L&D Disrupt

L&D in the hybrid world of work has its challenges, but also lots of opportunities. In this episode we’re joined by Jeni Brown, Chief People Officer at Teamwork, the team collaboration software used by over 350,000 organisations. Listen in as we discuss how L&D can create a digital-first learning culture that really helps people to grow in this new world of work.

Running order: 

0:00 Intro

01:19 Pivoting to hybrid working

03:20 Digital first onboarding

05:53 Communicating culture remotely

07:49 The need for content creation

12:14 Measuring performance

14:55 Outcomes over output

16:55 The evolution of collaborative learning

19:31 Ensuring successful buy-in

24:07 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Jeni on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeni-brown-6953037/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

​Congratulations, you've just bagged your new exciting job in L&D! Like every role, you want to hit the ground running, to make things happen as fast as possible and prove your worth.​But is sprinting off from the L&D starting line the right approach? Or should you be more measured and thoughtful in your first 90 days?  

Join Alex Anderson and Artheka Sivaharan in this live episode as they answer things like:  ​

How long should you spend ‘figuring things out’ before you start developing solutions?

What’s the best way to facilitate meaningful conversations with your colleagues to get as much insight as possible?

How you can challenge the stakeholder misconception and common narrative that you're there to provide exactly what they ask for?

Running Order 

00:33 Intro

05:10 Overcoming the challenges of joining a company remotely

06:56 Getting the most out of initial conversations

07:56 Figuring out where to focus your time and energy

11:12 Communicating the position of L&D to the rest of the business

13:58 Managing stakeholder relationships

16:51 Agreeing on realistic expectations

19:04 When should you start implementing strategies?

22:18 Transitioning into a startup

23:29 Keeping employees at heart of L&D

26:40 How do you define success?

30:16 Deciding which data to collect

33:00 Structured vs. open learning pathways

38:38 Getting stakeholders to create content

43:23 Enhancing the DEI culture

48:50 Would you do anything differently?

How to connect

Find Artheka on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artheka-sivaharan-assoc-cipd-38852714b/

Find Alex on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandersonuj/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

We’re shaking things up in this episode as we’re joined by HowNow’s very own Head of Customer Success, Lulu Dermeche. Lulu has tons experience helping customers to implement L&D, and today we’re making the most of her expertise to help you successfully launch your L&D strategy!

Running Order:

00:00 Intro

02:13 Are you communicating the ‘why’? (1)

04:46 Thinking like a marketer! (2)

06:40 Involve your stakeholders at the right time (3)

08:56 Examples of great marketing

11:12 Finding your L&D champions (4)

15:25 Focus in on the problems you want to solve (5)

20:58 Get employees creating content (6)

22:52 Everybody is knowledgable!

How to connect:

Find Lulu on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luciledermeche/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

How can you make employee mental health a priority in fast-paced startups? That's the topic we tackled in the very first edition of L&D Disrupt Live! James Routledge, Lauren Cunningham and Will Beaton joined us to answer questions like:

Running Order

04:50 Why should startups make mental health a priority?

07:25 Why it’s taken so long for mental health to get on the agenda

08:41 Can you spot when efforts are just performative?

13:19 Bringing a wellbeing team into the business

15:00 How to position a business case for wellbeing initiatives

19:43 Rolling out new measures in a hybrid setting

21:49 Empowering leaders to drive mental wellbeing across teams

23:45 Keeping volunteers engaged and inspired

26:23 The importance of making people feel heard

28:15 Which metrics should we be looking at?

31:27 What to do when you feel like a cultural misfit

37:38 Creating a strategy in a startup vs larger corporate company

40:45 How can you prevent burnout in startups?

46:18 Taking control of your own wellbeing

47:43 Is there a clash between growing revenue and a people-first culture?

53:13 What’s one thing you can do this week to move the needle?

How to connect:

Find James on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdroutledge1/

Find Lauren on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenleacunningham/

Find Will on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-beaton-24228b106/

Find Nelson on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/ 

Find HowNow on: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

You’re the first ever L&D hire in a startup and you have a complete blank slate to work with - but where on earth do you start? Artheka Sivaharan, Learning and Development Lead at MyTutor, was in this exact position just a few months ago. Listen to the episode to hear exactly how Artheka handled the situation as she shares her best tips for growing L&D from the ground up.

Running order:

01:15 How do you know when you should bring in an L&D person?

02:18 Where do you start when you have a blank slate?

03:51 Directing people away from self-prescribing

06:33 Positioning the value of L&D

08:15 Choosing which problems to tackle first

09:58 Using data to build business cases

11:10 Creating a business case proposal

16:22 The benefits of working in sprints

18:48 Getting tangible results

21:30 Supporting your first L&D hire

23:33 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Artheka on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artheka-sivaharan-assoc-cipd-38852714b/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

In this episode of L&D Disrupt we’re joined by Sara Frasi, Senior People Partner L&D at Native Instruments. Throughout this conversation we explore a really important and exciting part of L&D; supporting employees to become autonomous learners. Stay tuned to hear Sara and I delve into topics from learning budgets and time blocking right through to empowering employees to own their development. 

Running order:

01:23 The importance of a bottom up approach

03:14 Changing mindsets within an organisation

05:00 Getting employees to look at L&D in a different way

06:31 A good manager conversation blueprint

07:43 How can we get managers more involved?

09:58 Empowering employees to own their development

11:42 Choosing learning budgets

14:41 Defining and measuring ROI

17:58 Creating a culture of learning

21:06 Curating content

23:00 Time blocking: does it work?

25:30 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Sara on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarafrasi/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

Deb Gallo, Learning & Development Director at SentinelOne, joins us this week to discuss the highlights and challenges of scaling L&D in a high growth organisation. Deb shares fantastic advice on a wide range of topics, from managing the changing requirements of a fast-growing business to bringing a company culture to life. The episode is packed with expert insight that you certainly don’t want to miss, so sit back and enjoy!

Running Order:

01:18 When should you make your first L&D hire?

03:29 The pros and cons of implementing L&D in different sized businesses

06:24 How do you work out what the business needs?

07:34 Pre-empting the changing requirements of a fast-growing business

09:15 Minimum Viable Product mindset

11:58 Walking the walk in L&D

12:54 How do you know if your solution is working?

15:12 Delivering learning in a hybrid setting

21:10 When does it make sense to create rather than curate content?

22:55 L&D’s role in scaling culture

26:32 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Deb on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deboragallo/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

In this week's episode we speak with Doug Ellin - People Partner L&D at GoHenry. Doug is incredibly passionate about serving the internal customer, and shares his experiences of using this insight to carve out successful, tailored L&D solutions. Throughout the conversation we cover everything from getting to know your internal customer to tracking whether your interventions are successful or not. This conversation is a wonderful testament to the fact that L&D should always be about people before anything else and we can’t wait for you to listen!

Running order

01:13 How do you get to know your internal customer?

04:46 Using this knowledge to help you deliver better L&D

06:00 The steps you need to take before developing the L&D strategy

09:38 Identifying the influencers within a business

12:43 Striking the balance between addressing people’s training requests but giving the business what it actually needs

17:15 Working out what to include in an L&D solution to make it successful

20:26 Ways to track if your interventions are working

24:07 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Doug on: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-ellin/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

Lavinia Mehedințu, Learning & Development Content Curator at Offbeat, is our podcast guest this week. There’s no doubt about it, Lavinia has a genuine passion for learning, and her enthusiasm in this episode is bound to rub off on you. This episode will help you level up the knowledge sharing within your organisation, and features some great advice on how to make your curated content more relevant than ever before. Enjoy!

Running Order:

01:58 Why content curation - how did it all begin?

04:11 Using analytics to shape content curation

06:23 What L&D can learn from other fields

07:40 Putting the focus on our user’s needs

10:19 The unrealistic expectations faced by L&D teams

12:31 Building an L&D community

14:09 Fostering a collaborative environment

16:55 Lavinia’s 3 personal learnings from building an L&D community

18:34 How L&D can use behavioral science to influence work

21:39 The future of Offbeat

22:25 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Lavinia on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniamehedintu/

Offbeat Website: https://offbeat.works/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/

Creating a progressive company culture is a challenge in itself, but once you’ve nailed this, how do you then effectively scale it within a high-paced organisation that is growing rapidly? Luckily, we have Tina Phillips joining us on this episode to offer some insight. Tina has a truly impressive wealth of experience to share - from training hiring managers to acknowledge their unconscious bias, to creating a culture where everyone feels safe enough to give and receive feedback - if company culture is your thing, this one’s for you. 

Running order:

0:00 Introduction to this week’s episode

1:57 Unique challenges around scaling cultures in high-growth organisations

4:09 The benefits of hiring slow

6:54 Training interviewers to be aware of unconscious biases

12:43 How do you change people's mindset around bias and bring them on that journey with you?

15:36 Successfully communicating the company culture

19:34 The leaders in a business aren’t acting in line with the company culture - what now?

24:46 Creating a culture where everyone feels safe enough to give and receive feedback

29:18 Quickfire round

How to connect

Find Tina on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinateeto/

Find Nelson on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonsivalingam/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatNelsonDude

Find HowNow on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hownowhq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hownowteam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hownowhq/

Our Website: https://gethownow.com/