Bio

Formerly the senior content manager at ATD for career development and host of the Accidental Trainer podcast, Lisa Spinelli writes about career development and pathways. She is the editor and main author of Teachers to Trainers (ATD Press) and is working toward her ACC accreditation with the International Coaching Federation as a career and transition coach. Currently, she is the director of content strategy at Degreed. Spinelli also volunteers her time outside of work coaching and assisting transitioning military service members and spouses as well as disabled entrepreneurs in their new career paths.

 Transcript (Abridged)

Doyin: Lisa is an extraordinary person. You are welcome to the Performance Tools Podcast. Thank you for honoring my invitation, Lisa. 

Lisa: It is an honor. I have been called extra before. 

Doyin: Tell us about your career journey. 

Lisa: I started pretty much in journalism. I went on to travel to America to do journalism. Then, I met my wonderful Airforce husband. We started having babies and I decided to stay at home; freelancing and started doing content marketing and got into the realm of career development to help me become a coach. I just finished the program last year and I am still working towards my ACC/ICF credentials but also working on ATD development news and amazing podcasts. 

Doyin: So, with the state of the world; pandemic, AI, Automation- tech and all that. How can Learning and Development professionals get ahead in their careers today putting in place all these realities around us? 

Lisa: There is no area that has not been affected in the world. Everybody is being affected especially the pandemic. People are looking online towards their careers, workplaces, and hybrid and they have gone virtual. They are looking more at LinkedIn Learning, online academies where they can go into and develop their skills, especially if they are just starting off in this industry- talent development. It's a booming business I have seen, and I will caution people to do their homework on people who are running these academies and feedback from those who have gone through them. Nobody is stopping anybody from starting their own business online. But you really have to do your homework. There are great academies out there for learning and development professionals whether it’s through ATD or other academies out there. You can take these courses for a relatively cheap amount and build yourself a portfolio of skills. If you are in learning and development, you definitely need to have some sort of portfolio under your belt so that you can present it to somebody or organizations if you’re looking for a job or display your thought leadership on LinkedIn or your website so that people coming to you can easily see it. Portfolios and academies have really moved online. LinkedIn is also a wonderful platform to network, to showcase some thought leadership, and join groups in order to find people with commonalities. Networking is a human trait. If you live on a social network, you live longer, you feel better. Networking is always big and I love to meet people and get to know them. 

Doyin: What are some trends you are witnessing when it comes to career development? 

Lisa: There is this very big talk around big quit or great resignation happening in the USA. Many people call it a great inspiration. These people seem to be stretching themselves to see what is happening in the outside world. Sometimes, taking a career break has become a big thing. The tide is really slowly turning in career development that you can take a break to go do what you love- climb mountains, do yoga, etc.  

Doyin: Would you like to share the top seven skills that learning and development professionals must have right now? 

Lisa