Lead with Learning

Tess Colucci
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Management

Most leadership models miss one key element: how adults actually learn. This podcast is the ultimate career smash... taking the insights from the science of teaching and learning and applying them to the world of leadership to build a new blueprint of how teams learn and succeed in business.   Each week we'll share learning strategies and break down how learning happens and why that matters to you and your team's growth and development.  Come for the insights, stay for the growth.

  1. Sep 29

    Stop Leading Everyone The Same Way: Steal This Strategy Series

    We challenge the idea that treating everyone the same is the fairest way to lead, and we show why it often blocks real growth on a team. We borrow the education strategy of differentiation to keep expectations consistent while tailoring support, challenge, and coaching to what each person needs to learn next.  • equal treatment versus effective support and why those are not the same thing  • what differentiation means and how it avoids favoritism  • how adult learning theory explains mismatched training outcomes  • a real world example of rolling out a new performance process  • differentiated support without creating dependency  • differentiated challenge to keep high performers learning  • flexible coaching styles based on how each person learns  • keeping the destination consistent while varying the route  • how to prevent over-differentiation from turning into chaos  Pick one person on your team, not your highest performer and not necessarily your lowest, just a person, and ask yourself, what am I currently giving this person because I give it to everyone, not just because they actually need it. And then ask yourself, what would this person actually need next, and then try one small adjustment and pay attention to what happens.

  2. Sep 22

    The Training Isn’t the Problem. What Happens After Is: Steal This Strategy Series

    “We already trained them on that” might be the most expensive sentence in business. When customer complaints rise, managers avoid hard feedback, or onboarding feels like a blur, the reflex is often another workshop. But the real problem is usually what happens after the training, because being exposed to information is not the same thing as learning it, remembering it, or performing under pressure. I’m Tess, and I’m pulling two proven strategies from learning science that education has used for decades: retrieval practice and spaced practice. Retrieval practice is the simple act of trying to recall key ideas without looking at the deck or the notes. Spaced practice is revisiting those ideas over time, in different contexts, so they become usable. Together, they help teams move from “that sounds familiar” to “I can do this with a real customer, a real deadline, and real stakes.” We walk through concrete workplace examples, like training managers on an effective feedback framework and then reinforcing it with two-minute prompts, short scenarios, and coaching reflections that fit naturally into one-on-ones and team meetings. We also rethink employee onboarding as a 90-day learning process instead of a first-week firehose, and we talk about transfer of training: the point where knowledge shows up as performance, not just attendance. You’ll leave with a simple model to run: Teach, Retrieve, Apply, Space, Repeat. If this changes how you look at training, subscribe, share the episode with a leader who runs workshops, and leave a review so more people can build learning that lasts. What’s one skill your team was trained on recently that you could reinforce this week?

  3. Sep 15

    Stop Watching People And Start Watching Work: Steal this Strategy Series

    Observation stops feeling like a threat when we treat it as a tool for learning instead of a surprise evaluation. We share how leaders can use quick, low-stakes moments of watching the work to coach with precision, build psychological safety, and help people improve faster.  • why “observation” triggers anxiety at work and how organizations create that reaction  • a simple story that shows why staying to watch matters  • how educators use observation to spot thinking, not just mistakes  • why “do you understand?” fails and performance becomes visible in action  • how to “watch the work” in real workflows and software struggles  • modeling as leadership development through seeing an experienced leader think  • psychological safety as the condition that makes observation useful  • language shifts that change observation from judging to learning  • making observation ordinary through small, frequent, low-stakes check-ins  Look at your calendar. Find the next formal observation or performance review that you have scheduled. Keep it. You might need it. But then ask yourself, why am I waiting until then to see the work? What if before the formal observation you had three or four much smaller moments of observation? Not evaluation or scores or documentation, but just curiosity, just learning.

  4. Sep 14

    Don’t Just Delegate. Develop: The Power of Gradual Release... Steal this Strategy Series

    Lead with Learning

  5. Sep 8

    Don't Wait for the Performance Review: Steal This Strategy Series

    What if your next performance problem isn't really a performance problem? What if it's a learning problem? In this episode of Steal This Strategy, I'm taking one of education's most powerful learning strategies—formative assessment—and showing you how leaders can use it to develop people, improve performance, and catch learning gaps before they become bigger problems. Teachers don't wait until the final exam to discover that a student doesn't understand. They check for understanding along the way, use what they learn to adjust instruction, provide feedback, create opportunities for practice, and gradually release responsibility as the learner becomes more capable. So why do we often do the opposite at work? We train someone once, assume they understand, and then wait for a performance review—or worse, a customer complaint or failed project—to discover that something went wrong. In this episode, you'll learn how to: • Use formative assessment to check learning while it's happening • Move beyond “Do you understand?” and ask questions that reveal what people can actually do • Use simple classroom strategies like the exit ticket in your next team meeting • Distinguish formative assessment from summative assessment • Give feedback that actually changes future performance • Avoid confusing formative assessment with micromanagement • Use a simple five-step Formative Leadership Loop: Teach → Check → Respond → Apply → Release The goal isn't to watch your employees forever. It's to give them the right support while they're learning—and then get out of the way as their confidence and independence grow. Because if your assessment doesn't change what happens next, it's probably not formative. Don't wait for the final exam. Check the learning while there's still time to change the outcome. This is Lead with Learning—where we steal what works in education and put it to work in leadership.

  6. Sep 4

    The Advice Monster Lurking Behind You

    Your team walks in with a problem and your brain lights up with solutions. You can feel the “here’s what I’d do” forming before they even finish the sentence and it works… until it doesn’t. Because when you become the place where every hard decision goes to get solved, your team’s confidence shrinks while your workload explodes.  I’m Tess, and I’m unpacking a simple leadership shift: moving from being the answer machine to being more coach-like in the conversations you’re already having. Drawing on Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit, we name the advice monster, talk about why default advice creates dependence, and show how coaching can happen in 10 minutes or less. This is leadership coaching for real life: no extra meetings, no awkward scripts, just better questions at the right moment.  We get practical with tools you can use immediately, including the 2-second pause, the deceptively powerful “And what else?”, listening for the person behind the problem, and using silence so people can actually think. We also cover a critical boundary for managers: helping without taking ownership, staying accountable, and leading the thinking rather than doing all the thinking. You’ll leave with a simple five-step coaching flow that builds autonomy, problem-solving, and a stronger learning culture over time.  If you’re ready to coach without losing authority, press play. Subscribe, share this with a fellow “fixer,” and leave a quick review, then tell me: which coaching question will you try first?

  7. Sep 2

    Why Aren’t We Practicing at Work?

    We spend a lot of time at work showing people what to do. We explain the process, provide the resources, hold the training, answer questions—and then expect people to perform. But what if we’re skipping one of the most important parts of learning? Practice. In this episode of Lead with Learning, we’re talking about the gap between knowing something and actually being able to do it. Because understanding a new process, skill, or responsibility doesn’t automatically mean someone is ready to perform it when the stakes are high. And practice doesn’t have to mean another training session, hours of role-playing, or pulling your team away from their work. Instead, it can be built into the work you’re already doing. We’ll explore how leaders can create small, intentional opportunities for people to try new skills before they have to use them for real—whether that happens in a team meeting, a one-on-one, a new role, or before a major rollout. You’ll also learn a simple practice cycle: Try → Reflect → Adjust → Try Again Because if we want capable, confident teams, we can’t just give people more responsibility and hope capability follows. We have to create opportunities for people to build the skills they need to carry that responsibility. In this episode, we’ll explore: Why learning doesn’t automatically transfer into workplace performanceThe hidden cost of skipping practiceHow to build practice into meetings and one-on-onesWhy people should have opportunities to practice before they officially need a skillWhy practice doesn’t have to mean traditional role-playingHow to make mistakes cheaper and learning saferWhy leaders shouldn’t always jump in with feedbackHow increasing complexity can prepare people for the messy reality of workA simple way to start incorporating practice into your team’s everyday workYour challenge Think about one thing your team is currently learning—a process, skill, behavior, responsibility, or leadership competency. Then ask yourself: “Where can I give them a chance to practice before the stakes are high?” It might take five minutes in your next team meeting or three minutes in your next one-on-one. Because sometimes people don’t need more information. They need another opportunity to use the information they already have. And that’s where learning starts to become capability.

  8. Sep 2

    From “I Do” to “You Do”: How to Make Change Stick

    You’ve explained the new process. You sent the email. You held the meeting. Everyone nodded their heads. So why isn’t anyone actually doing it? One of the biggest mistakes leaders make when introducing a new process, initiative, or way of working is assuming that telling people what to do is the same as teaching them how to do it. In this episode of Lead with Learning, we’re borrowing a powerful practice from education: gradual release of responsibility. In the classroom, teachers don’t typically introduce a brand-new skill and immediately expect students to master it independently. They model it. They practice it together. They provide support. They watch for understanding. And then, as the learner becomes more capable, they gradually hand over responsibility. So what if businesses approached change the same way? When you’re asking a team to do something new or different, you need more than an announcement and a set of instructions. You need a process that helps people move from understanding → practice → confidence → independence. In this episode, we’ll explore how leaders can use the principles of gradual release to make new processes and initiatives more likely to actually stick. We’ll look at how to: Model what the new expectation looks likePractice together before expecting independent implementationProvide support and feedback while people are learningGradually transfer ownership to individuals and teamsRecognize when people need more support instead of assuming they’re resistant to changeMove from simply launching an initiative to actually building the capability to sustain itBecause lasting change doesn't happen because you told people what to do. It happens when you give people the opportunity to learn how to do it, practice doing it, get feedback, and eventually own it themselves. Sometimes the best ideas for building stronger businesses are hiding in places leaders aren't usually looking. This one happens to be hiding in the classroom.

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About

Most leadership models miss one key element: how adults actually learn. This podcast is the ultimate career smash... taking the insights from the science of teaching and learning and applying them to the world of leadership to build a new blueprint of how teams learn and succeed in business.   Each week we'll share learning strategies and break down how learning happens and why that matters to you and your team's growth and development.  Come for the insights, stay for the growth.

Information

  • Creator
    Tess Colucci
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Lead with Learning
  • Show Website
    Lead with Learning