Changing the Business of Learning

Madhavi’s journey into L&D wasn’t the most straightforward one. With a Master’s degree in Marketing, it was only when she began her professional career that she discovered her passion for talent development. Today, after more than 16 years in the industry, she’s the Head of Learning at Tally Solutions, a multinational accounting software company based in India.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Madhavi talks about how coaching can play a role in L&D to help employees and organizations further their growth and development. She also discusses how the role of L&D professionals is changing from learning content creators to facilitators.

Madhavi's Learning Recommendations:

Originally from South Africa, Geoff has spent most of his career building and leading digital learning innovation teams in California and the UK. Recently, Geoff stepped down from his role as Chief Product Officer at Babbel and currently works as a mentor and consultant, providing strategy support for emerging EdTech start-ups.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Geoff talks about constantly refining the blend of technology, strategies, and tools in L&D. He also discusses how the current environment of drastic change in the workforce can become a unique opportunity to make the case for L&D.

Geoff’s Learning Recommendations:

Geert de Jong always wanted to be an educator but had a keen interest in technology as well. That led him to study English in university and then work as an ICT Editor at Dutch educational publishing house Noordhoff Uitgevers. After a stint in compliance training at UMCG he now works as an L&D Project Manager supporting workplace learning at every department in the hospital.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Geert talks about how he has used e-learning to address the evolving training needs at UMCG with microlearning resources that health practitioners can access on-the-job. He also discusses the shift UMCG has made to e-health – using e-learning courses to replace face-to-face therapies and improve overall patient care.

Geert’s Learning Recommendations:

With a background in Psychology and an MBA, Diane Law began her career working as a business consultant. Hey experience eventually led her working in change management and then as a people development consultant. Today, she calls herself a “learning cartographer” designing and facilitating bespoke learning and development journeys to help people and organizations address their learning needs.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Diane talks about the EPIC Learning Journey, the learning model she developed which stands for the four main learning approaches organizations need to implement: Experiential, People, Investigation, Courses. She also discusses the importance of keeping people at the center of L&D even amidst the constant influx of EdTech innovations.

Diane’s Learning Recommendations:

Coming from a family of educators, Marc Ramos chose a different path to work in corporate learning. Throughout his career, Marc has worked in corporate training and learning in global household names like Google, Microsoft and Accenture. Since 2019, Marc has been leading the global learning strategy at Novartis, a global pharmaceutical company.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Marc talks about how AI can help L&D teams identify training gaps and create more personalized L&D initiatives. He also discusses how to leverage performance data to improve the quality of corporate training.

Marc’s Learning Recommendations:

Rita Garcia always knew she wanted to work in L&D. With a passion for making a positive contribution to employee satisfaction at work, Rita saw learning as an opportunity to make a positive impact in workplace culture.  After completing her studies in organizational psychology, she began working as an L&D consultant and in 2016 joined the team at Fujitsu. Today, Rita leads the Digital Learning team, looking after the company’s learning tech ecosystem to provide seamless learning experiences and leverage tech to solve business problems and fill learning gaps.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Rita talks about how to build a learning tech ecosystem that works for your business needs and learning goals. She also discusses the recent transformations in the corporate world and how L&D teams must shift to meet employees at their moment of learning.

Rita’s Learning Recommendations:

Videhi Bhamidi began her professional career almost 20 years ago when she was hired as a Transaction Process Associate to manually scan through medical claims and process them. As a fresh graduate starting her first job, she was surprised – and slightly uncomfortable – with the lack of a clear and systematic approach to her job. This inspired her to start creating her own training manuals and materials to train her colleagues and fix errors they came across in the process. This is where the L&D seed was sown. From there, Videhi went on to complete her Master’s Degree from Oxford University in HR Management specializing in Learning and Development. For the last 5 years, Videhi has been working as a Principal Consultant at Easygenerator, offering her insights to our Product, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams by running several research and thought leadership projects.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Videhi talks about the role L&D teams can play in helping women return to work after a long break. She also discusses the mindset shifts that still need to occur at corporate level to embrace a true culture of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Videhi’s Learning Recommendations:

- Learning heroes:

Stella Lee’s first love was actually painting – something she still enjoys to this day. But it was only after getting a PhD in Computer Science that her interest in learning technologies began. From there, she spent a few years working corporate learning before taking the leap to found her own consulting company, Paradox Learning. Today, with 20 years of experience under her belt, she works on enterprise-wide learning strategy and governance, digital ethics for learning, AI and e-learning applications, LMS design, evaluation and learning analytics.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Stella talks about the importance ethics in learning technology covering a wide range of topics from data protection to accessibility and inclusivity. She also discusses the human biases behind tech development and what we can do to ensure a more inclusive, fair, and equitable learning environment.

Stella’s Learning Recommendations:

· Learning Hero: Dr. Ruha Benjamin

Aaron King’s career began in the music world as a writer and producer in the 80s and 90s. But it was only after writing his first book, Gotta Get Signed: How To Become a Hip-Hop Producer, that Aaron took his first steps in the e-learning world. He turned his book into a textbook and an e-learning course and began touring the US to teach workshops. Today, Aaron is the Chief Learning Engineer at Snack Size Learning and has created more than 200 courses for government agencies, higher education, and corporate organizations.

In our most recent episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Aaron talks about the importance of better integrating L&D departments with the overall business strategy to ensure learning and business goals are aligned. He also discusses e-learning tools and why they ultimately don’t matter as much as we think they do.

Aaron’s Learning Recommendations:

While working in L&D at large corporations in the early 2000s and 2010s, Lori Niles quickly recognized the power of EdTech and specialized in helping organizations successfully implement LMS and LXPs on a global scale. During this time, Lori found that companies would often acquire new technology but then struggled to get engagement. This is when she realized a more comprehensive approach was necessary that encompassed all strategic elements of a digital transformation in L&D departments.

In this episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Lori talks about the rapid pace of digital innovations in the L&D industry and how far we still have to go to fully embrace the power of EdTech. She also shares her thoughts on the importance of better integrating our current work technology with EdTech for a more embedded learning experience.

Lori's Learning Recommendations:

While running his own IT training company in the 80s and 90s, Alfred Remmits observed the challenges of traditional training solutions. Learners would sit through training sessions but struggle to recall their newly acquired knowledge on the job. That’s when he discovered the solution: Performance support.

In the third episode of Untold Stories in Learning & Development, Alfred shares the power of meeting employees in their moment of learning need, as well as the business impact it brings. He also shares how he came to work with Bob Mosher and Dr. Conrad Gottfredson, both of whom developed the 5 Moments of Need® framework.

Tune in to this season finale to hear Alfred’s story.

Books mentioned:

Before Louise Puddifoot founded her own Learning & Development firm, she spent over 20 years at global data giant Nielsen. She eventually became the corporation's Vice President of Talent Development, a role in which she helped implement an Employee-Generated Learning approach at the corporation. Today, she's dedicating her expertise to Willow & Pudifoot, a firm of "scaleup people development specialists" that help high-growth companies work through the people-related challenges of scaling their business. 

CEO of Easygenerator Kasper Spiro sat down with Louise to discover her motivation as a Learning & Development professional, and why she made the switch from training the corporate workforce to developing scale-ups. Listen to her full story.

Books & resources mentioned: