How can we rethink ‘learning and development’ to be more focused on the things people need to do and how best to support them with that? And how can the business case for a different approach be made successfully to leaders?

Malcolm Taylor is a pioneer in taking different and often disruptive approaches in learning and development. He is Head of Capability at the UK Health Security Agency, having recently moved from a role as Senior People Development Manager at the Met Office.

In this episode, we explore how organisational culture affects attitudes to learning and compliance, how to make a business case for change, and the power of communities of practice for social learning.

We chat beyond professional contexts too, talking about the power of sport for motivation, belonging and resilience.

We cover:

• How ‘learning’ needs to adapt to organisational culture and the characteristics of internal audiences.
• A shift away from formal learning, and the ‘sage on the stage’, towards a performance-based approach (Malcolm references the 70/20/10 model).
• Opportunities to disrupt – moving from a traditional pedagogical approach towards a performance-based one.
• Making the business case for a different approach, including discussion of gathering evidence and data about impact and value.
• Communities of practice – what, why and how!
• Malcolm’s own interest in ultrarunning and how it’s given him resilience and connection.

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com.

Why are humans the largest risk facing organisations, and why do the efforts to impose rules and controls on human behaviour often fail?

Christian Hunt has wide experience in a range of executive roles, including MD and Head of Behavioural Science at UBS, and now runs Human Risk, a Behavioural Science-led Consultancy. 

In this episode, Christian brings to life the concept of human risk, and talks about “how to get people to do what you want without pissing them off” with a plethora of examples from different contexts – including chemical weapons inspectors, rogue traders, and pickpockets in a German train station.

In this episode we cover:

• Why and how consideration of actual people is so often missing in corporate strategies which attempt to mitigate risk and enforce compliance.
• The counterproductive effect of making people do training that isn’t relevant to them.
• Excellent examples ‘from the wild’ about attempts to influence behaviour – with greater or lesser success.
• The trust contract that exists in different relationships – between regulator/regulatee, employer/employee, company/customer.
• Experiences of public speaking and how event speakers are likely to thrive and be more connected with the audience when they are trusted instead of controlled by organisers.

Christian's website: https://www.human-risk.com/
Humanizing Rules book: https://www.human-risk.com/humanizing-rules-book
Human Risk Podcast: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/
Find Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/humanrisk/

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com.

How do you use behavioural science to translate boardroom strategies into the actions that people take every day?

In our first episode, Sarah talks with Acteon Director and Partner James Woodman, to explore what we mean by ‘speak to the human’: building connections with people, and thinking about the humans at the other end of organisational communications and change initiatives.

They discuss how behavioural science can reveal insights that help shape more effective approaches and engage people more meaningfully.

James shares how his sense of curiosity has shaped his career and keeps him fascinated in why people do what they do.

In this episode we cover:

• James’s background as a broadcast journalist and producer with ITN, creating stories (including an explosive adventure).
• Why meaningful change is about building emotional connections with people, often through stories. 
• Thinking about organisations as collections of people, and thinking about those individual humans and their actions as the sum of what happens in an organisation.
• How to bridge the gap between organisational strategy in the boardroom and the actions that people take every day.
• Using behavioural approaches to influence ‘moments that matter’, including the behavioural drivers of capability, motivation and opportunity.
• Making sure communication campaigns fit into an organisation’s culture, to build engagement and connect with a sense of ‘belonging’ for people.
• Why it doesn’t work to write a policy, post it on an intranet, and expect things to change!

More about James: https://bit.ly/3U2QcHH

Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-woodman-04102b48/

Read more about Wellcome’s Code of Conduct campaign here: https://bit.ly/43GYubH

Speak to the human is a podcast by Acteon a communication and learning agency that harnesses behavioural insights to help organisations connect with their people and deliver positive change. Find out more at acteoncommunication.com.