Learning for Good | L&D Solutions and Leadership Development for Nonprofit Organizations

Our world is constantly evolving, and because of that, our experiences across generations are different. Because our experiences are different, our perspectives are different, and because our perspectives are different, our actions are also different. All of those experiences, perspectives, and actions impact our workplaces, which is why L&D needs to get to know our audiences.

In this episode, I've invited Kat Landa to talk...

I often get questions about working in nonprofit, so I launched Career Conversations - a series of LinkedIn Live conversations with people currently in nonprofit L&D roles. We are talking about their organizations, teams, and personal career journeys.

Today, I’m bringing two of these conversations to you. We’re hearing from Nadra Dennis, the learning and talent development director at the Center for Employment Opportunities, and...

Understanding your training audience may be the best thing you can do as an instructional designer. Yet, many of us have never been taught how to conduct a training needs analysis.

On this episode of Learning for Good, I want to talk about what you should be learning about your audience. What do you actually need to know? Tune in to find out.

▶️ If You've Never Conducted a Training Needs Analysis, Listen to This 

▶️ Key...

In L&D, when we are approached with a training request, it's our job to do a little research for ourselves about training audience needs.

Often, the time you have to do this research is limited. Your capacity and the capacity of your subject matter expert is limited, and you may not even feel like you have the expertise to do the analysis. So how can you validate the audience's needs with limited time, capacity, and ex...

The fear of failure impacts our learners’ ability to learn, so we need to help them move to a growth mindset. A growth mindset is a place where it's okay to try new things, fail, and continue to show up and be persistent even in the face of failure.

For this episode, I've invited certified professional coach, consultant, and learning facilitator Kim Andrews to talk about the growth mindset. I want us to think about how we ...

Do you take the time to intentionally reflect after a training project ends? Reflection is powerful and it's something we often do, but it's not something we often do with intentionality.  

That’s why on this episode of Learning for Good, I want to share the seven steps I follow each time I close out a training project and why they set you up for success later. This training project debrief is really a time of reflection.

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If you are looking to transition to L&D, your experience matters! Volunteering can help you fill in the gaps. This is exactly what Dr. Ashley Dugger is here to talk about.

Ashley engages volunteers in her organization to help increase the capacity of her team. It also gives those volunteers a chance to deepen their skills in instructional design. 

So whether you're a small L&D team looking to expand the capacity of your ...

In this episode, I want to share my 4-step process to write better learning objectives.

 What do I mean by better?  

This is not a lesson on making them SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely) though that is important. This is about the actual process I go through when writing objectives. This thought process is what gets me to action-oriented, performance-related objectives that drive behavior change.

▶️ M...

Are your learners bored?  

So often our training audience attends training that isn't relevant or engaging, contains so much extra information they feel lost, or the included scenarios make no sense for them and their role.

Context is one of the most important things in creating effective learning. That’s why in this episode, I want us to explore learner personas. What are they? Why are they important? And how do we build them?

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What’s the value of an outside perspective? 

An outside perspective will help you be more consistent, improve your awareness and confidence, and accelerate your career because they can see the things you can't. This is true in all areas of life, including your career. 

That’s why on today’s episode, I'm talking to self-proclaimed nonprofit nerd, Jarrett Ransom, about how to create a personal board of directors to help you t...

A lot of what we do in Learning and Development is not life and death. We often have the freedom to experiment with new ideas in our nonprofit training and while we want the best possible outcome, we can feel safe to fail.

This is not the case in every industry.

In this episode I want us to take some time to learn from another industry - the aviation industry - with leadership development expert Craig Coyle. Craig is a graduate of th...

 People managers have a hard job. They have to set goals, manage resources, support real humans who are not always easy to support, and keep everything moving on time and within budget so the organization can meet its goals.

That’s why I’ve invited  Kamaria Scott, an I/O psychologist focused on people manager development and enablement, to join me on this episode. She’s sharing how you can improve the health of your organization by ...

We know the impact a good mentor can have. Yet, according to a Forbes article, only 37% of professionals have a mentor. This means there are still many people out there who aren't benefiting from this type of relationship.  

How do we know when to create a mentoring program? And if we look at the needs and determine we should create one, how do we create the buy-in we need for it? That’s what we’re exploring today with L&D ...

While work may never be the top place you feel belonging, it can be a place where you can be yourself, where you can feel safe, and where you can feel connected to your work and team.
However, this doesn’t happen organically, we have to work to create a space like this.
That’s why in this episode, leadership and mindset coach Abigail Finck is sharing the Belonging Blueprint - a tested method for creating connection among y...

 Measuring behavior change and impact is hard in most organizations, but add the complexities of federated nonprofit organizations or membership associations, and it suddenly feels impossible.

In this episode, I’m exploring why measuring behavior change and impact is so hard in these organizations and I’m sharing some creative ideas to measure them anyway.

▶️ How to Measure Behavior Change and Impact in a Federate...

Creating behavior change is no easy task. So when Rebecca Kelley of Waterford.org approached me about a change she wanted to facilitate in one of her teams, I knew we had a lot of work to do.
Today’s episode is a case study of sorts - we're taking a closer look at how my team at Skill Masters Market partnered with Rebecca's team at Waterford to address their unique needs.
Rebecca is a skilled executive and as Wat...

I feel strongly that you don't need a formal education in adult learning to be a good instructional designer. But I do think instructional designers have to be open to learning new things.
I’ve learned a lot over my 20 year career in Learning and Development and in this episode, I’m sharing three of my most valuable lessons.

▶️ I'm 20 Years into My Career. If You're New to L&D, Listen to This.
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Boundaries, coping skills, conflict resolution, empathy, mental health, and self-care are skills we all need in life, and the nonprofit Un/Do Mindset is on a mission to make sure everyone has them. 
They're working to build a more resilient and compassionate society and I think we need more of that in the workplace too. That’s why I invited the founder and executive director, Erin Harris, to join me on this episode. She’s...

People with goals are 10 times more likely to succeed. That’s the kind of momentum I want as I head into 2025.
I've worked with others to set goals for years. I've coached people through career transitions. And I've led project teams with a specific goal in mind so I know how important a goal can be.
In this episode, I’m bringing you some recommendations for setting better goals so you can gain that momentum ...