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

In L&D, when we are approached with a training request, it's our job to do a little research for ourselves about training audience needs.

Often, the time you have to do this research is limited. Your capacity and the capacity of your subject matter expert is limited, and you may not even feel like you have the expertise to do the analysis. So how can you validate the audience's needs with limited time, capacity, and expertise?

On this episode, I’m sharing three ways you can identify training audience needs.

▶️ 3 Ways to Identify Training Audience Needs 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The need for a training needs assessment

01:34 Identifying training audience needs at a micro versus macro level

03:04 3 Ways to identify training audience needs

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 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

The fear of failure impacts our learners’ ability to learn, so we need to help them move to a growth mindset. A growth mindset is a place where it's okay to try new things, fail, and continue to show up and be persistent even in the face of failure.

For this episode, I've invited certified professional coach, consultant, and learning facilitator Kim Andrews to talk about the growth mindset. I want us to think about how we help our learners learn and strengthen nonprofit leadership. The growth mindset is a great place to start.

 ▶️ How to Help Your Learners Learn | Fixed vs. Growth Mindset with Kim Andrews 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The impact of fear and limiting beliefs on learning

02:26 Kim’s background and career journey in education and learning 

09:29 Defining a fixed mindset and a growth mindset

11:26 How fixed and growth mindsets show up in learners and impact their ability to learn

15:49 Fluctuating between a fixed and growth mindset

17:20 How to help learners move from a fixed to a growth mindset

23:19 Breakthrough moments using growth mindset techniques

Resources from this episode:

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

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 Kim

Linkedin: Kim Andrews

Website: kimandrewscoaching.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

Do you take the time to intentionally reflect after a training project ends? Reflection is powerful and it's something we often do, but it's not something we often do with intentionality.  

That’s why on this episode of Learning for Good, I want to share the seven steps I follow each time I close out a training project and why they set you up for success later. This training project debrief is really a time of reflection.

▶️ How to Conduct a Training Project Debrief 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The power of reflection

03:05 The value of a training project debrief

03:52 How to conduct a training project debrief

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

If you are looking to transition to L&D, your experience matters! Volunteering can help you fill in the gaps. This is exactly what Dr. Ashley Dugger is here to talk about.

Ashley engages volunteers in her organization to help increase the capacity of her team. It also gives those volunteers a chance to deepen their skills in instructional design. 

So whether you're a small L&D team looking to expand the capacity of your team by using volunteers, or if you're someone who's looking to transfer to the field of L&D, this episode is for you.

▶️ Small L&D Team? How One Nonprofit University Uses Volunteers to Increase their Capacity with Ashley Dugger 

▶️ Key Points:

02:16 Dr. Ashley Dugger’s background in L&D and HR

08:19 How the L&D team at Bucknell University engages volunteers

15:38 The benefits of volunteering

18:53 How to manage volunteers

21:07 Filling gaps in your resume through volunteering

25:06 Tips for L&D teams seeking volunteers

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 Ashley

LinkedIn: Ashley Dugger

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 want to share my 4-step process to write better learning objectives.

 What do I mean by better?  

This is not a lesson on making them SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely) though that is important. This is about the actual process I go through when writing objectives. This thought process is what gets me to action-oriented, performance-related objectives that drive behavior change.

▶️ My 4-Step Process to Write Better Learning Objectives 

▶️ Key Points:

02:15 What it means to write better learning objectives

03:13 My 4-step process to write better learning objectives

06:52 Collaboration with subject matter experts

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

Are your learners bored?  

So often our training audience attends training that isn't relevant or engaging, contains so much extra information they feel lost, or the included scenarios make no sense for them and their role.

Context is one of the most important things in creating effective learning. That’s why in this episode, I want us to explore learner personas. What are they? Why are they important? And how do we build them?

▶️ Are Your Learners Bored? How Building a Learner Persona Can Help. 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The value of context for creating effective learning experiences

03:54 What learner personas are and why they are important

05:20 How to create learner personas

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

What’s the value of an outside perspective? 

An outside perspective will help you be more consistent, improve your awareness and confidence, and accelerate your career because they can see the things you can't. This is true in all areas of life, including your career. 

That’s why on today’s episode, I'm talking to self-proclaimed nonprofit nerd, Jarrett Ransom, about how to create a personal board of directors to help you thrive in your career.

Jarrett established her consulting firm in 2009 and under her guidance, teams nationwide consistently raise millions of dollars annually to advance their missions.

▶️ How Building Your Personal Board of Directors Will Enhance Your Career with Jarrett Ransom 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The value of an outside perspective

04:23 Jarrett’s career journey and the people who have supported her 

10:22 The benefits of having a personal board of directors

12:43 The types of people to include on your board

15:47 How to invite someone onto your personal board of directors

21:17 Identifying the people in your life to include on your personal board of directors

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 Jarrett

LinkedIn: Jarrett Ransom

Website: therayvangroup.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

A lot of what we do in Learning and Development is not life and death. We often have the freedom to experiment with new ideas in our nonprofit training and while we want the best possible outcome, we can feel safe to fail.

This is not the case in every industry.

In this episode I want us to take some time to learn from another industry - the aviation industry - with leadership development expert Craig Coyle. Craig is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a former U.S. Army Apache pilot. 

▶️  Applying Aviation Leadership Principles to Nonprofit Development with Craig Coyle 

▶️ Key Points:

02:53 Craig’s background: From Apache pilot to leadership development expert 

06:57 Why two-thirds of new leaders fail

10:52 A three-part system for leadership development from the aviation industry

15:08 Implementing strategic leadership development

18:13 The value of a quick win for a new leader

Resources from this episode:

The Leader’s Preflight Checklist: https://operationlead.com/checklist/ 

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 Craig

Linkedin: Craig Coyle

Website: operationlead.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 managers have a hard job. They have to set goals, manage resources, support real humans who are not always easy to support, and keep everything moving on time and within budget so the organization can meet its goals.

That’s why I’ve invited Kamaria Scott, an I/O psychologist focused on people manager development and enablement, to join me on this episode. She’s sharing how you can improve the health of your organization by investing in your people managers. 

▶️  Enhancing Nonprofit Health via People Manager Development with Kamaria Scott 

▶️ Key Points:

00:58 The role of a people manager

04:18 Kamaria Scott’s background and career journey 

11:04 Defining people manager development and enablement

15:24 Challenges nonprofits face with their people managers

19:51 Solutions for effective nonprofit people manager support

23:42 Evidence-based leadership

28:21 The first step to investing in your nonprofit’s people leaders

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 Kamaria

Linkedin: Kamaria Scott

Website: eneticlps.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

We know the impact a good mentor can have. Yet, according to a Forbes article, only 37% of professionals have a mentor. This means there are still many people out there who aren't benefiting from this type of relationship.  

How do we know when to create a mentoring program? And if we look at the needs and determine we should create one, how do we create the buy-in we need for it? That’s what we’re exploring today with L&D expert, Neil Cunningham.

▶️ The Business Case for Mentoring - What's the Value? with Neil Cunningham 

▶️ Key Points:

01:50 Neil’s career journey in Learning and Development

05:26 The Learning Network

06:31 The difference between mentoring and coaching

08:39 Identifying when an organization needs a mentoring program

11:44 The benefits of mentoring programs

13:52 The business case for mentoring

16:01 Common objections to mentoring programs and how to overcome them

Resources from this episode:

Find out more about The Learning Network: thelearning-network.org

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 Neil Cunningham

Linkedin: Neil Cunningham

Website: alignlearndo.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