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

I am so excited for today's episode; it's an Ask Me Anything episode and I've collected some great questions from listeners just like you, as well as from past clients. 
There's one thing you should know. You can ask me anything, anytime.
But in today’s episode, we cover questions on everything from custom competency models and competency assessments to email training for nonprofit organizations.

▶️  Listener Q&A: Addressing Key Nonprofit L&D Challenges 

▶️ Key Points:
03:23 Using a custom competency model to prioritize training
07:33 Where to begin with L&D in small organizations
09:58 The greatest challenges for contemporary trainers
11:23 Making a large training group feel more intimate
13:43 The role of competency assessments in ensuring staff are equipped with the necessary skills to succeed
16:11 How email training works
18:21 How to ensure that training is engaging

Resources from this episode:
Competency Model Episodes:
Episode 39: Ask These Two Questions to Identify Your Nonprofit's Core Competencies
Episode 20: How to Determine Which Competencies Are Right for You
Episode 19: One Nonprofit's Honest Opinion after 6 Months with a Competency Model
Episode 18: Four Reasons Your Competencies Don't Work
Competency assessment episodes:
Episode 11: Three Types of Assessments that Pay Off for Your Hybrid Workforce
Episode 12: The Secret to Making Leadership Assessments Work
Episode 41: Not Sure Where to Start with Personalized Learning? Three Tips for Nonprofits
Doing the unexpected in trainings:
Episode 07: Do THIS and You Will Never Have a Boring Virtual Training Again with Melissa Dinwiddie
Episode 36: How Nonprofit Learning and Development Leaders Can Use Play to Create Organizational Change

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
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Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather

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 we're getting an inside look at the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective - a free virtual community for talent management, DEI, and learning and development leaders to share ideas and learn from each other.
I’ll be sharing what the Nonprofit L&D Collective is (and what it isn’t), the value of the Nonprofit L&D Collective, and what exactly goes on inside of it.

▶️ Want L&D Solutions And a Network of L&D Professionals Available 24/7? An Inside Look at the Nonprofit L&D Collective

▶️ Key Points:
01:21 What prompted me to create the Nonprofit L&D Collective
04:48 What is the Nonprofit L&D Collective?
06:05 The value of the Nonprofit L&D Collective
8:15 What goes on inside the Collective

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

As Learning and Development leaders, we spend so much of our time thinking about training.
Who needs training? What do they need? How will it benefit them? How will it benefit the organization? What is the value and ROI?
Today, I want to explore the qualitative impact of training. That's why I'm bringing the stories of impact from across my network. These are stories that were shared with me by previous guests and listeners just like you and I'm so honored to share them with you here today.

▶️ What is the Real Value of Training? 

▶️ Key Points:
05:43 Getting out of your comfort zone with Danielle Gines
07:08 Not making assumptions with Tim Lockie
09:34 Focusing on a growth mindset with Michelle Velasquez
12:21 The value of coaches with Marnie Van Wyk
14:06 The impact of training on leadership with Kay Meredith
15:38 Applying learning with Alanna Hughes
17:35 Never stop learning with Sonya Perez-Lauterbach

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 Guests on LinkedIn
Danielle Gines
Tim Lockie
Michelle Velasquez
Marnie Van Wyk
Kay Meredith
Alanna Hughes
Sonya Perez-Lauterbach

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

We need a training.

You've probably been approached by someone in your nonprofit telling you this. They didn't come saying we have a problem, or can you help us? They said, “we need a training.” But we all know that training isn't always the answer. And while we can set up processes to help mitigate how often this happens, it still happens. And this is one reason it's helpful to proactively identify skill development opportunities in your nonprofit.

That's what we're talking about today.

▶️ Why You Should Proactively Identify Skill Development Opportunities

▶️ Key Points:
03:36 Building Cross-Organizational Bonds
04:50 Unveiling L&D's Potential
05:36 Calendar Control
06:19 Empowering Your Team

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

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

When I decided to do an episode on identifying learner needs, I wanted to showcase an organization that used multiple approaches and saw results from their work. That's why I've invited Trang Truong-Hill from the YMCA of the USA to join me today to explore a project that we've worked on together as well as many other projects they have going on inside of this nonprofit.
Trang shares how her nonprofit identified what staff needed to be able to do to work with New American communities more effectively. I can't wait to dive into this conversation.

▶️ Is Your Nonprofit Working with New American Communities? Three Methods This Nonprofit Used to Identify Learner Needs with Trang Truong-Hill

▶️ Key Points:
02:13 Trang’s Career Journey
07:49 Unique programs and services that the Y is offering to New American communities
11:46 Identifying learner needs to deliver programs and services more effectively
14:52 Figuring out what to create to further the programs and services your nonprofit already offers
17:51 No matter how effective a program is, you should always be looking for ways to improve it
19:49 Getting feedback from learners

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 Trang Truong-Hill
Linkedin: Trang Truong-Hill
Website: ymca.org

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

When you say you expect good communication skills, do your staff know what you mean?
Is it verbal communication or written? Do you mean that they are using clear concise language or that the communication is error-free? When you talk about communication, are you talking about with their colleagues, or with organizational partners, or industry leaders?
There are so many ways you can communicate. So how does your staff know what you mean? Are you using the same language?
That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in today’s episode of Learning for Good.

▶️ Creating a Custom Competency Model to Establish a Common Language for Staff Performance

▶️ Key Points:
03:24 Creating a custom competency model to establish a common language for performance
04:01 What are behavioral indicators?
06:29 Using behavioral indicators as the basis for your Learning & Development strategy

Resources from this episode:
Episode 20: How to Determine Which Competencies Are Right for You
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 our house, we have a good couch and an everyday couch. Our good couch is taken care of. And it's lasted for years. Then we have our everyday couch. It's also used to watch movies or lounge around on. But we are a little less careful about spilling popcorn on it and kids jumping on it. This couch is also part of our story, but we don't expect it to last as long.
It's easy to know which couch is more valuable. It's the one we care for. But is it that easy to know if your Learning and Development team is a valued business partner at work? That's what we're going to explore in today's episode.

▶️ Is Learning and Development a Valued Business Partner in Your Nonprofit? Three Ways to Know For Sure

▶️ Key Points:
03:02 Referring team members to Learning and Development when skill gaps are noticed
04:35 Including Learning and Development when senior leaders are making operational decisions
05:15 Proactively identifying what resources Learning and Development needs to support the overall project

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

Do you remember your first real job?

I was probably a strange combination of timid and overconfident.  I probably hesitated to speak up at first. Thankfully, I gained experience, skills, and competence over time.

What if we could help our early career staff gain some of those invaluable skills earlier in their career? Imagine the impacts that could have on your nonprofit. That's what we're exploring on this week's episode of Learning for Good with Emily Glasgow and Alanna Hughes.

Emily and Alanna are the co-creators and co-founders of Withinnovate, where they use workshops, on-demand resources, and customized support to help leaders understand themselves and their organizations and then use innovative methods to create change.

▶️ 3 Reasons to Use Intrapreneurship to Build Skills In Your Nonprofit's Early Career Staff with Emily Glasgow and Alanna Hughes

▶️ Key Points:
03:33 Emily and Alanna’s career journeys
07:25 What is intrapreneurship?
10:16 3 Ways nonprofits benefit from intrapreneurship
14:45 How nonprofit Learning and Development teams can know if their early career staff need intrapreneurship
18:41 The skills staff develop as they learn intrapreneurship
22:40 The results that Emily and Alanna have seen from their work

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 Emily Glasgow and Alanna Hughes
Linkedin: Emily Glasgow and Alanna Hughes
Website: www.withinnovate.com
Instagram: @withinnovate
Email: [email protected]

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 knew I wanted to record an episode on personalized learning. So I asked myself, why do people want that? Why do people want personalized learning? And why does it work?
When I started thinking about things in my life that have been personalized like birthday parties, or baby showers, things that were just for me - I cherished them. Our learners want that. They want something that is for them, that feels like the perfect fit for exactly what they need when they need it.
But for those of us who work in Learning and Development, personalized learning can sound scary. So in today's episode of Learning for Good, we'll explore three tips for getting started with personalized learning in your nonprofit. I want to make it a little less scary.

▶️ Not Sure Where to Start with Personalized Learning? Three Tips for Nonprofits

▶️ Key Points:
03:42 What is personalized learning?
04:59 Creating competency-based learning journeys
06:40 Incorporating self-reflection in training to give a student ownership in the learning process
07:56 Adding coaching both supports and personalizes a learning experience

Resources from this episode:
Check out my competency model episodes if you’re just getting started with your own competency model:
Episode 34: Get Clear on Staff Expectations with This Fundamental Resource
Episode 20: How to Determine Which Competencies Are Right for You
Episode 19: One Nonprofit's Honest Opinion after 6 Months with a Competency Model
Episode 18: Four Reasons Your Competencies Don’t Work
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

I can remember when working internally at a national nonprofit, managing up to 10 projects at once. 

They were in various stages of the process. They had different subject matter experts and different people approving the projects. They all had different modalities. And I had to keep up with all of them. 

Project management is a key skill in Learning and Development teams. 

So when Jami Yazdani and I connected about bringing you an episode on project management, I knew we had to get it scheduled. Jami is a pro at managing projects and she supports nonprofits all over the country. She is the perfect person to join us today to give us tips for juggling multiple projects at once.

▶️ Three Tips for Juggling Multiple Training Projects at Once with Jami Yazdani 

▶️ Key Points:

02:17 An introduction to Jami Yazdani

06:21 Why it is important to manage projects well

09:31 The complexities of managing multiple projects at once

12:34 Three tips for nonprofit L&D leaders who are managing multiple training projects at one time

19:07 The importance of project retrospectives as part of your project plan

Resources from this episode:

Check out this blog post I wrote for Three Ways to Incorporate Reflection into Your 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 Jami Yazdani

Linkedin: Jami Yazdani

Website: yazdaniconsulting.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