The Mindtools L&D Podcast

Remember 'performance support'? Amid all the talk of AI, adaptive learning, and skills, it's kind of been forgotten.

But not by us! Or by respondents to Don Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey, who ranked it 11th hottest trend this year (up two from last year).

In the first of a two-part series of crossover episodes with our partner Assemble You, Ross G and Paul are joined by Adam Lacey to discuss:

• What makes great performance support?
• What conditions make performance support effective?
• What role does AI play in all this?

To find out more about the performance support available for leaders and managers, from Mindtools, visit mindtools.com. And, good news! You can now add Microsoft Shorts from Assemble You to your subscription.During this episode, Ross G discussed extended cognition and the productivity paradox.

Paul discussed Gloria Gery's definition of performance support.

Ross also discussed the book Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro, and our 2016 report 'The Secret Learning Lives of Managers' (which I was able to find and put on Dropbox).

We also discussed the World Economic Forum's 'Future of Jobs 2025' report.

And in 'What I Learned This Week', Paul recommended the book Kill the Unicorn, and Adam recommended The Anxious Generation.

Connect with our speakers

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

• Ross Garner
• Paul Buller
• Adam Lacey

Should we be adopting AI more into our day to day lives? How can L&D professionals move beyond reactive training on specific tools to cultivate a continuous learning mindset in team members?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Gemma and Dr Anna are joined by to Head of L&D at Newsquest Media Group, Mel Cooley to explore L&D's relationship with AI.

We discuss:

• how L&D is thinking and talking about AI;
• what L&D can do to support AI integration;
• how to measure the impact of AI.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Dr Anna told us about the extraordinary relationship between wasps and figs. Listen to the Short Stuff: Figs @& Wasps podcast to find out more.

Gemma spoke about journalling and the work of Nichole Sachs. More on this on her JournalSpeak: BreakAwake website.

For more from us, visit mindtools.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 us on LinkedIn:

• Gemma Towersey
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Mel Cooley

Armed with a STEM qualification or two, you might think technical brilliance is all one needs to succeed in the space sector. Is this the case though?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Anna are joined by Victoria Craig to discuss:

• the importance of 'soft' skills in a 'hard' science environment;
• sector-specific skills gaps;
• how L&D can bridge these gaps.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross reminisced about playing a Sega game called Mickey Mania. Take a look at the game's Wikipedia page.

For more from us, visit mindtools.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 us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Victoria Craig

Effective marketers have an uncanny way of knowing what we want and convincing us to click 'Like', add to Checkout and in under 20 seconds, buy their thing. Clever.

Meanwhile, over in L&D, we find it more difficult to motivate someone to take action or change their behaviour. So, what does marketing do that we don't?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Bianca Baumann and Mike Taylor, authors of Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro: Strategies to Ignite Learning. They discuss:

• The intersection of marketing and learning principles

• The techniques marketing professionals use to grab attention and nudge action

• How L&D can bring these strategies into their work

You can find out more about Bianca and Mike on their website: trainlikeamarketer.com/

For more from us, visit mindtools.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 us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Garner

• Bianca Baumann

• Mike Taylor

Having the opportunity to set up a new team can be both exciting and daunting. Where would you start when it's an L&D team?

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Head of People Development Daneille Ware speaks to Gemma and Ross about her approach to creating an L&D team from scratch. We discuss:

· The triggers for creating a new or evolved L&D department

· How to get started with quick wins

· Using data to support decisions

In 'What I Learnt This Week', Ross mentioned the two-part Star Wars related episodes of the Rewatchables called 'Star Wars: A New Hope' With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan.'

Gemma also talks about a podcast, but one with a very different tone. She listened to Dr Chatterjee speak to Erling Kagge about solitude on 'Feel better, Live more'.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

Connect with our speakers

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

• Danielle Ware
• Ross Garner
• Gemma Towersey

Collaboration is a vital skill across many fields and disciplines. But effective collaboration is about much more than just working together.

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Paula are joined by Fraser Mcdonald, Head of Collaboration at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and Deputy Director of the Data for Children Collaborative, to discuss:

• why collaboration is important when it comes to solving 'wicked problems';
• how Mindtools worked with the EFI to develop a game that's designed to build collaboration skills;
• why a game was the right solution to this problem, and how it's being deployed within the EFI.

To find out more about the work Fraser does, check out the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Data for Children Collaborative's websites.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Paula mentioned that she'd been digging into the surprisingly wild history of papal conclaves.

Fraser recommended the website ToS;DR, which provides an eye-opening breakdown of what we're agreeing to when we use different websites and platforms.

And Ross D talked about a recent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast, focusing on the relationship between architecture and tax codes.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

Connect with our speakers

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

• Ross Dickie
• Paula Hughes
• Fraser Mcdonald

Whether it comes to facilitating workshops, designing learning experiences, or developing campaign assets, L&D practitioners are increasingly expected to bring creativity to their roles. But how do you do this if you don't have a creative background, or if you don't think of yourself as a 'creative person'?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross D and Gemma are joined by Kenny Temowo, Senior Director of Talent Acceleration at SharkNinja and host of the Inside the Art of Making podcast, to discuss:

• Kenny's career journey through the creative industries, into workplace learning, and back again;
• what it means to be 'creative', and how this applies in L&D;
• how to meet consumer-level creative expectations with L&D budgets;
• how to earn the permission to be creative at work.

You can listen to Kenny's podcast, Inside the Art of Making, on Spotify. (Or wherever you get your podcasts.)

In 'What I Learned This Week', Gemma mentioned The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

Ross D gave a lukewarm review of the movie Field of Dreams.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

Connect with our speakers

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

• Ross Dickie
• Gemma Towersey
• Kenny Temowo

Often on this podcast we've spoken about how AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are enhancing our capabilities. But do they also come at a cost?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross Stevenson from Steal These Thoughts joins Ross G and Dr Gent to discuss:

• the relationship between tasks and skills;
• whether we are over-relying on AI;
• the long-term impact of AI use on critical thinking.

During the discussion, Ross S discussed the recent robot race in Beijing and the concept of vibe coding, via Lovable. He also mentioned Apple's sometimes-hilarious AI summaries.

Gent discussed cognitive offloading.

The paper Gent discussed was:

Gerlich, M. (2025). AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking. Societies, 15(1), 6.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross G shared how you can use a sausage to interact with your smartphone screen.

For more from Ross S, visit Steal These Thoughts.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

Connect with our speakers

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

• Ross Garner
• Dr Gent Ahmetaj
• Ross Stevenson

What are the benefits of podcasts for learning? How does L&D respond to people leaving the profession? Should we get rid of email?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Anna and Ross D to answer your questions!

During the discussion, Ross D referenced our post 'If your podcast isn't available on mobile, does it make a sound?', and Cal Newport's Deep Work.

Ross G referenced the AI 2027 forecast. He also discussed (and wrote about) Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke's recent edict on the use of AI.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Anna discussed PowerPoint transitions, from Luis Urrutia.

Ross D discussed his new (tidier) LinkedIn URL. Find out how to edit your own.

Ross G discussed the former residents of London Bridge.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder and our custom work.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter.

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 drives your delegation decisions? Is it what's best for the business? Is it what's best for your team member? Is it what's best for you?

In this week's edition of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna discuss:

• Why managers sometimes delegate tasks that they know are too difficult
• How the organization's culture shapes those decisions
• How to help managers delegate better.

The paper we discussed throughout this podcast was:

Maas, V. S., & Shi, B. (2023). The effects of target difficulty and relative ability on managers' delegation decisions. Management Accounting Research, 60, 100851.

Ross G also referenced:

Crossley, C. D., Cooper, C. D., & Wernsing, T. S. (2013). Making things happen through challenging goals: Leader proactivity, trust, and business-unit performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(3), 540.

In 'What I Learned This Week', Ross D discussed the concept of 'moving day', as reported on by The Atlantic.

For more from us, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning Content Hub, our Manager Skills Assessment, our Manager Skill Builder 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
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Ross Dickie