The Assembly

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Adela Paun.

Adela is a global L&D leader with over 15 years of experience, known for her pivotal role as a founding member of Spotify's L&D team, "The Greenhouse." During her 11+ years at Spotify, she witnessed and supported hypergrowth, scaling learning initiatives for thousands of employees globally while navigating the shift to a work-from-anywhere model.

In this episode, Adela provides a rare inside look at building and scaling L&D within one of the world's fastest-growing tech companies. She offers a masterclass on creating a thriving learning culture amidst constant change, including:

1. Laying the Tracks for Hypergrowth: Adela explains how the L&D team's mission was to enable learning "at the pace of change," acting as enablers, not bottlenecks, for Spotify's rapid expansion.
2. Navigating the Pandemic Pivot: Adela details the strategic decisions made when shifting L&D entirely virtual, prioritising leadership support, rethinking content ("killing darlings"), and managing the chaos of adopting (and later consolidating) new learning technologies.
3. Leveraging Leaders for Impact: Hear how Spotify strategically involved senior leaders in key learning programs to provide business context, model behaviour, and foster connection, trusting them to speak authentically.
4. L&D as a Cultural Engine: Adela highlights how L&D initiatives like Introdays and intentionally diverse training cohorts actively built cross-functional connections and reinforced Spotify's collaborative culture.

Adela offers a unique and invaluable perspective on the realities of high-growth L&D. If you want to understand how to build adaptable, impactful learning experiences that scale, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Adela on LinkedIn:  Adela Paun 

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Anita Anthonj.

Anita is the co-founder of Talaera, a New York-based business communication and cultural training company. Drawing on her own experience moving from Germany to the US, she has deep expertise in the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural communication in a global business environment.

In this episode, Anita provides a masterclass on why effective communication is not a "nice-to-have" but a business-critical "need-to-have." She offers a powerful framework for L&D leaders looking to foster connection and drive impact, including:

1. Building Bridges, Not Barriers: Anita defines cross-cultural communication as recognizing that "your way is not the only way." It's about empathy, curiosity, and building connections across different lived experiences.
2. The Challenges for Non-Native Speakers: Learn about the invisible hurdles non-native speakers face, from the mental processing delay in fast-paced meetings to the difficulty of bringing their "whole self" to work in a foreign language.
3. Communication is ROI: Discover how effective communication is directly tied to business outcomes. Anita shares real-world examples of how improved communication skills can decrease customer call times, build stronger client relationships, and save significant money.
4. A Bespoke, Not One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Anita explains why communication training is most effective when it’s customised to an organisation's specific pain points, using a blend of one-on-one coaching, group workshops, and scalable digital solutions.
5. A Practical Guide for L&D: Get actionable advice on how L&D teams can champion communication training, from going on a "listening tour" to identify needs, to starting with small, high-impact pilots to prove the concept and demonstrate value.
6. Why Communication Matters More Than Ever: In a volatile world with AI, hybrid work, and multiple generations in the workplace, Anita argues that human connection is the most critical skill, and investing in communication signals to employees that they are valued.

Anita offers a compelling and practical guide to unlocking the power of communication in your organisation. If you want to learn how to build trust, foster connection, and drive measurable business impact, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Anita on LinkedIn: Anita Anthonj 

Check out: https://talaera.com/

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Ashley Robinson of Virgin Media/O2.

Ashley is the Strategic Learning & Operational Lead at Virgin Media/O2, bringing a wealth of experience as a senior digital technology professional and project manager. He specialises in implementing learning systems globally, improving employee attainment, and demonstrating clear ROI across diverse workforces, including corporate and frontline staff.

In this episode, Ashley draws on his journey from web developer to L&D leader to provide a masterclass on successfully implementing learning technology, especially at scale. 

Included in this weeks’ episode: 

1. The Power of Consultation: Ashley identifies the biggest challenge in tech rollouts: organisations failing to include all user archetypes (especially frontline workers) in the initial consultation and decision-making process.
2. The Blueprint of a Successful Rollout: Learn why involving diverse working groups from the start, getting them in front of vendors, and facilitating collective reflection is crucial for building buy-in and creating internal champions.
3. Marketing Beyond the Launch: Ashley stresses that the real work begins after implementation. Success requires ongoing, engaging communication and leveraging early champions to build grassroots momentum.
4. Cracking the Frontline Code: Discover why accessibility and authentication are the most critical, yet often overlooked, factors for engaging frontline workers who might not have corporate devices or dedicated learning time.
5. Lessons from Failed Rollouts: Ashley shares examples where lack of user consultation and unaddressed access issues killed adoption within the launch window.
6. Speaking the Language of ROI: Understand the two key approaches to justifying investment: direct ROI (easily measured in areas like Sales) and indirect ROI (the strategic cost of not investing in people, impacting talent attraction/retention).

Ashley provides a candid, practical, and highly valuable guide for anyone involved in selecting, implementing, or driving adoption for learning technology. If you want to avoid common pitfalls and ensure your next tech rollout lands successfully, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: Ashley Robinson

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Dan Philips.

Dan is a highly experienced L&D consultant with a deep background in psychology and behavioural change. For the last 15 years, he has specialised in using the Insights Discovery model to help individuals, teams, and leaders improve their self-awareness, communication, and collaboration.

In this episode, Dan provides a masterclass on the Insights Discovery model, a powerful personality profiling tool that uses a simple language of four colour energies to unlock profound behavioural change. He provides a comprehensive guide for L&D professionals, including:

1. What is the Insights Discovery Model?: Dan explains the Jungian-based model and its four core colour energies: Cool Blue (detail and clarity), Sunshine Yellow (innovation and collaboration), Fiery Red (action and decisions), and Earth Green (values and trust).
2. The Power of the Team Wheel: Discover how the model visually plots entire teams, helping individuals understand their colleagues' preferences and what it’s "like to be on the receiving end of me."
3. Beyond a "Fun" Team Day: Dan stresses that while the model is engaging, its true power comes from aligning it with specific business challenges—from improving stakeholder communication and breaking down silos to enhancing leadership effectiveness.
4. A Common Language for Feedback: Learn how the language of colour helps to depersonalise feedback, allowing for more open and constructive conversations that reduce interpersonal tension.
5. Driving Real Business Value: Discover how improving self-awareness and collaboration directly impacts the bottom line by increasing employee engagement, reducing turnover, and saving money.
6. How L&D Can Leverage the Model: Dan provides practical use cases for integrating Insights into leadership development, change management, one-to-one coaching, and even for an L&D team's own self-reflection.

Dan offers a clear and practical guide to a tool that gets to the heart of what drives business success: how people work effectively together. If you are looking for a framework to improve communication and team dynamics, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn:  Dan Philips

And check out: 

Kings Hurst Consulting

A short introduction to Insights Discovery

Insights website

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Sybrand Oudega.

Sybrand is a global learning and talent development leader with 25 years of international experience at iconic brands like Nokia, Microsoft, and Adidas. As the former Senior Director of the Global Sales Academy at Adidas, he was responsible for the skills and performance of over 35,000 employees across 75 countries and 37 languages.

In this episode, Sybrand provides a masterclass on how to design learning programs that scale globally while connecting locally. He shares the hard-won lessons from his extensive career, including:

1. The Golden Rule of Global L&D: Sybrand explains his core principle: the success of a global team is not defined by what they create, but by how successful they make the local market teams. It’s a shift from dictating to enabling.
2. Balancing Consistency and Autonomy: Discover how to maintain a consistent global brand and core frameworks (like a service model or leadership principles) while empowering local teams to adapt the application of these skills to fit their unique cultural context.
3. The Power of Partnership: Learn why the most critical factor for success is building strong, trust-based partnerships with local market teams and involving them directly in the design and validation process.
4. Scaling the Trainers: Sybrand details the 20-week global trainer certification program his team created to build a common language and skill set across 120 trainers, ensuring that when they localised content, they did so without compromising its integrity.
5. The Technology Game-Changer: Hear how advancements in AI-powered video translation completely transformed their ability to deliver relevant, timely product training, causing content engagement to spike.
6. Lessons in Cultural Nuance: Sybrand shares his personal experience of learning the hard way that a direct, Western approach to feedback doesn't work everywhere, and references Geert Hofstede's six dimensions of culture as a valuable resource.

Sybrand offers an incredibly insightful and practical guide for any L&D professional operating in a multi-national environment. If you are looking to create learning that is both globally efficient and locally effective, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Sybrand on LinkedIn:  Sybrand Oudega 

And check out Geert Hofstede's six dimensions of culture: The 6 dimensions model of national culture by Geert Hofstede

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Nahdia Khan.

Nahdia is a strategic advisor and purpose-driven leader with over 20 years of experience in digital learning, public policy, and executive education. As the former Chief Impact Officer at Mind Tools, she has deep expertise in transforming customer relationships into vibrant communities of practice that drive both engagement and commercial success.

In this episode, Nahdia provides a masterclass on the power of Learning Communities of Practice, built on her core belief that "people learn best when they're connected." She offers a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to build and sustain a thriving community, including:

1. What is a Learning Community of Practice?: Nahdia defines it as a group of people sharing a common challenge or passion who come together regularly to learn from each other through a blend of peer learning, co-creation, and applied practice.
2. The Key Ingredients for Success: Discover the essential elements needed to build a successful community, including trust, transparency, psychological safety, and co-creation, with the ultimate goal of the community becoming self-managing.
3. A Practical Guide to Getting Started: Nahdia outlines a step-by-step process for building a community from scratch, from defining the problem you're solving to doing market research and involving members from the very beginning.
4. "Living Labs for Insight": Learn how communities solve critical challenges for L&D teams by serving as a real-time source of feedback, a space to test ideas, and a way to have nuanced, hype-free conversations on fast-moving topics like AI.
5. How to Measure Success: Nahdia breaks down measurement into three key layers: engagement (participation rates), value (member feedback and stories of applied learning), and impact (contribution to business outcomes).
6. The Future is Connection: Nahdia makes a powerful case for why communities are not a "nice-to-have" but a "must-have," arguing that the most sustainable asset an organization can build is the connection between its people.

Nahdia offers an inspiring and actionable framework for creating powerful learning communities. If you believe in the power of connection and want to foster collaborative learning, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Nahdia on LinkedIn: Nahdia Khan 

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

The Summer of Learning: Building an AI-Ready, Experimental Culture at Immediate with Kathryn Swandale

In this fascinating interview, Adam is joined by Kathryn (Katie) Swandale, Senior Learning and Development Partner at Immediate. Immediate is a major publishing group known for brands like Radio Times, Good Food, and BBC Gardeners’ World. With over a decade of experience designing and delivering strategically aligned experiential learning,

In this strategic and practical episode, Katie walks through the initiative's evolution, sharing the nuts and bolts of how they achieved an 86% AI adoption rate among employees, a figure significantly above the industry average.

Key takeaways from this masterclass in strategic L&D and cultural change:

• Genesis: The initiative was sparked by the impact of generative AI, forcing Immediate to address a potential AI skills gap and meet people where they were on their learning journey.
• Program Structure: The eight-week program features an Immersion Day, self-serve workshops linked to five strategic themes, and dedicated Experimentation Days for safe project ideation.
• Driving Engagement: High engagement is ensured by strong leadership backing and Subject Matter Experts. Crucially, all activities are made tangible and clearly linked to the business strategy

Connect with Katie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-swandale/

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Lindsey Coode and Funmi O'Dell of Learning Pool.

Lindsey is Learning Pool’s Director of Content Software, with over 25 years of experience in learning design and technology. Funmi is a Product Manager at Learning Pool, specializing in shaping impactful digital learning and compliance solutions with a deep background in product development and UX design.

In this episode, Lindsey and Funmi break down the core concepts of experience design and product innovation, explaining how these disciplines are transforming the L&D landscape. They provide a masterclass in product thinking for learning professionals, including:

1. The Cereal Analogy: Funmi provides a brilliant and simple way to understand the difference between content (the cereal), user interface (the bowl and spoon), and experience design (the entire end-to-end feeling of eating it).
2. The Goal is to "Delight Learners": Lindsey explains how experience design in learning moves beyond just knowledge transfer to focus on how the experience makes people feel, which is critical for both engagement and impact.
3. Innovation vs. Invention: Learn why innovation isn't about creating something from scratch, but about applying existing ideas and technologies in new ways to solve real problems.
4. Practical Techniques to Spark Creativity: Discover actionable brainstorming methods like "Worst Possible Idea," "Brain Writing," and "Working Alone Together" to generate better ideas and ensure all voices are heard.
5. The Role of AI: Lindsey and Funmi discuss how AI is used both in their products (for role-plays and feedback) and in their process (as a "brainstorm buddy"), and why the question isn't just can we use AI, but should we?

Lindsey and Funmi offer a clear and accessible guide to the skills and mindset needed to innovate in L&D. If you want to understand how to design more impactful and engaging learning experiences, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Lindsey and Funmi on LinkedIn: Lindsey Coode & Funmi Wendel 

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with digitial learning industry leader, Peter Riber.

Peter is the Head of New Tech and Digital Learning Solutions at Novo Nordisk and is known for being at the forefront of technological innovation in L&D. Over the last two years, he and his team have pivoted to building and deploying internal Generative AI agents to tackle long-standing challenges in the workplace.

In this episode, Peter shares the behind-the-scenes story of how his team moved from managing learning platforms to building bespoke AI coaches. He provides a masterclass on the practical application of GenAI in a large enterprise, including:

1. The “Dilemma Coach”: Discover the AI agent Peter’s team has successfully deployed, which allows employees to practice difficult conversations in a safe, private, and contextual environment.
2. Why Build When You Can Buy?: Peter explains the critical, non-negotiable reason for building internally: context. Learn why an AI trained on your company’s unique values, policies, and culture is the key to creating a believable and effective experience.
3. Safety and Trust are #1: Hear about the meticulous process of ensuring user data is secure and building trust through early user testing and clear, human-centric communication.
4. The Future is Career Coaching: Peter unveils his next ambition: an AI-powered career coach that connects employees to internal opportunities based on a rich, contextual skills assessment conducted by the AI itself.
5. Lessons from the Trenches: Learn why you don’t need all the data to create a powerful AI experience, and why L&D must avoid over-engineering solutions.
6. A Practical Guide to Getting Started: Peter provides clear, actionable advice for any L&D professional wanting to experiment with AI: start small, build a tangible prototype (not a PowerPoint), and educate yourself on the technology.

Peter offers a rare and candid look into what it truly takes to move beyond the hype and implement generative AI in L&D. If you are looking for an inspiring and practical guide to building your own AI solutions, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn: Peter Riber

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Lavinia Mehedințu of Offbeat.

Lavinia is a co-founder and Learning Architect at Offbeat, with 12 years of experience designing learning experiences and career development programs. She specialises in applying adult learning principles to help L&D professionals connect, collaborate, and grow.

In this episode, Lavinia challenges the popular buzzword "learning culture" and offers a more tangible, systemic alternative. Lavinia provides a masterclass in systems thinking for L&D, including:

1. Deconstructing "Learning Culture": Why the concept is often too nebulous to be useful and why the responsibility for creating it can't fall on L&D alone.
2. The Four Conditions for Learning: Lavinia outlines the tangible elements that truly shape learning in an organisation: structure, procedures, information flow, and incentives.
3. Introducing Learning Architecture: A more systemic approach that focuses on identifying and removing blockers to learning and adaptation across the entire organization.
4. The Sensemaking Cycle: How to move from raw data to real impact through a cycle of sensing information, making sense of it collaboratively, experimenting with small changes, and scaling what works.
5. The Role of AI: How AI can free up L&D to become true learning architects, improve information flow, and how organisations must now manage learning from both humans and machines.

Lavinia provides a clear, actionable framework for moving beyond buzzwords to build organisations that truly learn. If you are looking for a more practical and systemic way to foster learning, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Lavinia on LinkedIn:  Lavinia Mehedințu 

And check out OffBeat: Offbeat Learning & Development Platform

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.