The Learning Xchange

What happens when we make a concentrated effort to form positive working relationships? Not just basic collaboration and pleasantries, but to really connect and check in with your colleagues.

Many of us get caught up in our own heads, too busy with the day-to-day responsibilities to remember to do this.

However, the benefits are huge for us as individuals, our colleagues, and the organization as a whole.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown, VP of Learning and Brand Success, takes us through this topic in detail. Matthew shares all the benefits that come with forging strong connections at work, the best ways to do this, and why you should try to interact more with different departments.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why forming good working relationships is so beneficial
• Why you should make an effort to collaborate with departments like HR
• How to use different perspectives to improve the employee experience
• What you can learn from others

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review!

We could all use a little reminder that it’s okay to expose our human side at work.

When employees look at learning and development professionals, they may think of us as superhuman in a way. Perhaps not on the level of Superman, but they may assume L&D professionals have all the answers and don’t make mistakes. This just isn’t true, though.

Learners are not really expecting perfection, neither are the companies themselves and yet L&D professionals can fall into the trap of over-analyzing everything they do. All that does is create a tremendous amount of pressure.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, Schoox’s VP of Learning and Brand Success, discusses how to be your authentic self as an L&D professional and why it’s okay to not be perfect.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• The problem with expecting perfection
• Four simple ways to show your authentic self at work
• Why you should accept that no one has all the answers

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

When was the last time you went to a workplace training session full of excitement and anticipation?

Even those who love learning can sometimes struggle to motivate themselves to learn. It’s a common problem across all industries, and one reason is because training is usually a must-do, not a want-to.

Even when training isn’t mandated, a lot of people are still stuck in that same mindset. It may come from school or other workplaces where training is seen as a necessary evil. It’s something that distracts you from your routine and responsibilities.

How do we get employees to want to learn? How do we teach them about the joy of learning for learning’s sake, not just as a box-ticking exercise? The best way to achieve success with training is to have enthusiastic and open employees, but for that to happen, some mindset retraining needs to take place.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown, VP of Learning and Brand Success, discusses just that. He shares some reasons why employees are hesitant about learning and what we can do to change their mindsets.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why some employees are hesitant to engage in learning activities
• The problem with mandated-only learning
• The common excuses against training sessions
• How trust could be a roadblock in your organization
• How to use a different approach to learning

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

It’s a learning and development professional’s job to not just deliver training content, but also to ensure it sinks into the minds of your learners.

This is much easier said than done. How do you create learning content that resonates, sinks in, and is retained after a training session?

The solution may not be what you include in your content but more about how you deliver it.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, Schoox’s VP of Learning and Brand Success, discusses why modality matters.

He shares his thoughts on why organizations should add additional content on top of pre-built training solutions to improve engagement. He also talks about why L&D professionals should take note of learners’ different learning styles.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why it’s not enough to just deliver training content
• How you can adapt pre-built content for your learners
• Different ways to bring additional content into your programs
• Why you should always consider different learning styles

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

Do you or your learning and development team feel like order-takers in your organization?

Often the learning and development teams feel somewhat separate from the rest of the organization and are brought into the conversation way later than they would like.

This is a common problem in companies and can lead to a gap in understanding, which can have a significant impact on the training content that L&D professionals come up with.

If this sounds familiar, the best solution is to go from being just an order-taker to becoming a strategic business partner instead.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown (VP of Learning and Brand success) takes you through ways to help you shift from being an order-taker to a business partner. He shares his insights into how to get to know the rest of the organization and use that information to improve your training content.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why a gap in understanding the organization can impact the learning content
• How to build engagement with your learners
• The three steps to becoming a strategic business partner
• Why you should always acknowledge the team’s contributions to the content

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review!

All organizations want to boost employee engagement and encourage quality learning. Luckily in the age of new technology and remote tools, this is easier than ever.

There’s a tool for everything these days, and with remote work becoming the “new normal,” just about everyone is familiar with them.

Now that people are more comfortable using these tools, the next step is to find ways to improve what these tools can help us achieve.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown from Schoox (VP of Learning and Brand Success) talks about using these tools for learning and employee engagement. He shares three types of tools all organizations should explore and gives his recommendations for each one.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• How modern communication tools fit into learning and development
• Why video-based communication can be more effective than written
• How to encourage employees to be advocates with Bambu
• How collaboration tools can become part of your learning program

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

When was the last time you gave your learning system a spring clean?

If you’re not regularly maintaining and revisiting your learning systems, you could be missing out on opportunities to improve them.

Sometimes the systems we build and the content we rely on for workplace training becomes out of date. Your learning system won’t tell you this, though. Your employees might, but the best way to know if your system is out of date is to revisit it regularly.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, VP of Learning and Brand Success at Schoox, shares his seven tips for learning system maintenance. He takes you through the reasons why you should regularly revisit your system, tools, and content, and the best ways to do this.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why you need to regularly maintain and revisit training content
• Why you need honest feedback from your users
• The seven ways you can set up a maintenance cycle to catch issues
• The importance of communication, open channels of support, and feedback

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

How can you make your learning experiences more memorable?

Capturing your audience’s attention and holding it can make the transfer of knowledge much more effective.

It’s more important than ever to try and create a memorable connection during the learning process. It’s not enough to simply check the boxes and have all the right content. That content needs to be arranged and presented in a way that sticks in your audience’s minds. You want people to walk away with as much knowledge as possible.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, VP of Learning and Brand Success at Schoox, has some great ideas on making learning more memorable.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why memorable experiences are so important in training
• Why including your learners can help boost engagement
• How to make training less disruptive
• Why you should try to create a safe learning space
• How feedback is valuable to creating more effective content

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review!

Is your organization ready to start looking for a learning and development vendor?

If you decide to take things externally, shopping around for a vendor is not an easy task. You need to find a vendor who can provide exactly what you need, a solution tailored to your specifications.

However, a common mistake people make is rushing into it without a plan. For long-term success, you need to approach an L&D vendor with a solid plan of action.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Matthew Brown, VP of Learning and Brand Success at Schoox, discusses the best way to approach L&D vendors.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why the first step in selecting a vendor is to clearly identify your needs
• Why you need to look beyond budget and time
• The downsides of rushing into a decision
• The problem with generic RFP templates
• The benefits of planning thoroughly before approaching a vendor

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review! 

Are you looking for a new training solution for your organization?

One of the first decisions to make is: will you buy a solution from a third party or design your own? There are pros and cons to either option, and your choice will likely depend on budget, time available, and your existing skills and resources.

A common solution is to use a mixture of both by purchasing training and then adding your own context on top to connect the dots.

In this episode of The Learning Xchange, Schoox’s Matthew Brown (VP of Learning and Brand Success) delves into the topic of bought versus built training content. Matthew shares his tips for making purchased training solutions more effective and relevant for your team.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• How the preference for built versus bought content has changed over the years
• Why a hybrid approach is sometimes best
• The first step towards making a training course work for your organization
• Why it can pay to reserve your resources and buy content
• How to improve the user experience for learners
• Why you should start with the end in mind and work back

If you enjoyed this episode, please share what you love about The Learning Xchange by leaving us a rating and review!