The Mindtools L&D Podcast

How can we make our jobs 1% - or even 2% - better? According to Rob Baker, the answer is 'job crafting'.

Stemming from his work in positive psychology, Rob suggests individuals and teams improve their working lives by taking ownership of their roles and making small changes that have an impact.

He joins Ross G and Owen to discuss:

• the emerging field of positive psychology
• what job crafting looks like in practice
• how L&D and HR teams can promote job crafting.

Show notes

Rob talked about job crafting in his TEDx talk here: youtube.com/watch?v=hz71mDMaVJc

His website is: tailoredthinking.co.uk

In WILTW, Owen discussed the paper: Yang, L., Holtz, D., Jaffe, S., Suri, S., Sinha, S., Weston, J., ... & Teevan, J. (2021). The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Nature human behaviour, 1-12. Available online at: nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01196-4

Ross discussed the website lolmythesis.com

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT
• Owen Ferguson @OwenFerguson
• Rob Baker @BakerRJM

In this episode, we're delving into research focused on emotional wellbeing at work. Conducted by the Emotion at Work team, we discuss the findings and what they mean for how we can support and boost our mental health.

Gemma T and Nahdia are joined by Phil Wilcox of Emotion at Work to discuss:

• the research aims and methodology
• the results and insights
• what we can do to support our own and others' wellbeing

Show notes

The research report is due to be published at the end of November. It'll be available via the Emotion at Work Community, which you can sign up to here: https://community.emotionatwork.co.uk/signup

You can find out more about Emotion at Work by visiting the website: https://emotionatwork.co.uk/

In WILTW, Phil recommended Elizabeth River's PhD thesis entitled, "Navigating emotionally demanding work: a narrative study of HR practitioners' experiences". You can download a PDF of the full thesis here: https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/navigating-emotionally-demanding-work-a-narrative-study-of-hr-pra

Nahdia referenced McKinsey article "'Great Attrition' or 'Great Attraction'? The choice is yours." You can find it here: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/great-attrition-or-great-attraction-the-choice-is-yours

Gemma mentioned the book Ten Types of Human by Dexter Dias. You can find a copy through all good booksellers.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Gemma Towersey @gemmatowersey
• Nahdia Khan @nahdiakhan
• Phil Wilcox @emotionat_work

Back in Episode 244, Ross G, Owen, Carrie and Gent discussed the value of benchmarking, as we prepared to launch the Learning Performance Benchmark. A few months on, we thought it would be worth hearing what benchmarking looks like in practice.

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gent are joined by James Hampton from Seasalt Cornwall to discuss:

• the insights Seasalt Cornwall have unlocked through the benchmarking process
• the action they have taken in response to those insights
• the value of the Learning Performance Benchmark as a recurring, long-term process
• advice for learning professionals who are considering benchmarking for the first time

Show notes

You can find out more about the Learning Performance Benchmark at: mindtoolsbusiness.com/solutions/learning-performance-benchmark

In WILTW, Gent mentioned the book Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. You can find a copy through all good booksellers.

James' article is called In Pursuit of a Learning Organisation. You can find it here: linkedin.com/pulse/pursuit-learning-organisation-james-hampton-flpi-1f/

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Dickie @RossDickieMT
• Gent Ahmetaj @GentAhmetaj
• James Hampton @ActiveODcoach

In some ways, sales enablement has the ultimate success metric - increased sales! So why is sales training so often a 'hard sell' for L&D?

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Owen are joined by Anderson Hirst, Consulting Director at Kojo Academy, to discuss:

• the difference between sales training and sales enablement
• why sales training is so often seen as distinct from other training efforts
• how to measure the impact of sales training
• what good sales training looks like
• advice for small and medium-sized businesses looking to develop their sales teams

Show notes

In WILTW, Owen mentioned the New Yorker article, 'It's Time to Stop Talking About "Generations"': https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/its-time-to-stop-talking-about-generations

Ross D recommended the 'A Crypto Optimist Meets a Crypto Skeptic' episode of the Ezra Klein Show. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

You can find out more about Anderson's work by visiting https://kojoacademy.com/

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. 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 Ross D and Owen on Twitter:

• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT
• Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson

Or you can contact Anderson by searching 'Anderson Hirst' on LinkedIn.

As a concept, spaced repetition has been around for decades. Yet in many organisations, learning is seen in terms of one-off interventions, delivered through a classroom or an LMS.

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gemma are joined by Sarah Mercier, CEO of Learning Ninjas, to discuss:

• what spaced learning is, and how to design for it
• what good spaced practice looks like
• the technological boundaries to implementing spaced learning

Show notes

When speaking about her project with the US military, Sarah mentioned xAPI. If you're interested in learning more about xAPI, we covered it in episodes 102 and 113.

If you're attending DevLearn and thinking of attending Sarah's session, you can find the full details here: https://devlearn.com/session/spaced-learning-a-design-and-technology-primer/

To learn more about Learning Ninjas, head to https://learningninjas.com/

In WILTW, Ross provided a rundown of the five most populous cities in the world, based on figures from https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities.

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT
• Gemma Towersey - @gemmatowersey
• Sarah Mercier - @sarahmerci

New business models, an increasingly hybrid workforce and the need for constant adaptability are changing what it means to be a learning professional.

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G meets the eLearning Network's Joan Keevil and Dr Hannah Gore to explore their research into the skills we need to professionalise.

We discuss:

• how the world of work is changing
• personal and professional impact
• evidence-based practice.

Show notes

To find out more about the research Joan and Hannah conducted, in collaboration with Peoplestar's Jane Daly, visit: elearningnetwork.org/the-supercharged-learning-professional-turning-disruption-into-advantage-2/

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

To find out more about the eLearning Network, visit: elearningnetwork.org/

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT
• Dr Hannah Gore @HRGore
• Joan Keevil @Designs_JoanK

Why are boundaries important? How do you set them? And what impact does hybird working have on how we interact with one another?

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G meets Executive Coach Emma Langton to discuss:

• what 'boundaries' are
• how to set boundaries at work
• why the pandemic has made boundaries more important than ever.

Show notes

Ross referenced Erving Goffman's theory of the performed self. There's an excellent animated introduction to this concept, narrated by Stephen Fry, at: open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/philosophy/concepts/erving-goffman-and-the-performed-self

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross recommended a Twitter thread on life as a lorry driver, from @TheLorryist: twitter.com/thelorryist/status/1439361631872602112?s=21

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

For more from Emma, visit emmalangton.com

Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT
• Emma Langton @EmmaLangtonCoach

This week on the podcast, Ross D, Owen and Ross G are taking another rummage through their L&D book bag. They discuss:

• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
• Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan
• Think Again by Adam Grant
• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
• 13 Minutes to the Moon, a podcast presented by Kevin Fong
• How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy

These books are available from all good booksellers, and 13 Minutes to the Moon can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes

Ross G mentioned FiveThirtyEight's p-hacking project, which you can find out more about at: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/p-hacking/

In What I Learned This Week, Ross G also discussed what would happen if someone died on Mars: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-happens-if-someone-dies-on-mars

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieMT
• Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson
• Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT

Published in 2003, Michael Lewis' Moneyball charts efforts by the Oakland Athletics baseball team to use analytics and statistical methods to assemble a competitive team on a comparatively small budget.

This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Owen, Ross D and Nahdia share their thoughts on the book and it's relevance to L&D and HR professionals. We discuss:

• how General Manager Billy Beane transformed his team's approach to scouting talent
• the impact of statistics and subjective judgement on decision making
• the challenges inherent with implementing a statistical approach to L&D.

Show notes

Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, is available from all good booksellers.

Some of the criticism directed at Moneyball is covered in The Atlantic: theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/the-many-problems-with-moneyball/245769/

For details of Mind Tools' 77-page workbook, 'Becoming a Positive Leader' - free to new members - visit MindTools.com.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Owen discussed potential UI improvements to the Tesco loan calculator: chrisannetts.com/blog/tesco-loan-calculator

Nahdia discussed the colour of Sesame Street's Big Bird across different cultures: buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/big-bird-international-colors

And Ross G revealed that he'd had a most epic morning listening to Hidden Citizens: hiddencitizens.com/

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Dickie - @RossDickieEW
• Owen Ferguson - @OwenFerguson
• Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT (new handle!)
• Nahdia Khan - @_nahdia_khan

Creativity in online learning, agile learning frameworks, the role of HR, and business ethics are just some of the topics we tackle on this week's show as we answer questions from the audience.

Mark Baker asked: Do you think as face-to-face trainers move into more virtual learning, is there a risk that they lose creativity in their learning experiences?

Shilpa Nimbalkar asked: How can L&D experts build an Agile Learning framework that supports business requirements (at scale and speed) and ensures learner experience?

Carl Akintola-Davies asked: Is there any value in workplace learning that isn't tied to strict behavioural outcomes?

Sean Brown asked: When push comes to shove, is HR there for the people or the business?

Sharon Green asked: What role does or could L&D and or HR play in business ethics?

Show notes

Owen referenced the '5Di Learning Design Process', which you can find online at: aconventional.com/2015/04/the-5di-learning-design-process.html

And he discussed the 'Concern Task Resource Model': aconventional.com/2015/03/concern-task-resource-model.html

In What I Learned This Week, Owen discussed the ultra clickbaitly titled academic paper: 'Large Scale Analysis of Multitasking Behavior During Remote Meetings', online at: hci.stanford.edu/publications/2021/cao_remote/CHI2021-RemoteMeetingMultitask.pdf (Yes, we're going with 'clickbaitly'!)

Gemma discussed Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall: amazon.co.uk/Prisoners-Geography-Everything-Global-Politics/dp/1783962437

Nahdia discussed the death of actor Michael K Williams: theguardian.com/film/gallery/2021/sep/07/michael-k-williams-a-life-in-pictures

And Ross shared the podcast 'The Rest is History', hosted by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. Their recent two-part episode on the history of Silicon Valley features Netscape co-founder Marc Andreeseen as their guest: play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast/93.siliconvalleypart1

Fans of the game Risk may also enjoy Polytopia, available from the App Store: polytopia.io/

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit emeraldworks.com. 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 our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Garner @RossGarnerEW
• Gemma Towersey @GemmaTowersey
• Owen Ferguson @OwenFerguson
• Nahdia Khan @NahdiaKhan