The Mindtools L&D Podcast

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, we're putting the 'people' back into People Development and the 'human' back into 'Human Resources, as we explore Natal Dank's book Agile L&D.

Natal is the co-owner and director of PXO Culture, a consultancy firm on a mission to make HR, culture and change about humans.

And her book, Agile L&D, is a follow-up to Agile HR.

We discuss:

• Problems with a 'traditional' approach to L&D

• Tools and methods for prioritizing and organizing workloads

• Whether 'agile' has just become another corporate buzzword

To find out more about Natal, and the book, visit pxoculture.com

During the discussion, Natal referenced the books The Build Trap by Melissa Perri and Embracing Uncertainty by Margaret Heffernan.

For more on Taylorism, see 'scientific management'.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross Garner discussed Yuval Noah Harari's bleak take on the future of AI and government.

Nahdia discussed digital twins.

Natal discussed Meditations for Mortals.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner

• Nahdia Khan

• Natal Dank

Technical professionals have a high level of expertise, but translating that expertise for non-technical colleagues isn't always straightforward. Whether you're an engineer, a researcher, or even an L&D professional, how can you communicate in a way that resonates with your audience?

This week on the Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Neil Thompson, founder of Teach The Geek, to discuss:

• why good communication skills are important for technical professionals;

• the specific challenges associated with technical communication;

• how L&D can support technical professionals to become better communicators.

To find out more about Neil's work, visit www.teachthegeek.com

The very geeky meta-meta-analysis that Owen mentioned in 'What I Learned This Week' can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01172-y

You can read the Verge article that Ross D referenced at: https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/18/24223160/waymo-honking-san-francisco-parking-lot-depot-fix-not-working

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Dickie

• Owen Ferguson

• Neil Thompson

This week we're revisiting an old adage: The employer who says, 'What if we train our people and they leave?' And the trainer who says, 'What if we don't and they stay?'

As Talent Development Manager for Kew Green Hotels, Clare Sheppard knows all about this. She's responsible for helping those who want to stay progress in their careers, while giving those who leave a great experience that they can carry with them into their next role.

We discuss:

· the types of colleague who fall into the 'Early Careers' bucket (it's broader than you might think!)

· how to identify high potential colleagues

· the role of managers in supporting Early Careers professionals.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Clare discussed the likelihood of it raining, and what that means.

Ross recommended (sort of) an old episode of The Magic Roundabout.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Ross Garner

· Clare Sheppard

Last week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen explored how the 70:20:10 model is being applied by three L&D Practitioners: Ceri Sharples, Cath Addis, and Carl Akintola-Davis. Today, we wanted to follow up on some of the challenges posed during that discussion with The 70:20:10 Institute's Charles Jennings.

What does it really mean to 'integrate learning into the workflow', and how does 70:20:10 move us towards a performance focus?

We discuss:

· Where the numbers '70', '20' and '10' come from

· How a focus on 'learning' tends to lead to a '10+' approach

· Examples of interventions that have focused on supporting performance, rather than formal learning.

For more on the origins of 70:20:10, see this blog post from Charles.

See also The Center for Creative Leadership's chapter 'Learning Through Experience'.

Mind Tools offers a summary of Informal Learning, by Jay Cross.

Joseph Stiglitz book is Creating a Learning Culture.

Find out more about Dr Edwards Deming.

For more from Charles and his team, see 702010institute.com.

The case study Charles wrote with Brian Murphy from Citi bank was: 'From Courses to Campaigns: Citi's Journey to a Culture of Continuous Learning'.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen recommended (again) Lenny's Newsletter, in particular a recent edition on pricing for AI features.

Ross discussed a post from Ben Evans on how users are interacting with ChatGPT.

Charles recommended the podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Ross Garner

· Owen Ferguson

· Charles Jennings

Depending how you count it, 70:20:10 is almost 40 years old. The model provides a high-level outline of how we learn at work: 10% through formal learning, 20% through working with others, 70% through doing the work.

The numbers get criticised, but this insight is widely accepted: Most of what we learn does not come from formal training. But how then should L&D practitioners apply the model to the work that they do? Is it still a useful concept after all this time?

In the first of this two-part series, Ross Garner and Owen explore these questions with three practitioners: Ceri Sharples, Learning and Development manager at Somerset Bridge Group; Cath Addis, L&D manager at Ascential; and return guest Carl Akintola-Davis, Head of Leadership Development at Phoenix Group.

We discuss:

· The history and criticisms of 70:20:10

· How useful the concept is for discussing workplace learning with stakeholders

· How to think about the '70', the '20', and the '10' when designing learning programs.

For more on the origins of 70:20:10, see this blog post from Charles Jennings of The 702010 Institute, who is joining us next week on the show.

Carl's acronym for workplace learning was 'Performance RECIPES: Reflection, Experimentation, Connection, Information, Practice, Environment and Support'.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed a new paper from Nature, which didn't really impress him: Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 1-6.

Ross learned the unfortunate fate of 440 squirrels.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Ross Garner

· Owen Ferguson

· Ceri Sharples

· Cath Addis

· Carl Akintola-Davis

A summer holiday holds the potential for distraction-free reading. With that in mind, in this week's episode our podcast team suggest books that hold lessons for L&D practitioners. Which might you take on holiday this summer?

Book list

• Right Kind of Wrong. Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive (2023) by Amy Edmondson

www.amazon.co.uk/Right-Kind-Wrong-Learning-Thrive

• Counter-Intelligence: What the secret world can teach us about problem-solving and creativity (2024) by Robert Hannigan

https://www.roberthannigan.com/

• The Tyranny of Metrics (2018) by Jerry J. Muller

www.amazon.co.uk/Tyranny-Metrics-Jerry-Z-Muller

• How big things get done. The surprising factors behind every successful project (2023) by Brent Flyberg and Dan Gardner

www.amazon.co.uk/How-Big-Things-Get-Done

• A history of the world in twelve shipwrecks (2024) by David Gibbons

www.amazon.co.uk/History-World-Twelve-Shipwrecks

• Performance-focused learner surveys (2022) by Will Thalheimer

www.amazon.co.uk/Performance-Focused-Learner-Surveys-Distinctive-Effectiveness

In 'What I Learned This Week', Nahdia spoke about how former PM Harold Wilson funded his Alzheimer's care www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/23/former-pm-harold-wilson-sold-private-papers-fund-care-alzheimers

Ross Dickie also mentioned the traditional Greek bagpipe, known as the 'tsampouna', which he discovered during a recent holiday on Santorini.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Nahdia Khan

· Owen Ferguson

· Ross Dickie

According to a recent study from Ipsos, and commissioned by Amazon, 86% of respondents said that career development is essential, very or fairly important to them. But, in our experience, it tends to become a lot less important when the day-to-day demands of work crop up.

So, in this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, return guest Neil John Cunningham from Align Learn Do joins Ross G to ask why this is, and what to do about it.

We discuss:

• How to build the credibility of your L&D function

• The extent to which marketing L&D works

• What to do about a 'disjointed' L&D offering.

You can read Amazon's study online.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross discussed the Lokiceratops Rangiformis.

For more from Neil, including his book Narratives and Numbers, see alignlearndo.com.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner

• Neil John Cunningham

In part three of our #BuildingBetterManagers series, Ross Garner and Nahdia Khan are joined for one last time by Dr Anna Barnett from the Mind Tools Insights team. If you've been listening along recently, we've already covered the capabilities that make a 'good' manager, and how we can develop them. In this week's episode, we're looking at how we support more experienced managers.

We discuss:

• The long-term impact of early management training

• Differences (and similarities) between new and experienced managers

• How we can provide constant ongoing support to more experienced managers.

During the discussion, Nahdia referenced our podcast with Georgie Rudd on listening.

You can read our report, 'Building Better Managers', now.

If you need helping building better managers, we can help you measure and improve capability no matter your context. Email [email protected] or visit mindtools.com/business/poducts/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Anna discussed scenario-based learning. See Episode 356 of this podcast for more on that.

Ross G discussed research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the 'power of proximity'.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner

• Dr Anna Barnett

• Nahdia Khan

Last week, we kicked off our three-part #BuildingBetterManagers series with an overview of the 12 capabilities that we know make a difference to performance. Now we're asking: How do we help managers build those capabilities?

To answer this question, Ross G and Ross D are joined once again by Dr Anna Barnett, from the Mind Tools Insights team, to discuss her recommendations from our latest report: 'Building Better Managers'.

We discuss:

• Evidence-based approaches to improving manager capability
• How Mind Tools factored this evidence into our product design
• An example of a custom management programme that made a measurable difference to manager capabilities.

If you need help building better managers, we can help you measure and improve capability no matter your context. Email [email protected] or visit mindtools.com/business/products/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed the film Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off, about the career of Tony Hawk.

Anna discussed the book The Migraine Brain by Carolyn Bernstein.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support Content Library, our Off-the-Shelf e-learning, and our Custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner

• Dr Anna Barnett

• Ross Dickie

What does good management look like? What skills and capabilities does a manager need? Are you a good manager?

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Owen Ferguson are joined by Dr Anna Barnett, from our own in-house Insights team, to discuss the findings of our latest report: 'Building Better Managers'.

In the first of three episodes exploring how we can improve management capability for our people and organizations, we discuss:

· How we define a 'good' manager

· The capabilities all managers need to perform, no matter their industry

· How to measure manager capability.

We've used the results of Anna's research to develop our own manager skills assessment. It can help your managers identify skill gaps, while also giving L&D leaders an insight into critical development areas that exist across their organisations.

To speak to us about running our management skills assessment with your people, get in touch! Email [email protected] or visit mindtools.com/business/poducts/mind-tools-insights to book a meeting.

During the discussion, Anna referenced the following papers:

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 42(2), 241-251.

Carmeli, A., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Ziv, E. (2010). Inclusive leadership and employee involvement in creative tasks in the workplace: The mediating role of psychological safety. Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 250-260.

Our report, 'Building Better Managers', will be released on July 9.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen shared how disagreement is often mistaken for bad listening.

Ross discussed the app Finch, for motivating behavior change.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtools.com/business. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.

Or become a member to support our show! Visit mindtools.com and use the offer code PODCAST15 for 15% off an individual subscription. This offer is for new subscribers only and can't be used with any other offer.

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Ross Garner

· Owen Ferguson

· Dr Anna Barnett