Reading the Room

In this mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan look at deeper interview skills, and share some tips from having been on both sides of the table. This isn't about generic interview tips - dress smartly, turn up on time, research the organisation etc - valid as they all are - this is about conversational skills, storytelling, double-loop examples and the tedious inevitability of practice. Remember there's no such thing as a chat, and good luck!

Who could be against creativity, or collaboration? But put them together - in the learning design world, for example - and sparks can fly. In this mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan explore how to 'plan for the pain'. How should we contract up front, how should we manage collaboration overload, do we need a conductor, and does the relay race ever finish? Happy collaborating..

We pull back the curtain on what it truly takes to be a learning designer. Spoiler alert: it goes way beyond building your beautiful course. In the latest How to Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan explore the idea of the super-being learning designer. The truth is, great learning design means nothing if you can't bring people along the journey with you. Most learning design job descriptions make it sound like it is one discipline, but there is not one single discipline within learning design. There are multiple skills needed. Listen now and discover just how many skills it takes to do this job.

"No pain, no gain." In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan explore the decisions we're all having to make about our learning muscles: which ones are allowed to get a bit flabby? Do we embrace 'desirable difficulties' and take the tougher - but more effective - route to learning via repeated and varied practice, thinking hard, and testing ourselves? Or should we relax, offload the cognitive effort, and just enjoy the world of SatNav and Gen AI? Strong book recommendation: Desirable Difficulties in Action, by Pearce and Moore (based on the work of Bjork and Bjork).

Are you a self-confessed perfectionist.. or maybe a chronic procrastinator.. or not ready to admit it quite yet? Well, we all have the tendencies. Here are some tips to help. In their latest How to Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan look at the cost of perfectionism - 'it's not a quirky character trait, it's a barrier to learning' - and share four tips on how to share something that isn't quite there yet.  

Making lists, observing rituals and transitions, putting on different clothes.. these are not just things that happen across Christmas and the New Year, but excellent techniques for switching off in general. Thembi and Jonathan finish the How To Learn podcast for 2025 with advice which is probably way too late: don't wait for holiday periods to switch off, you need to practise it all the time! Thank you for listening and have a wonderful break :)    

What are you holding onto.. that's actually holding you back? In this mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan look around the workplace at where people need to 'let go'. You might need to delegate a favourite project.. give up your comfort way of doing things.. or leave behind the luxury of the 'junior mindset' where you know somebody else will sort it out. As Thembi says, 'it's not a personality flaw, it's a skills gap'. So here's a discussion of some helpful techniques: from project managing yourself, to getting help from coaches and mentors, to simply asking colleagues what you need to let go. They already know!

In this mini-podcast Thembi and Jonathan take 5 minutes to talk about a complex skill: 'reading the room'. Which can also mean 'reading the workplace' or even 'reading the interview panel'. Can we really trust ourselves to pick up social cues and group dynamics, in the moment, with accuracy? Maybe give yourself a better chance by i) understanding and mistrusting your own bias, and then ii) concentrating on preparation and relationships. Our room-reading skills are not as good as we think they are!

Have you noticed how bad habits, sloppy short cuts and toxic workplace cultures can get under your skin? - and even become part of who you are? In this How To Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan discuss The Dark Side of Learning. Ultimately, the most powerful mechanisms of learning such as repetition and imitation are entirely neutral. They don't care whether you're learning something good or bad,  they just embed it in your brain anyway. So whether it's humming a jingle or getting into a habit that undermines you at work, he's how to start the difficult job of spotting where the Dark Side of Learning has been at work. Spoiler: it's as hard at finding the Traitors in a group of Faithful!

Chairing meetings is a learning superfood! In this quickfire How To Learn mini-podcast, Thembi and Jonathan identify nine skills you can develop through the process of chairing meetings: from time management to tech, from body language to diplomacy. So don't see it as a chore to avoid, see it as a way of building valuable skills.. and a way of helping your colleagues not to waste their time in the kind of meetings we all hate!