Bring Out the Talent: A Learning and Development Podcast

Instructional Design Strategies for Organizational Growth

• Maria Melfa & Jocelyn Allen

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In an era where knowledge becomes obsolete almost overnight, the continuous investment in learning and development has proven essential for organizational agility and growth. In fact, a LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report revealed that 51% of companies globally are increasing their spend on learning and development, reflecting a widespread recognition of its critical role in achieving business success. As we navigate this era of rapid change, the strategic integration of instructional design into corporate learning initiatives has never been more important.

 In this episode of 'Bring Out the Talent,' we are joined by Dr. Kate Hixson. With over 15 years of experience, Kate has crafted learning experiences for an impressive array of clients, from multinational corporations to global non-profits and tech giants. She has a Ph.D. in learning design, with a remarkable dissertation completed with NASA, focusing on teamwork training for the Astronaut Corp. From boardrooms to space stations, her expertise in learning design is truly out of this world.

Together we discuss instructional design strategies for organizational growth, including captivating corporate learners, leveraging AI, and strategically scaling learning teams. Kate will also offer her insights on integrating new technologies, measuring learning effectiveness, and pinpointing the critical skills needed for the future workforce.

So, tune in if you're looking to inspire your team, innovate your learning programs, or navigate the future of work, this episode is filled with invaluable insights.

SPEAKER_05:

Well,

SPEAKER_01:

hello.

SPEAKER_04:

Hello, everybody. We are back again for another season of Bring Out the Talent, and we thank you for joining us. And I say we in the royal we because I'm actually by myself today. Maria is a little under the weather, so we wish her well and can't wait to see her back a little bit later on. But you all are stuck with me, your pal Jocelyn. So I hope you are ready because we have a really great show today talking about instructional design strategies for organizational growth. and one of my favorite instructional designers, Kate Hickson, PhD, joining us on the podcast today. So thanks for joining us, Kate. I'm going to give a little intro to the people about what you do and what the episode today is going to be about. In an era where knowledge becomes obsolete almost overnight, The continuous investment in learning and development has proven essential for organizational agility and growth. In fact, a LinkedIn workplace learning report revealed that 51% of companies globally are increasing their spend on learning and development, reflecting a widespread recognition of its critical role in achieving business success. As we navigate this era of rapid change, the strategic integration of instructional design into corporate learning initiatives has never been more important. In this episode of Bring Out the Talent, we welcome Dr. Kate Hexton. With over 15 years of experience, Kate has crafted learning experiences for an impressive array of clients from multinational corporations to global nonprofits and even tech giants. She has a PhD in learning design with a remarkable dissertation completed with NASA, focusing on teamwork training for the Astronaut Corp. Super cool. From boardrooms to space stations, her expertise in learning design is truly out of this world, pointing us as we explore instructional design strategies for organizational growth, including captivating corporate learners, leveraging AI, and strategically scaling learning teams. Kate will also offer her insights on integrating new technologies, measuring learning effectiveness and pinpointing the critical skills needed for the future workforce. So if you're looking to inspire your team, innovate your learning programs or even navigate the future of work, today's discussion is going to be filled with invaluable insights for you. Welcome to the show, Kate.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, goodness. Thank you so much. It is my pleasure. And I have to take a quick second and recognize the intro music because that is so fun.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. We had to we had to have. a theme song that matched our energy. And as you can see, it also gets the blood flowing because there is never a moment where we don't dance to it. And it's the only reason you asked about video, Kate. It's the only reason we would actually use video is to showcase the skills of some of our guests and their dance moves.

SPEAKER_03:

So I bet there's, yeah, great, great, great

SPEAKER_04:

dancers out there. I love it. Sure are. Kate, it's so nice to be with you again. You recently led an act, what we call an ask the expert session for TTA on instructional design, where you hosted a webinar just providing information and answering questions to a group of clients on instructional design in the workplace. Hundreds of participants learned so much from that session with you. And one of the fascinating areas that you mentioned and that we mentioned in your intro was your background working with NASA. Can you tell us a little bit more about that experience, what you did, what it was like, and just give us the inside scoop on the things we don't know?

SPEAKER_03:

Sure, of course. And real quick regarding those webinars, that was so fun. I mean, how neat and how great of a service for TTA to offer everyone to get together, have a casual, informal conversation around the table. This is really cool. Gosh, so NASA. Yeah, I was really fortunate in that during my doctoral work, I was granted a pretty significant scholarship to study science. and develop work with NASA. So bottom line, I spent each summer down at Johnson Space Center. So that's in Houston. So yes, I had to spend summers in Houston, Texas, not perhaps the most ideal place to summer. However, it was fascinating work. So essentially what I focused on was the idea of long duration, deep space exploration missions. So that's a pretty mouthy way of saying Mars, right? So when we think about the next generation of space travel, we are focusing on getting teams to Mars, hopefully back. Although admittedly, there are some models where it is in fact a one way trip, which is pretty wild to think about that. So in my case, a big challenge that was presented was how do we get them to work well together as a team? We're going to have people from different countries. It's probably going to be mixed gender. These are folks whose schedules are impossible. So astronauts who are in training, I saw their schedules in their headquarters. I mean, their every day is planned out for the next three to seven years even. And rarely are they actually in the same place at the same time. So again, how do you get them to form a team? How do you get them to work well together? So essentially, the answer that I came up with was, of course, teamwork training. That's not to be confused with team building, though. So team building, of course, is very important and serves a really significant purpose in so many organizations. But that's more about the relationships, right? Whereas a teamwork training is how do you function as a team? So again, given the fact that these folks are essentially never together, we created a series, a framework, if you will, for online learning on teamwork, right? So it was really fascinating work became, of course, the topic of my dissertation. I was so fortunate to be able to float that model around, if you will, throughout NASA at all the various levels. I was able to interview astronauts and the chief engineer of the International Space Station, all these brilliant people to come up with this instructional design framework. So I'm really proud of that particular piece of my personal and professional history.

SPEAKER_04:

That is such a cool and crazy experience because I'm thinking as you're talking, one, you're pretty much telling us that since the pandemic, everybody is NASA working in different places and different across the world, right? But the other side is that how do you even, one, taking things and separating them like teamwork and team building, and also a quite literally, new environment for everybody. We're talking about space. We're talking about being out in a completely different universe that you may or may not ever go to again, but at the same time are in it for years at a time. And safety and learning and all of these things come into play. I mean, what a lift and making it engaging and people retain. Because how do you make something more engaging than outer space, right? So there's a

SPEAKER_05:

lot.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

There's a lot going into it and it sounds really, really cool. And you did it for your dissertation.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow. Fascinating.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it was. And I will say that NASA does so many things incredibly well, of course. But one thing that I was really inspired by is the gamification that they put into a lot of the learning for the astronaut candidates. So like they literally, while I was there, had good old fashioned board games to help teach some of these interpersonal skills. And to go into this room at Mission Control, see all the up and coming astronauts using board game pieces to go around almost like a Monopoly style board as part of their learning and development. And I just think that's so cool to go kind of old school, but also creative in a learning strategy.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. And learn in understanding that the skills that you learn from those things, how applicable they are to your real life and professional scenarios. Yeah, so fascinating. The the the circle, the 360 of learning right from your board games to children to astronauts in space. It's wild. That's why I love this industry. So let's build on that and like the engagement and being in any type of learning environment. So from your experience, what are some of the more effective strategies that you have used for increasing engagement amongst learners in different types of corporate settings? How are you making training stick?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, great question. But it kind of comes down to what is the topic? What is the medium? Who is the audience? Getting a little bit more specific than just corporate setting. And so, of course, performing that needs analysis, right? Really having that in-depth understanding of all the ins and outs before we even start to design the solution. Because, of course, the solution will vary wildly based upon that needs analysis. With that being said, I go back to what I just mentioned, the idea of gamification. That's still going strong out there in the world. That was a real hot topic recently. I don't know, it was probably 10 years ago when we were first talking about it. And it still is the case. In fact, I just wrapped on a very large gamified virtual conference for a client just last week. So whenever we can incorporate elements that generate buzz, generate excitement, element of competition, creativity, purposeful play, I think is so huge. Aside from that component, I think Going back to the idea of a corporate setting, it's just making sure that the learning is as directly relevant and applicable as possible. So keeping it tight, keeping it concise, lots of job aids, lots of the micro learning, so easy to digest little chunks of learning to where they can access content on the go, wherever they need it, however they need it, and meet those needs in a just-in-time basis.

SPEAKER_04:

Fantastic. Yeah. I mean, you can tell by the way that you even describe it, how methodical yet fluid your approach is, because you're talking about having a streamlined process, but within it, the ability to navigate and adapt based on the needs for the learners and the organization in general. And therefore, what are you, how are you creating this learning? What modality is it that makes those things come to fruition? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03:

That's exactly well said.

SPEAKER_04:

So gamification, as you mentioned, is a very like it's it's recent, but it's not brand new. Right. But at the same time, I think it's very much at the forefront. Like people are finally kind of getting with it in that sense of like this is how learning can be more effective. And I think another one of those things that's starting and like really starting to kind of steamroll is. the technology behind this type of learning is AI and all the different areas that you can use artificial intelligence to catapult your learning. It's reshaping like all of the aspects of our lives at this point. Like it's everywhere. Are you using AI? And like, do you have any best practices in incorporating that into curriculum design? Yeah, I would say

SPEAKER_03:

just use it with thoughtfulness and a degree of caution. I say that because it's very easy to see it as this all-encompassing, grand tool. And it is. I'm not downplaying that. It has incredible capabilities. However, it, to this day, does not replace the human element. I can give you an example. I was asked recently to create some outlines for a client for a couple-day workshop, a three-day workshop. So I felt really smug going into chat GPT, feeding in a couple prompts and, you know, here we go. Here's my entire outline on paper. Great, great, great, great, great. Again, felt pretty smug about that. That was so easy. Well, it's too easy, right? So then what I found out once I was later contracted to build out the workshop was, oh, shoot, this outline doesn't account for this and this and this for the learner. and all these other variables. And these topics, it said it should be an hour long. There's no way that's an hour. That's 15 minutes max. Or this topic, they say it's 30 minutes. That should be two hours with activity. So bottom line, helped me to cut some corners, which in a way is incredibly helpful. But at the end of the day, I almost shot myself in the foot, right? Because I then had to redo so much of the work. I would have been better off just doing it by myself the first time.

UNKNOWN:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03:

It's again, like being really thoughtful about how we use it and not using it as like a cheat, right? Right. But other capabilities of AI that are fascinating, copywriting, for example. So feeding chat GPT or whatever tool of choice, because there's so many out there, but feeding it a prompt to generate headlines and sub headlines. The outputs there can be so creative and witty and and interesting and powerful, depending, right, the quality of your prompt going into it. But it has saved me a lot of time where it maybe would have taken me forever to come up with these really witty, creative prompts that it just spit them out at me. So it's, again, just being cautious and using it like how we should use any technology, which is a tool and not the end-all solution.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Making sure you're using it as support versus... Because then it becomes what everybody's scared of, too, right? Because it's replacing everything. And one, we don't want that. And two, it can't because then we lose the value of what human interaction and training actually is creating. Because I've seen it do that, too, where I'm like, close, but not quite there. So like you said, yeah, it could save you. You could get half of your time back in your pocket, but it doesn't mean you're not doing anything. It just means that your eight hour day can become a four hour day if you're working on a project using that tool. Right. Yeah. Genius. I've absolutely seen that before. So I'm glad that you kind of see it in that manner, too. So speaking of all of the things, for lack of a better term, is there's a lot out there, tools and methodologies and styles of learners like you name it. There's something that affects the way a training program comes together as well as its effectiveness. And I think that one of those things can also be the types of initiatives that an organization has. How many things do you have on your plate that you're trying to tackle? And what are your goals? What are your reasons? And there's almost so many sometimes for organizations that they can't keep up with it, whether it's how fast the market's moving, how fast they're trying to move, you name it. Do you have advice on for those types of clients that are looking to scale their team with initiatives, but how to target them effectively?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, great question. And you're right. We see this all across the board now. I keep running into instances where there's just too much work. There's too much on everyone's plate. And of course, that's a good problem to have, right? We would prefer that. versus the opposite. But yeah, how do we keep up then? Part of it too, frankly, is there continues to be a lot of layoffs throughout nearly every single industry. There's a lot of consolidation happening. But then what happens when you lose a portion of your workforce, oftentimes that work ends up on someone else's plate, right? The work doesn't just go away. It just gets added to someone else's already full-time job. So in that case, when it comes to scale, it's so effective to take a step back and look at your team building in general and how can you supplement, right? What other resources can you bring in in order to get the work done efficiently, effectively, but also I think a huge value in working with external partners or freelancers, whoever you want to bring in, I think a huge value is they can have that outsider's view looking in, right? They can also perhaps be a little more candidate and speaking up. They can perhaps navigate some of those internal politics, and there's always internal politics, right? So they can perhaps navigate those a little more deftly than an internal resource. Why? Because they don't have the same muzzle on their voice, dare I say, but they can be more bold with their perspectives, right? So it's, I think, incredibly helpful to supplement teams with external resources. It's a great handshake.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. I like that you said that it's good to have, like one of the most valuable things can be having somebody from the outside looking in. I think one of the truest like turns of phrase in our language is out of sight, out of mind. So if you are looking at something the same way that you've been looking at it, for however long eventually it blends in with the rest of your environment so therefore like you don't see it you don't think about it right and i don't think that i just i don't think that that says anything about any one individual or any organization i just think that says a lot for our brains and how we function as human beings in general Like, how often have you been like, oh, my God, there's a crack in my wall. I got to fix that. And then three months later, you're like, oh, my God, I forgot about that crack in the wall. Because like it's been there for three months and you just like walk by it every day and you don't notice it. The same thing is to be said, I think, for effectively looking at your initiatives and seeing what can actually cater to where and the effectiveness of deploying it in that manner. So I 100 percent agree with that statement of like the outside looking in. Yes. So let's talk about the technology, because I know that you love to play around with tools and use that a lot in your training curriculum. So from your perspective, can we talk a little bit about like new technologies and what you find to be the most interesting to integrate into your instructional design and maybe some of your favorites?

SPEAKER_03:

Sure. Yeah. I don't even know about favorites. It's more so just like what I've been using recently because it It changes so often, right? I think a lot of us in the L&D space, because we are committed to continual learning, right? That's who we are. We can tend to be a little bit of like the kid in the candy store, like, ooh, shiny new tool. And that's super exciting. And we should definitely have that approach. We need to be aware of what's out there, but it's also easy to be carried away then, right? So- With that being said, recently I was using just a mural board, not to be confused with Miro board, although they are very comparable tools, which is kind of interesting, the distinction they're naming then. But so I had a webinar with several hundred people all across the United States. We were going through some slides, kind of the normal lead up or knowledge presentation, if you will. We had some questions and discussions built in. It's always really important to build that engagement right off the gate. But then we completely threw away the slide deck, right? And opened up this mural board, shared the link with all the participants. And I had built it out in advance to have gamified elements within it and essentially into breakout groups. And each group had their own section of the mural board to work with them. So then they were taking screenshots, they were uploading them, they were interacting with little blocks and like Lego pieces that I baked into the mural board. They were answering questions and prompts, et cetera, et cetera. So it was a really neat way of collaborating in real time, aside from inherently built into Zoom or WebEx kinds of tools. So it was just kind of neat to like step away, do something different. But what was also really cool about it is they were then able to view each each other's sections of the board or different teams' sections of the board because they were all still ultimately in the same space. And that was really neat. So group A could kind of go over here and like spy on group B and group E could go over here and spy on group C. If you think about like the basic mechanics of that, there's so much that could be done with that, right? Can you create almost, excuse me, can you create an escape room of sorts? using that same sort of thinking. Can you bake in clues, make it a scavenger hunt, right? Like there's so many creative things that can be done with all the various tools. And perhaps that's actually a good point here, which is instead of concentrating too much on the tool, think about how you can use it in the most creative, interesting way possible.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. And even to get there, sometimes not thinking about it from a learning perspective, thinking about it from like, oh, what would I do with this? Right. Because like the things like you said, how often are people thinking about like an escape room or a scavenger hunt as a form of learning gamification? Probably not a lot of the time. But if somebody looks at that and they're like, oh, this is fun. I would do a scavenger hunt with my kids. Right. It's like, well, why not? Why? Why not teach your work kids some learning? In a scavenger hunt, too. So I yeah, I agree. I think that it just goes back to like this isn't silly. It's you're having fun while you're learning. And that's what creates retention. And let's focus on that for sure. Exactly. So what about like training effectiveness? Because then we talk about because there's there's a complexity in some situations about gamification or adding these these kind of these fancy tricks in some way to create. a certain style of learning. How do you track the effectiveness of it or maintain accountability within the learning progress? What methods are you using in your learning to measure that type of performance, I guess? Sure. Yeah. I hate

SPEAKER_03:

to say again, well, it depends.

SPEAKER_04:

That's an L&D answer,

SPEAKER_03:

though. It's such an L&D answer, but it really does. It depends upon What is the desired outcome? Are we looking at, for example, like technical training? Are we looking at learning a new software or platform? Are we looking at sales enablement, leadership development, onboarding? So there's just various methods that can be best associated depending upon the outcome or topic. That being said, just to reference like an oldie but a goodie, but Kirkpatrick's evaluation models, you can't go wrong with that. That is just... the end-all be-all as far as I'm concerned, right? So thinking about like initial reaction, thinking about learner surveys, did they enjoy it? Do they think that they learned something, right? Going up to observable behaviors. And then of course at the top, so results, like what is the impact on the business? So based upon those different levels, there's various tools and tactics associated with each one. So simple surveys, observation forms, rubrics, job shadowing, perhaps mentoring using results of a survey in order to inform like a performance development tool, feedback measures. There's all sorts of things that can be baked in to measure the effectiveness of learning. So instead, I would say focus on what does the business most need or want, right? So in L&D, it is critical that we are always in alignment with the business, that we are speaking the same language. We are driving towards the same things. We have a seat at a table, right? A lot of us historically haven't been given a seat at the table when it comes to leadership or the C-suite. So how can we get that seat? Well, it's by speaking the same language, by aligning to the business. So again, putting that at the forefront of everything that we do especially when it comes to measuring outcomes of learning.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Agreed. I think that when you focus on the heart of the matter, I think Don Henley said that once, that you get to the root of the goals and the direction that you want to go in. And again, the training effectiveness. Do these people like what they're sitting in on and learning and following the models that get you there? Absolutely. There's a lot of technologies and tools. And like you said, it depends on how you look at it and what your goals are and what you're trying to achieve. So what would you say are the most common things that you're encountering that people are trying to achieve in an organization? What type of skills are they getting learning created for? What is becoming... the most dynamic set of skills that employees, that organizations want their employees to learn? And therefore, what should people in the market be kind of teaching themselves to get to that level?

SPEAKER_03:

Great question. I've been seeing a lot of initiatives lately geared towards, I guess the bucket would be upskilling and reskilling, right? So I know that that's not necessarily a specific skill, but it's kind of an approach. And why are we seeing that? It's because talent acquisition is so time consuming. It's so expensive to bring new people on board, right? Especially as a full-time hire, it's a little different if you're looking at a subcontracting model. But given the difficulties of talent acquisition, instead, organizations are now trying to figure out how can we draw upon our existing talent base? What does that look like? So having competency models, right? Understanding how one can stair-step or climb the ladder through an organization. What are the technical skills that are needed? What is the knowledge base that is needed? And then, of course, a huge one, what is the leadership development that is needed? And that's another thing that I've seen a ton of lately out there in the field is the drive and a hunger for leadership development, which, again, goes back to talent acquisition. So organizations saying we'd rather retain and reward our rising talent, our top stars, versus trying to bring in someone new from the outside, right? We want to promote from within. But so how do we cultivate those necessary skills? And that, of course, varies wildly based upon the organization, the culture, et cetera, et cetera. But at the end of the day, that's a really exciting area for us in L&D to think about. and kind of take advantage of and lean into, right? How can we help those organizations grow from within?

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Are you finding yourself starting from the strategy and moving all the way through the design development and deployment of things like that? And I ask that question because I'm wondering if people are coming and saying, like from the perspective you said, talent acquisition can be very time consuming and also high cost. And so are they coming to you for self-paced and e-learning for this so that no matter who or when they can put somebody down and have them walk through materials on their own? Or is there a blended approach? Is there live instruction? What are we seeing as far as those modalities are concerned if we're talking about the re-skilling current employees?

SPEAKER_03:

What I'm seeing most of is a blended approach, certainly. I think some content can do beautifully when served in an asynchronous environment, certain modules, right? So think about things like perhaps an overview of an organization's culture, their history, their mission statement, maybe some fundamentals and knowledge, kind of that onboarding component. Those can be beautifully done in an asynchronous module, but there still needs to be some, there still does need to be some component of a human element and interaction. Otherwise, it almost feels stale. It almost feels static, right? Like no one wants to start a job. They'd immediately go through all these online modules and never talk to another soul because we are humans after all. We crave the connection. We crave the relationships. That's what gets us really excited about a new organization. So it's thoughtfully creating that blend, right? When it comes to leadership development, what I've found is a more hands-on approach in the room approach. Now, that can be more expensive for organizations. Are they going to be taking into consideration travel costs? What is their budget? Can they get people away from their full-time job or whatever it is they're doing for three to five days in order to focus on this leadership development component? So it can be hard. It can be a puzzle. But I'm telling you, it pays off. In fact, I was super thrilled in that one of my projects that I worked on for exactly this leadership development won a Brandon Hall Award last year. So I came in to the initial part. Thank you so much. I came in at the very forefront to help work on that strategy. What is the what? What makes the most sense? What should be online? What should be blended? What should be face-to-face? How do we break this all out? How often do they meet? What makes sense given their workload? Is this once a month? Is it once a quarter? There's all of these considerations that go into that design and planning or strategy phase. So I always think about it just like a blueprint for a house, right? Yes. You're not going to start building a house without that architectural blueprint. And the exact same is true of any sort of L&D initiative, but especially ones that are more complex and perhaps hybrid.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Again, I love the references that you're making because I use the the house blueprint all the time, like from the foundation of like, OK, here's the blueprint and here's your strategy. But then here's what you can fill it with. And here's what the house will look like when it's filled. But here's the cost of filling it with that much. So if you only have this budget, here's what the house is going to look like filled. And like, you know how we can do this in segments, right? Like maybe you you build your foundational house right now and then in a year you can add a add an addition to it right and then that piece of the budget goes towards enhancing the program that you couldn't do the first time around so yeah i'm like total you those real life examples or references really like make the brain connect to the reality of what what's at hand and it is it's like okay so you're shopping for a house or you're shopping for a car and a b c and d so i'm i'm totally in line with the the house blueprint analogy that you used. So when we're talking about these gaps that you mentioned, I know that you went into kind of like the blended approach and it's types of methodologies, but what still exists that you're seeing a lot, like you said, are these re-skillings or up-skillings of people, whether it be for like an orientation or adapting and contributing to their growth for additional responsibilities. That seems to be a widening gap in a lot of industries for a number of different reasons, right? It could just be the organization wanting to promote from within. It could be the climate of kind of the market right now where there are layoffs happening and we have to accommodate for the continuing needs of the business by still getting things done with less people. Where does instructional design strategies come in for this? Like, how do you... How are you being innovative in your design approaches to address these gaps with the learning that you're creating?

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, that is such a great question. And it's so relevant and so timely. We're just seeing that all across the board right now. And I go back to that idea of L&D meeting a seat at the table, right? So having our fingers on the pulse of what is going on with the business, understanding what the business is shifting towards. Are there new products being launched? Is there a merger or an acquisition coming up? What is the future down the road of six months, 12 months, two years out so that we can constantly be proactive instead of reactive? And there's been so many times throughout my career where admittedly, I've been reactive. I've been given an order. Create this training program for this specific thing. Sure, sure, I can do that. I can do that all day long. That's fine. That's fine. However, It's always more effective when I'm part of the initial conversation to help guide and shape why, who, when, what, how, all the questions, right? So that we can be sure that we are properly identifying those gaps, then coming up with the correct solution for those gaps. Oftentimes, admittedly, training might not be the solution, right? Maybe an organization doesn't actually need another workshop. Maybe it's a an environmental issue, right? Maybe it's an issue of bandwidth or they don't have the right tools. They don't have the right technology. They need laptops or we're expecting them to do something on their mobile devices and only an eighth of the workforce has access to their own mobile device, right? So there's just so many things that need to be considered when we are looking at any training topic. But I would argue, especially when it comes to the idea of upskilling and reskilling. Why? Because those are foundational. within the organization. We have to know how to move a participant, a learner from point A to point B, right? We need to really get in there and understand, well, what does it look like right now at A? What does it really look like at that desired outcome of D? And so just being as integral to the team as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. and enabling those people on the team to get through A to D, because then what are they going to, what value do they then contribute to the growth of that program? Right. Having gone through it, right? It's all, what is it? Circular. That's not the word I was going for, but you know, it all comes back around. The circle of life. I'm hearing like Simba in my head as I say it, but it's true. It all comes together. I've said so many times just since working in this industry and doing this podcast that my favorite favorite favorite thing about learning in a professional environment that I think in some manners like the school system is adjusting to but in a lot of ways it's not is the real life component of it all like is this just relating to me in my role which is like cool right right am I making a connection to in my everyday life that really like empowers me to be like, this is the type of change that you could be creating. Yes, like that is where I get more of my learning from is understanding how many different ways like putting that into practice can help me adapt.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, yeah, absolutely. That's such a good point. We have to really think about the learner's motivation, how we can best serve them, right? And it's not just about those very specific tasks. It's about that full circle. It's about the whole person, if you will. And that's such a great opportunity for us in L&D. Like what a great battle cry, right? Right. To really focus on the whole person instead of just the specific learning component. Love that.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, I agree with you. Again, the things that I learn from people and this industry is truly inspiring because what is more motivating than understanding what you can learn to make your brain more effective? Right. It's like who you need. You literally need those things. So, Kate, we have given the peoples a lot of information on this episode and it's all been incredibly insightful. And I thank you for your articulation of all of this information and the work that you do. So let's wrap it up by talking about the future. So like if you can give. the listeners some insight into some of the things that they should be aware of upcoming and like instructional design or the techniques that they should be looking into for their organization's learning. What's up and coming trends wise that you can see really kind of either taking over or being the new way of approaching learning, design and development?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we already hit upon AI a little bit. And so I just want to reiterate that. We need to be aware of what's going on out there in the world, right? We need to have at least a baseline understanding of what tools and resources are out there. So just staying aware, staying knowledgeable, reading different articles on LinkedIn, podcasts, blogs, et cetera. So arming ourselves with as much knowledge as possible, I think is huge, huge, huge, not to be underestimated. But then I would say in terms of the learning, I'm seeing a huge shift back to the in-person. As we kind of hit upon in regards to leadership development programs, but this is true of any program that I've been working on over the past maybe year and a half. Of course, everything went online for a while due to COVID, but now people want to get back together again. So what does that look like? We've been far away for so long. So what do we do to get people excited about getting back in a classroom? How can we generate that buzz? What can we do for pre-messaging? I always treat my learning campaigns as a marketing campaign. We have slogans, we have hashtags, we have logos, right? We plaster those logos everywhere. We send them out in internal newsletters and emails and make it part of the messaging within an organization so that people start to hear this little buzz, hear about this new thing. Maybe they're going to go to Tucson in a couple of weeks and we can get them excited about that again. And then of course, just go in old school. Once you have them in the room, what are those old techniques for facilitation and group discussions and interactivity and engagement? I'll go back to gamification again. What can we do to make the classroom experience as exciting, efficient, and effective as possible? There's a lot of opportunities out there. So I encourage everyone to put on those creative thinking hats and get back into that idea of face-to-face.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes,

SPEAKER_04:

agreed. I agree. Every facilitator that I talk to is so excited about getting back in person again. So even from the perspective of the people that you would be working with in training. Like, I mean, you can even speak to this, too, because like aside, speaking of wearing many hats, Kate also does training facilitation for training industry quite frequently, and she's exceptional at it. So it's one of those things that it's like even your facilitator is going to be more jazzed right at that point. And you're getting a different energy out of the person that you're working with. So let's spread that amongst the people so that your attendees know that this this person who's going to be teaching you is actually really excited to be with you, too.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Bring the excitement. Right. What a fun episode, Kate. So I love all the information you've provided. I thank you again so much for answering my questions and having a really fun conversation. But we're not done. I actually have another 10 questions for you. And so it's time for our next segment, the TTA 10. Oh, my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

It's the TTA 10. 10 final questions for our guest.

SPEAKER_04:

all right kate so we went over this before the episode started we have the tta 10 which is our fun little 90 second segment at the end of the show where i have a list of 10 questions where that i'm going to ask you intended to be playful answer the instinctively and quickly because we want you to get through the questions in 90 seconds or less so we can celebrate your achievements and then of course if for some reason we don't get there it'll just be a different kind of message that we send at the end but it's a learning development

SPEAKER_05:

right yes

SPEAKER_04:

it's Exactly. So I have the questions ready. So if you're ready, Kate, give me the go ahead and David will get that clock ready. Let's

SPEAKER_03:

do it.

SPEAKER_04:

All right, David, please. 90 seconds.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, Jocelyn, 90 seconds on the TTA 10 timer starting now.

SPEAKER_04:

All right, Kate, what is your favorite breakfast food? Protein shake. Someone has given you an elephant. You can't sell it or give it away. So what are you doing with it?

SPEAKER_03:

I guess I'm building an amazing outdoor space for it in my backyard, which my husband would not be thrilled about.

SPEAKER_04:

If you could choose a theme song to play every time you entered a room, what would it be? Obviously,

SPEAKER_03:

the TTA intro music

SPEAKER_04:

to the talk. Kate, enough questions. She wins. All right. If you punch yourself and it hurts, are you weak or are you strong? Strong. Absolutely strong. Octagons are being outlawed. So what shape are our If I gave you a time machine, are you traveling to the past or to the future?

SPEAKER_03:

Name

SPEAKER_04:

something you can use a book for other than reading. Who is your favorite Disney villain? Where's the next place that you want to go on vacation?

SPEAKER_03:

Atlanta's resort in the Bahamas because have you seen those water slides going through shark tanks?

SPEAKER_04:

I actually have. Which of Snow White's seven dwarfs do you most relate to? Happy. Is that one of them? I 1000% agree with that. All right, David, that's 10 seconds before we make the clock go any longer. 10 seconds. It's 10 questions rather. Geez. Can you give us the amount of seconds? Because you can't rely on me for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Kate nailed it. But amazingly enough, It was actually a very close call. A final time of... One minute and 27 seconds. Three seconds to spare. She did it. She is a TTA 10 champion. And so, Kate, to salute you, we have what I think is appropriate. Commander Dave from ground control. Captain Kate Hickson, you are cleared for launch.

SPEAKER_00:

Four, three, two, one, zero. All engine running. Liftoff. We have a liftoff.

SPEAKER_01:

Prepare for an important transmission coming from the depths of outer space, Kate. And it so happens said transmission is in the form of a painfully clever poem. In the vast expanse where stars do gleam, Kate Hickson crafts a dreamy scheme. When it comes to learning, she checks all columns. She's got a PhD. Houston, we got no problem. With NASA, she partnered the cosmos, her stage, designing teamwork for astronauts in a learning cage for Rocket to Rover, skills never in doubt. Hey, Buzz Lightyear, eat your heart out. In boardrooms, she whispers to captains of industry, crafting experiences with cosmic consistency. For tech giants and nonprofits, she's never missing. Rocket Man, Rocket Woman, Elton, are you listening? An extraordinary aholic, she proudly proclaims, from a lineage of daredevils, she staked her claims. I bet she could rescue Major Tom from the stars, or even bring Matt Damon all the way back from Mars. An author, a speaker, with tales to regale of astronauts' teamwork where stars never fail. Unlocking performance is the name of her game. The technology she uses puts George Jetson to shame. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned star, join her on her mission no matter how far. Non-dreamers may doubt. Non-believers may scoff. But when you're with Kate Hickson, prepare for liftoff. Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. I

SPEAKER_04:

mean, you can be an astronaut now, Kate. You have the poem and everything to go with it, right? Can you even stand up? I am dying. That just

SPEAKER_03:

made my day.

SPEAKER_01:

Either an astronaut or the subject of a David Bowie song, probably.

SPEAKER_04:

Awesome. Well, Kate, thanks again for the information. And podcast listeners, thank you for joining us. For more information on instructional design services and to view Kate's Ask the Expert seminar with TTA, visit us at thetrainingassociates.com. We'll see you later.