The Mind Tools L&D Podcast Mind Tools Ltd

As professionals, we want to know if our work has had the impact we originally intended and to tell others about it. This means getting comfortable with data and crafting compelling data stories.
On this episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G is joined by Neil Cunningham, founder of Align | Learn | Do and author of Narratives and Numbers, to discuss practical and mindset shifts L&D can take.
We explore:
why people think it’s too difficult to measure the ROI of learning how to get stakeholder buy-in to measuring and evaluating learning how to craft credible L&D data stories. You can get a copy of Neil’s book, Narratives and Numbers, from the Align | Learn | Do website. Use the offer code mt10 at checkout for a 10% discount.
In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discovers the many reasons why lorry drivers might accidentally crash into a bridge via this curiously fascinating X thread.
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 Neil Cunningham

You’ve got a brilliant idea for the next big thing in tech and have gathered the smartest engineers and designers to build it (plus the cash to pay them). Will it end up being a success? You’ve got the best team to deliver it, so why wouldn’t it be? Well…
Gemma, Ross and Martin Gonzalez, Google’s Effective Founders Project founder and author, discuss this situation on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast.
We explore:
·       how and why it’s people issues that often lead to (startup) business failure
·       the balances that need to be struck by those creating and working in teams
·       the uncomfortable “bullsh*t circle” exercise, as a step towards fixing people issues.
During the episode, Martin talks about how the “hiding hand principle” is critical for some projects to get going: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiding_hand_principle
In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Martin references Gary P. Pisano’s Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation 
Find out more about Martin and Josh's book The Bonfire Moment by visiting bonfiremoment.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. 
Connect with our speakers   
If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:
·       Ross Garner
·       Gemma Towersey
·       Martin Gonzalez

If you’re thinking, isn’t positive psychology a bit ‘woo woo’, and a bit like forcing yourself to take a sunny outlook, then this episode is for you. As an approach to a happier, more balanced inner and outer life, positive psychology is not woo – it has a solid scientific foundation with practical methodologies.
Gemma, Ross Garner and their guest, Leadership coach Sandra Berko, discuss these very points this week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast.
We explore:
·       what positive psychology is and isn’t
·       what the science suggests we do to find balance
·       how you can help others to use positive psychology.
Ross mentioned an earlier episode of the podcast on job crafting. You can listen to Episode 271 – Jobcraft Country wherever you get your podcasts, or on our website: podcast.mindtoolsbusiness.com/271-jobcraft-country
In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross recommended the “Great Minds on Learning” podcast episode on Generative AI Theorists with Donald Clark.
Sandra spoke about emotion codes, which feature in a course she’s currently enrolled in. Emotion codes are based on theories developed by Dr Bradley Nelson. 
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
·       Gemma Towersey
·       Sandra Berko

Adaptive courses come in many forms, but generally respond to the learner’s existing knowledge and skills: thereby optimizing the time to completion. But do they improve learning outcomes? 

In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are joined by Roy de Vries, Learning Innovator at aNewSpring, to explore the results of an experiment they ran to compare adaptive vs linear courses. 

We discuss: 

Forms of adaptive learning content; 
The potential advantages of adaptive learning; 
The results of an experiment carried out by aNewSpring. 

Details of the study we discussed are online at: anewspring.com/articles/adaptive-learning-reduce-study-time  

During the discussion, Ross referenced our AI-powered difficult conversation simulator: AI Conversations. It gives your people an opportunity to practice a variety of off-the-shelf or custom scenarios. You can find details on our website: mindtools.com/business/products/ai-conversations 

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Owen recommended the book Smart Swam, by Peter Millers. 

If you want to hear The L&D Dispatch jingle again (and why wouldn’t you?), it’s available from Suno.com.  

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, 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.   

For aNewSpring, visit anewspring.com  

Connect with our speakers    

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

Ross Garner 
Owen Ferguson 
Roy de Vries 

Timeboxing means dividing your day into 15-60 minute slots, based on your priorities, and then sticking to those slots as you dive into the business of work. If that sounds great, it is. If it sounds easy, it isn’t.
In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, author Marc Zao-Sanders joins Ross G to give him advice on timeboxing his life. We discuss:
·       The benefits of timeboxing;
·       How email is the ‘killer’, and what to do about it;
·       The difficulties that Ross had implementing timeboxing, and what he could do differently.
The article Marc wrote for HBR was ‘How timeboxing works and why it will make you more productive’.
Find out more about timeboxing from Mind Tools.
The book, Timeboxing, is available from Penguin.
Marc’s substack is One Thing at a Time.
The company Marc runs is Filtered.
In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross discussed the rising popularity of the ‘dumbphone’.
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 our speakers:
·       Ross Garner
·       Marc Zao-Sanders

As learning designers, we’re ultimately in the business of trying to help people build new connections in their brains. To do this effectively, we need to have a fundamental understanding of how the brain works. But how far down the neuroscience rabbit hole do we need to go?
 
In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Dickie and Ross Garner are joined by Lauren Waldman, learning scientist, consultant, and founder of Learning Pirate. We discuss:
·       Lauren’s journey to deepen her understanding of how the brain works;
·       how much learning designers need to know about neuroscience to be effective in their roles;
·       the cost of L&D’s continual focus on the ‘shiny and the new’.
To find out more about Lauren’s work as Learning Pirate, head to: https://www.learningpirate.com/. You can also view a trailer for Lauren’s ‘Joining Forces with Your Brain’ series here.
In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross Garner mentioned the ‘Battle of the Eclipse’.
Ross Dickie recommended the documentary STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces.
For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, 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 our speakers:
·       Ross Dickie
·       Ross Garner
·       Lauren Waldman