Learning for Good | L&D Solutions and Leadership Development for Nonprofits

Are you listening to your learners?
In this episode, our guest is strategic listener Emily Taylor. With a background in human-centered design, Emily is an expert listener. I've worked with Emily before and she's helped me and my clients be better listeners so we can identify skill gaps and create tailored training and resources to support behavior change.
She's sharing some of her best tips in this episode, so you can too.

▶️ How This One Needs Analysis Method Can Improve Your Nonprofit Training with Emily Taylor

▶️ Key Points:
00:58 Why listening is so important
07:40 Making listening part of your nonprofit training process
09:49 What makes listening challenging for talent development teams
13:15 The benefits of listening to learners in your nonprofit training
18:09 Do this one thing to improve how you listen to your staff right now

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

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Connect with Emily
LinkedIn: Emily Taylor
Website: teenybig.com

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

I couldn't do what I do as a training and leadership development consultant to nonprofits without my support system, and you need a support system too.

You are doing the work day in and day out to lead your L&D team (if you’re a supervisor), engage with your internal partners, and deliver quality learning experiences. There is a lot that goes into this.

That’s why on today’s episode, we’re talking about the four partners every L&D team should have.

▶️ Four Partners Every L&D Team Should Have

▶️ Key Points:
00:58 Why your L&D team needs partners
03:27 The importance of a support system
05:57 Four partners every L&D team should have

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

In this episode, I’ve invited Karen Knight, volunteer extraordinaire, to give us some specific ways we can supercharge our nonprofit’s volunteer training.

The demand for nonprofit services has increased, but the number of volunteers has decreased before and since COVID. It’s important that volunteers are trained well so that they have a good volunteering experience, and continue to volunteer.

This is the first episode that we have had specifically on volunteer training and I can’t wait for you to hear everything Karen has to share.

▶️ 5 Ways to Supercharge Your Nonprofit's Volunteer Training with Karen Knight

▶️ Key Points:
04:11 Karen’s volunteer journey
07:18 The definition of volunteers and volunteering
10:25 Why it's important to train volunteers
14:07 Challenges in volunteer training
19:19 Supercharge your nonprofit volunteer training

Resources from this episode:
Episodes on creating training that is relevant, meaningful, and fun:
▶️ Episode 73: The Forgetting Curve: How to Make Your New Training More Memorable
▶️ Episode 63: 4 Ways to Use Humor and Storytelling in Your Nonprofit Training with Gita Kulkarni
▶️ Episode 36: How Nonprofit Learning and Development Leaders Can Use Play to Create Organizational Change with Acey Holmes
▶️ Episode 07: Do THIS and You Will Never Have a Boring Virtual Training Again with Melissa Dinwiddie

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Karen
LinkedIn: Karen Knight
Website: karenknight.ca

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

As I think about all the challenges nonprofits face, all the burnout nonprofit leaders experience, and all the amazing things they want to accomplish, I am consistently reminded of how important strong trusting relationships really are.
That's why on this episode, I want to explore how good instructional design can break down silos and build those relationships in your nonprofit.

▶️ How Good Instructional Design Can Break Down Silos in Your Nonprofit

▶️ Key Points:
00:58 Why we need to build good relationships in nonprofits=
02:31 How training can support relationship building
03:14 4 Ways to build relationships through training

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

Today’s guest is Matt Gjertsen, former Air Force instructor pilot and founder of Better Everyday Studios. He is giving us an outside perspective on behavior change and bringing some great insights to the nonprofit sector.

Why are we surprised when we want our learners to change something and they don't? 

Behavior change is a funny thing and even a simple change can feel very complex. We have to intentionally design for behavior change at every step in the process.

▶️ Make People Uncomfortable: How Your Nonprofit's Training Can Improve Behavior with Matt Gjertsen

▶️ Key Points:
05:19 The importance of focusing on behavior change in Learning and Development
09:50 The risk of not focusing on behavior change in Learning and Development
14:24 Deciding which behavior to focus on
17:51 Two things an L&D leader can do to make sure their training is creating behavior change
21:16 Getting as specific as possible with the behavior you're trying to change

Resources from this episode:
Take a look at these past episodes on behavior change:
▶️ Episode 16: Use THIS Process if You Want to Create Behavior Change with Training
▶️ Episode 32: 5 Coaching Questions to Spark Behavior Change in Your People Managers

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Matt
LinkedIn: Matt Gjertsen
Website: bettereverydaystudios.com

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

Why does change fail? There are a lot of reasons, but most of them come down to people. And if we're talking about people, L&D needs to be involved.

That’s why on this episode of the podcast, I wanted to share the fastest way to organizational change and explore L&Ds role in change.

▶️ Why Change Initiatives Fail? Should L&D Be Involved in Change Management?

▶️ Key Points:
02:49 Why change initiatives fail
03:49 Creating a strategic people plan
07:33 Should L&D be involved in organizational change?

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

In this episode of Learning for Good, my guest, Quilen Blackwell is taking us inside his nonprofit, Southside Blooms. They grew from zero to 60 employees in just four short years. That means they onboarded a lot of staff and learned a lot along the way.

He’s sharing his experience with us, what worked and what didn’t, so you can take a look at your own onboarding program and make sure you're creating a lasting memory that helps your staff feel ready to take on that important role you hired them to do.

▶️ From 0 to 60 Employees in 4 Years:  How this Nonprofit Onboarded and Trained Staff to Scale their Mission with Quilen Blackwell

▶️ Key Points:
05:09 An inner look at the Southside Blooms nonprofit
12:22 Nonprofit scaling challenges
16:26 Onboarding and training staff for success
20:31 Utilizing virtual resources to scale your nonprofit
22:04 Advice for nonprofits creating onboarding programs

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Quilen
LinkedIn: Quilen Blackwell
Website: southsideblooms.com

Connect with Heather
LinkedIn: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

People love communities. But not all communities are created equal.

I have a learning community and it can be hard. It's not hard to create; that was pretty easy. But it's hard to get people to engage. That's where the work is.

To get better at this, I've been reading books and listening to podcasts about community and I've been reflecting on communities that I'm a part of. I want to share some of the things I've learned.

That’s why in this episode, I give you three tips for creating a thriving learning community in your organization.

▶️ WARNING: Do Not Create a Learning Community Yet (Wait Until You Hear this Episode)

▶️ Key Points:
04:41 Communicating the value of a learning community
08:06 Encouraging learning community participation
09:52 Prioritizing relationships in your learning community

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

In nonprofits, we have limited budgets. This means we need to be able to prioritize the training and professional development opportunities to be created. How do we do this?
With people data.
But what data should we be asking for and how can we use it once we get it? That’s what we’re discussing in today’s episode of the Learning for Good podcast with data expert, Dr. Serena Huang.

▶️ New to People Data? Here are the First 3 Things Nonprofit Talent Development Leaders Should Do

▶️ Key Points:
06:37 What is people data?
10:54 Collecting people data to show training impact
15:15 Using data to solve a problem or answer a question
19:47 High Potential Leadership Development Program data example
24:54 The value of using people data when creating training and leadership development solutions
27:23 Three things learning and development leaders should do with people data

Resources from this episode:
Serena’s LinkedIn Learning Course: The Data Science of Using People Analytics

Data Episodes:
▶️ Episode 59: How to Measure the Impact of Your Training and Development
▶️ Episode 72: How Learning and Development Can Use Data to Create a Greater Impact in Training

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Serena
LinkedIn: Dr. Serena Huang
Website: datawithserena.com

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

With burnout at an all-time high and becoming a global trend, you need more than the occasional wellness perk to tackle it.
If well-being in your organization is a top priority for you, but you aren't sure how to move from yoga and happy hours to something more meaningful, then this episode is for you.
I’m discussing how to create a holistic plan for well-being that fits seamlessly into your HR and talent development strategies with well-being expert Dave Allman.

▶️ Well-Being at Work | Forget Sporadic Happy Hours. Get a Strategy Instead

▶️ Key Points:
03:44 Wellbeing@Work in Partnership with Gallup
08:22 Dave’s well-being journey
12:01 The meaning of well-being versus wellness
16:56 Using Wellbeing@Work as an individual
18:47 Using Wellbeing@Work as a nonprofit

Resources from this episode:
Well-Being Episodes:
▶️ Episode 67: A Well-Being Approach to Leadership Development
▶️ Episode 38: Dealing with Corporate Burnout? One Easy Way to Manage Stress as a Nonprofit Leader with Jessie Pagliari
▶️ Episode 30: Why Well-Being Is The Secret Sauce to Change Management with Mandy Sharp Eizinger

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Dave
LinkedIn: Dave Allman
Website: wbatwork.com

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms