The Mindtools L&D Podcast
Episodes
488 — L&D is a bit more complicated than that
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Completion stats are a vanity metric. Happy sheets are pointless. Revenue impact will get you a seat at the table. We've all heard these statements fr...
487 — The future of e-learning interfaces (Rebroadcast)
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to take the opportunity to dig into the vault and revisit an old favorite from 2024 with Ben ...
486 — How to escape the 'hero trap'
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Often, leaders are promoted into their roles because of their ability to solve problems. But that strength can become a weakness when it leads to depe...
485 — What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2026?
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the introduction to the latest Global Sentiment Survey report, Donald Taylor describes this year's results as 'the most significant' in the survey'...
484 — Level-up your LMS: How points and rewards drive behavior
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Cafes, restaurants and car washes all use points and rewards to drive behaviors. Can we do the same with our Learning Management Systems? In this week...
483 — The insider secrets L&D pros want you to know
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If you're going in for surgery, make sure to get scheduled first thing. When you buy new clothes, wash them before you wear them. Never use a ceramic ...
482 — Are organizations getting AI upskilling wrong?
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
To help organizations reap the benefits of AI while meeting regulatory requirements, many L&D teams are rolling out AI skills programs. But how do we ...
481 — Managers: The "squeezed" middle
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pressure from above, pressure from below; little appreciation from either. That's the experience of work for many middle managers! This week on The ...
480 — Click 'Next' to acknowledge
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For most of us, compliance training is a regular feature of our working lives. Instead of inducing a mexican wave of eye-rolls, what can we do to desi...
479 — So, you're new here?
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Induction programmes play a crucial role in shaping the way a new starter thinks and feels about an organization. In this week's episode of The Mindt...
478 — Navigating the fog of learning design
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Learning design work is often accompanied by various forms of uncertainty — ambiguous performance needs, vaguely defined scope, shifting stakeholder...
477 — A Manager's Guide to Self-Development
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since its first release in 1978, A Manager's Guide to Self-Development has been one of the go-to texts for new and aspiring managers. Now in its seven...
476 — Christmas Special: Die Hard on an LMS
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yippee-ki-yay, Christmas Turkeys! In our final episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast for 2025, the gang are climbing to the top of Nakatomi Plaza: foil...
475 — Is self-directed learning a myth?
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The promise of self-directed learning is that employees will take charge of their own development, if we only create the environment for them to do so...
474 — So long 2025, what's hot for 2026?
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What a year it was! In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, HowNow's Nelson Sivalingam joins Ross G and Ross D to reflect on 2025 and loo...
473 — Learning at LV=
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you run an organization-wide learning function with just two people? At LV=, that's the main focus for Talent, Learning and Development Partner...
472 — Delivering business value
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The L&D industry has always talked about 'business value' as an elusive concept. Now, a new book from Laura Overton and Michelle Ockers, The L&D Leade...
471 — A long-term view on learning
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In many organizations, not least within L&D, urgent and important short-term challenges often crowd out the bigger picture. So, how do we step back an...
470 — AI in L&D: The Race for Impact
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Donald Taylor and Eglė Vinauskaitė have released four reports exploring L&D's use of AI. In this week'...
469 — How businesses can hold on to their best people
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his book Targeting Turnover, Dick Finnegan argues that, as the global population ages and more people enter retirement, it is imperative for organi...
468 — What can L&D learn from product management? (Rebroadcast)
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to take the opportunity to revisit our 2021 'documentary special' on product management. It...
467 — Decisions, decisions, decisions... by AI?
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Dr Anna Barnett, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie discussed the role of empathy in decision-making in Episode 463, they started to ponder the role tha...
466 — What L&D should (and shouldn't) be doing with AI
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to Donald Taylor and Egle Vinauskaitė's recent AI in L&D: The Race for Impact report, 'creating learning content' and 'learning design task...
465 — The business impact of play at work
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All children play but, over time, that instinct goes away. We don't lose it, we don't forget. Instead, we get taught to stop. For author and toy desig...
464 — Order taker to strategic business partner
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why does L&D so often feel like the drive-thru window of requests—'one leadership program, hold the ROI please'? As L&D professionals, it's not who ...
463 — The empathy problem: Balancing emotion in decision-making
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Decision-making is a key aspect of being a manager, and a complex mix of skills, experiences, judgments and instincts. So how do you help your manager...
462 — Umbrage over troubled water: Disputing last week's episode
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week on The Mindtools L&D Podcast, L&D Detective Kevin M Yates joined Ross D and Dr Anna to talk about isolating the impact of training at work. ...
461 — It takes a village: Isolating training's impact
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is it up to the humble L&D pro to change people's behavior at work? Or is it up to everyone? In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, retu...
460 — The irony of L&D: When do we develop ourselves?
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As learning and development professionals, we spend most of our days thinking about how we help others build their skills. But how many of us neglect ...
459 — OHLs over OKRs: A new approach to goal-setting
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Objectives and Key Results have long been a staple of the working world. You set a stretch objective, define the results that will tell you if the obj...
458 — What do you bench(mark)?
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Here at Mindtools Towers, we're no strangers to benchmarking in L&D. We've regularly mentioned our Learning Performance Benchmark over the years, and ...
457 — Evaluation or justification?
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Now for something completely different! A couple of weeks ago, Carl Akintola wrote a provocative guest post for The L&D Dispatch, challenging L&D prac...
456 — Building tolerance in the workplace
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We know that surrounding ourselves with diverse people at work brings variety in expertise, opinions and ways of working, which can boost creativity ...
455 — The case (for some people) to go back to the office
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In their new book, In Praise of the Office, Wharton professor Peter Cappelli and workplace strategist Ranya Nehmeh argue that 'the case for in-office...
454 — Designing learning experiences that feel authentic
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we want to motivate learners to engage with an experience, it stands to reason that we need to present that experience in a way feels authentic and...
453 — What's your e-learning P(doom)?
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you spend any time scrolling LinkedIn, attending L&D conferences, or listening to industry podcasts, it might seem like AI is about to usher in the...
452 — Pity the frontline manager
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Frontline managers have to support decisions they didn't make, translate organizational goals into actions, identify meaningful opportunities for peop...
451 — Upskilling your managers on AI tools
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Exciting news at Mindtools Towers this week, as we launch our first 'Expert Skill Bite' course with Dr Markus Bernhardt, available now to all Mindtool...
450 — AI and the Future of Content (Assemble You crossover episode)
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we're handing the reigns of The Mindtools L&D Podcast over to our friends at Assemble You. Including the show notes! In this excellent in...
449 — Performance support is back, baby! (Assemble You crossover episode)
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
448 — Encouraging teams to adopt AI
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 c...
447 — Hard science, soft skills: L&D in the space sector
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
446 — Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
445 — Setting up a L&D team
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
444 — This game will make you a better collaborator
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Collaboration is a vital skill across many fields and disciplines. But effective collaboration is about much more than just working together. In this ...
443 — So, you've decided to be creative...
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether it comes to facilitating workshops, designing learning experiences, or developing campaign assets, L&D practitioners are increasingly expected...
442 — Is AI making us dumber?
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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?...
441 — Podcasts for learning and the end of email
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 epis...
440 — Terrible task? Just delegate it!
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
439 — Leveraging data for inclusion and wellbeing
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many organizations treat 'inclusion' and 'wellbeing' as separate issues, but Dr Serena Huang - author of The Inclusion Equation - argues that the tw...
438 — Where culture and learning collide
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We might think that what makes our team culture great (or awful) is different from what supports our learning and development. Are they so different,...
437 — How to build engagement with your content libraries (Rebroadcast)
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on option to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often th...
436 — Content libraries: Less is more
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most organizations offer some kind of content library to help their people develop. But how much content is too much? How do you give your people choi...
435 — What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2025?
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence once again topped the results of Donald Taylor's Global Sentiment Survey. Almost every other option on the su...
434 — Cyborgs, centaurs and the role of choice infrastructure
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's 'Bring Your Paper to Work' day at Mindtools Towers, as Ross G, Ross D and Dr Anna each take turns to share an academic study that they think has ...
433 — What does 'AI literacy' look like in organizations?
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The World Economic Forum's recent 'Future of Jobs' report positioned 'AI and big data' and 'technological literacy' as skills that will become increa...
432 — Sales enablement for product teams
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In last week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, we explored sales enablement from the perspective of sales and marketing teams. But where do pro...
431 — Sales enablement for sales and marketing teams
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All sales training is sales enablement, but not all sales enablement is sales training. In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, Ross...
430 — Digital learning for behavior change
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Those of who work in learning and development like to think we're in the business of behavior change. But we often don't have an in-depth understandi...
429 — Developing leaders at the National Trust
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The National Trust is Europe's largest conservation charity, established 130 years ago to look after the UK's nature, beauty and history. Its leaders...
428 — The art and science of better questions
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author, podcaster and award-winning filmmaker Topaz Adizes specializes in creating deeper human connections. So, in this week's episode of The Mindto...
427 — Designing an award-winning blended learning programme
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At last year's Learning Technologies Awards, Mindtools and South Western Railway won Gold in the 'Best use of blended learning – commercial sector...
426 — Making hybrid work… work!
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do remote and hybrid managers need different skills to those who work in-person? If so, what are those skills and how do we develop them? In thi...
425 — Christmas Special: L&D Actually
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Another year, another Christmas Special! We've scraped the barrel of festive ideas and selected Love Actually, the "greatest Christmas movie of all ti...
424 — Why emotions make simulations so powerful
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When your team are faced with a crisis, you want them to be prepared. But how do you build those capabilities when crises are rare, and you hope they...
423 — Embracing change by 'unlearning' (Rebroadcast)
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hello listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to revisit this 2018 classic with Dom Price, from Atlassian. It'll help you think about wheth...
422 — The future of e-learning interfaces
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Ben Betts wrote in a recent blog post, 'the LMS is the first point of entry to learning; the front-of-house of our industry.' While that front-of-...
421 — Good managers balance care with results
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can we help managers demonstrate care for their teams, while maintaining high standards of accountability and performance? In this week's episode ...
420 — Toxic productivity: Time to say 'no!'
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you an over-committing over-achiever? In Toxic Productivity, author Israa Nasir argues that you can only maintain that approach to productivity f...
419 – Measurement on a shoestring
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learning measurement is difficult, complex, and expensive. Or is it? In Measurement and Evaluation on a Shoestring, Dr Alaina Szlachta applies a ...
418 — How do we measure management capability?
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Measuring management capability is intrinsically complex. Unlike sales training, where you have sales, or customer-service training, where you have C...
417 — Can L&D be the new R&D?
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you work in learning and development, you probably get some direction from your senior leadership team about what to focus on and how much to spen...
416 — Book Club: Power to the Middle
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Power to the Middle, McKinsey consultants Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock and Emily Field argue that the 'middle manager' is key to organizational ...
415 — Who is responsible for learning at work?
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are joined by Kathryn Hume, strategic workforce planning and L&D consultant, and...
414 – The Learning and Development Handbook Returns: Part 2 - Requiem
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's been three years since the first edition of The Learning and Development Handbook by Michelle Parry-Slater was published. In that time, a global ...
413 — Your questions answered (Part 2)
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross Garner and Ross Dickie are re-visiting their L&D mailbag to answer your questions. We discuss: ...
412 — Three research papers with Jane Bozarth (Rebroadcast)
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hey listeners! No new episode this week, but we wanted to revisit this 2022 classic with Jane Bozarth because we thought it paired nicely with the l...
411 — Your questions answered (Part 1)
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen are diving into their L&D mailbag to answer your questions. We discuss: · Will...
410 — Agile L&D puts the 'human' into 'Human Resources'
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, we're putting the 'people' back into People Development and the 'human' back into 'Human Resources, as we e...
409 — Communication skills for geeks
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Technical professionals have a high level of expertise, but translating that expertise for non-technical colleagues isn't always straightforward. Wh...
408 — Early careers: What if we teach them and they leave?
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're revisiting an old adage: The employer who says, 'What if we train our people and they leave?' And the trainer who says, 'What if we d...
407 — Revisiting 70:20:10: From learning to performance
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and Owen explored how the 70:20:10 model is being applied by three L&D Practitioners: Ceri Sharples, ...
406 — Revisiting 70:20:10: Theory into practice
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Depending how you count it, 70:20:10 is almost 40 years old. The model provides a high-level outline of how we learn at work: 10% through formal learn...
405 — What's in your book bag this summer?
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A summer holiday holds the potential for distraction-free reading. With that in mind, in this week's episode our podcast team suggest books that hold...
404 — We're all too busy for your L&D
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to a recent study from Ipsos, and commissioned by Amazon, 86% of respondents said that career development is essential, very or fairly impo...
403 — How do we support more experienced managers?
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In part three of our #BuildingBetterManagers series, Ross Garner and Nahdia Khan are joined for one last time by Dr Anna Barnett from the Mind Tools ...
402 — How do we build better managers?
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, we kicked off our three-part #BuildingBetterManagers series with an overview of the 12 capabilities that we know make a difference to perfo...
401 — What makes a great manager
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does good management look like? What skills and capabilities does a manager need? Are you a good manager? In this week's episode of The Mind To...
400 — 400th Episode Special!
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For eight years, the team here on The Mind Tools L&D Podcast (formerly The GoodPractice Podcast) have been chatting work, performance and learning wit...
399 — How to build engagement with your content libraries
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Digital learning content offers a scalable, always-on option to help your people build their skills and overcome workplace challenges. But often thes...
398 — Star Trek Special: The future of AI
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 'Measure of a Man', episode nine of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Enterprise crew debate whether their robot companion, ...
397 — Do organizational learning communities ever work?
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We humans are social creatures. We form organic communities wherever we go, based on shared interests, passions and needs. But when we try to impose t...
396 — Applying the COM-B model for behavior change
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In learning and development, we typically want people to do something that they are currently not doing, or to stop doing something that they shouldn'...
395 — Once upon a time: Data-based storytelling in L&D
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 wi...
394 — Burn your bullsh*t in a bonfire moment
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
393 — Is positive psychology practical?
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
392 — Adaptive vs linear courses: Which performs better?
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Adaptive courses come in many forms, but generally respond to the learner's existing knowledge and skills: thereby optimizing the time to completion....
391 — Knock out your tasks with timeboxing
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
390 — Joining forces with your brain
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 n...
389 — Coaching for all
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a conversation approach and development tool, coaching is a highly effective option for everyone – not just the executive suite. Professional coa...