anything. To learn more about Axonify’s digital learning experience and check out success stories from companies like O’Reilly Auto Parts, Longo’s, Briscoe Group, Citizen’s Bank, MOL Group and Etihad Airways, visit axonify.com.