“I think we had great intent, but we never really cracked it. Now AI has come along and, frankly, cracked it for us.”

Patrick Mullarkey was talking about those unsolved problems in L&D here: like just in time learning or learning in the flow of work.

But really, it applies to a lot of the roles and responsibilities that no longer exist or are diminishing as the world changes - driven by AI, but lots of other things too.

“Worst case scenario, if you're holding on to a role or connotations of a role as it is today, in the next year, 18 months… then 50-70%, maybe more of that role, will have to evolve, dissolve or be redesigned.”

But this isn’t doom and gloom. It creates an opportunity to reshape what L&D looks like in many different ways, including:

• Mastering facilitation for this new era

• Delivering experiences that meet employee expectations

• Moving from owner to collaborator in some areas

• The culture needed to drive desired behaviours

• Taking a more commercial approach

You can connect with Patrick here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mullarkeypj/ 

L&D should do this, that and the other - we hear it a lot.

But is clinging on to what we should do getting in the way of us doing some really great work?

“The shoulds don't always harmonise with the lived reality of what it's like to go to work every day.

“And in my experience from what I've seen, that results not only in sometimes a hampered ability to do our job, but it sets ourselves up for feeling frustrated, feeling unappreciated, feeling undervalued. That isn't helpful for us, and it's not helpful for the organisation.”

Kristin Neumayer (Head of Enablement at IXOPAY) talked us through the mindset needed to let go of should, what happens when you do, and how to approach problems once you have.

“I have become busier and more productive than I ever have in previous jobs once I let go of what I should do and telling other people how they should interact with me.”

You can connect with Kristin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-neumayer/

The In L&D Podcast is brought you by inrehearsal. You can learn more about our human-first content library at inrehearsal.com

“When we think of stakeholders, they often come to us with a problem and the root cause of that problem is very rarely a knowledge gap, right? A lot of the time it's a business problem that they want to solve.”

They want to improve revenue, improve performance, or help customer service - and that flips the conversation to solving performance problems, not just chucking learning solutions at it.

Peter Mitchell (Retail Learning & Development Business Partner at Entain) talked us through his experiences focusing on how to solve performance challenges, including:

- Understanding people’s real problems and priorities.

- Why letting go of completion metrics can help.

- Getting buy-in from the business while being able to push back.

- Questions to ask when dealing with problem statements

- Examples of when learning hasn’t been the answer.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmitche1/

“Knowledge, confidence and momentum. I think if you hit all three of those, that's the real sweet spot of real lasting change, both information wise and behaviourally.”That’s how Joe Murphy approaches learning experiences and facilitation, and he joined us to chat through each stage in detail.

You’ll learn ways to make knowledge stick, how to build in touchpoints for building confidence, and hear Joe’s advice on building momentum after training.

“If you get the knowledge right, it builds the confidence and as a result of that it gives that learner the momentum to take and make the journey themselves their own when they leave the classroom.”

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-murph3

And the LinkedIn post we discussed in the episode here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joe-murph3_%F0%9D%97%9E%F0%9D%97%BB%F0%9D%97%BC%F0%9D%98%84%F0%9D%97%B9%F0%9D%97%B2%F0%9D%97%B1%F0%9D%97%B4%F0%9D%97%B2-%F0%9D%97%96%F0%9D%97%BC%F0%9D%97%BB%F0%9D%97%B3%F0%9D%97%B6%F0%9D%97%B1%F0%9D%97%B2%F0%9D%97%BB%F0%9D%97%B0%F0%9D%97%B2-activity-7472714736640561153-zTLX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABJR0rwBr8IlMRDOHaJlPa41vLpwrO9JryE

In L&D, there are thousands of things we could do.

But doing our best work means being realistic.

• Realistic about how much time people can dedicate to learning.

• Realistic about the context, policies and constraints of the organisation.

• Realistic about what learning can - and can't - change.

That's exactly what we explored with Francesca Jones - how to take a more realistic approach and the benefits of doing so.

“The question isn't can we do this? The question is if we do it and it works, what changes? What is the purpose of this?”

In the episode, we discuss:

• What volunteering taught Fran about co-creation and learning design.

• The difference between effective and frustrated L&D practitioners.

• The realities of leveraging social media for learning.

• Building learning around the reality of your organisation.

• Where Fran uses AI - and what it shouldn't replace.

You can connect with Francesca Jones on LinkedIn here.

L&D needs a seat at the table. To add business value. To change its perception in a business.Okay, but what are we doing about it? This is the fair question Ryan Meyer asked at the start of the episode!

How can we be more proactive to ensure we’re at the forefront of solving those big challenges? 

“I think the proactivity piece is for us to know that our industry is fundamentally changing. And if we want to be the voice that directs how the industry and our profession is changing, then we need to be the ones speaking about how it needs to change.”

Ryan took us through how he’s being more proactive and strategic in his role, including:

• Becoming more confident in pushing back.

• Asking the right questions using the COM-B Model.

• Slowing down and taking more time with challenges.

• Getting comfortable with more uncomfortable metrics.

• Building a roadmap to communicate clearly around business needs.

You can connect with Ryan on LinkedIn here.

"If everyone in the profession hears we're broken often enough, it really starts to affect how they see their own work. It affects how they pitch, how ambitious they're willing to be…”

Kim Rodrigues (Natwest Group) described this as giving ourselves a narrative problem on top of a practice problem.

But we can shift that narrative! By recognising when great work is being done, sharing it openly and prioritising progress over perfection.

Kim shared some great examples of this happening in practice that she’s seen recently, including:

• A shift in mandatory learning with pre-assessment that respect people’s knowledge.

• Delivering a learning experience for branch managers by nailing the design intent.

• Measurement maps that help them get a deeper understanding of KPIs and outcomes.

  
  

  Connect with Kim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-rodrigues-04248516/

  
  

It’s easy to fall into the L&D trap of thinking: If it’s visible and something people can attend, it’ll solve my problems.

And that can lead us to creating structured, formal, course-based learning… but is that really how people build capabilities?

Charlie Kokorus-Todd (L&D Manager at Proper Snacks) summed it up perfectly:

“Learning is so very different to what capability is, they're not the same thing. They're messy, they're contextual.

“I think application is key. and sometimes we worry so much about what the design looks like, and have I got a set of pretty slides, and how big is my content library? And we're actually missing the point of what that looks like in application in the real world.”

Charlie shared some great advice on building for application and capability: learning to love the problem, asking consultative questions, understanding the current environment, building towards the future state, and lessons from an L&D role in manufacturing.

We’re often told that L&D needs to rebrand to get a seat at the table, but it’s not as simple as that…

L&D builds credibility and trust by connecting what it does to business outcomes.

And there are challenges that come with this too, as Sarah Wood explains on this episode of In L&D. You have to be pragmatic about how much influence you have, your access to key data, when you’re brought into projects.

Working within those constraints, rather than following the pie in the sky thinking of rebranding, might help you do your best work!

As Sarah puts it: “Constraints aren't bad. You can do a lot within them."

Learning doesn’t happen in isolation — it happens in relationships.

That’s the belief Amie Boylan brought to the very first episode of In L&D…

Amie is currently Alzheimer's Society’s Income & Engagement Academy Lead and has loads of experience in coaching and development.

She’s also the Co-Founder of You're Invited, delivering joyful and creative experiences that help people play, learn, and connect

In our conversation, we explored how Amie gave people a platform to share expertise, how she built advocates for the Manager Academy, why you have to think about what’s in it for the other person, owning mistakes, being authentic and loads more.

You can connect with Amie on LinkedIn and follow the You’re Invited page here.