Clarify the real purpose behind the learning request and use that to drive everything from design to measurement.

It's time for L&D to both amp up our toolbox and become a tad more critical of our own work. Instead of adding content, we need to think about subtracting it or better yet, make changes that enable performance. Too often we prioritize activities over goals.

L&D and change management may be different professions, but they are deeply interconnected. This episode explores how the intersection of these two approaches benefits everyone involved. 

Hiring and developing the best L&D team isn't easy. Determining needed roles, writing a clear JD, selecting the appropriate amount of prior expertise needed, and working with recruiters (who may or may not "get" what L&D does) all add to the complexity. Then, there's the issue of developing the teams we have - ensuring team members continue advancing their L&D skills and expertise. We need to keep pushing team members (and ourselves) outside of our comfort zones to make a bigger impact! 

Most L&D pros operate and design from a particular bias based on our primary behavioral (biological/neurological) drivers - the drive to learn and the drive to bond. Spoiler alert, not everyone is driven by these. If we design, promote, and deliver our learning solutions with our drivers leading the way, we become less effective for certain groups. Join Jess Almlie and guest Jay Johnson to talk about how L&D can combat "trainer bias."

Sometimes, in L&D, we get buried in our thinking about fantastic, carefully designed, detailed programs. So much that we can miss the simple, inexpensive, powerful solutions that are right under our noses. In this episode of the L&D Must Change podcast, Jeannine Lanoux discusses the simple power of book discussions in the workplace, including the results of her research on their effectiveness.

Data literacy and business acumen are important concepts for the L&D professional who works (or wants to work) as a more Strategic Business Partner. In this episode, Dr. Alaina Szlachta helps us break down and simplify both concepts. She also offers a few questions to ask when learning more and an activity to get started.

What if there were tools available to everyone in our organizations that would answer our questions and guide us through complicated tasks exactly at our moment of need? What if we, as L&D pros, could intentionally design such tools to provide informal learning in the flow of work? We can! It's called a "digital coach" and it just might be a game changer. Join me and today's guest, to talk about this concept, when it's best to use it, and how fancy (or not) it needs to be.