In this episode of Learning for Good, we’re exploring how nonprofit leaders can take actionable steps to maintain performance and build capacity even during stressful seasons. If your team is feeling overwhelmed, stretched thin, or stuck in reactive mode, this episode offers timely advice rooted in real-world nonprofit experience. ▶️ Stretched Thin? Three Capacity Building Strategies Every Nonprofit Leader Can Use Today ▶️ Key Points: 01:20 Stress is impacting your nonprofit more th...

Get ready to change the way you think about designing training scenarios in this episode of Learning for Good. I have used scenarios myself, and I really do think this is a skillset that we all need to get better at because scenarios are such a helpful tool in learning. That's why today I'm talking to Srividya Kumar, a learning design leader and co-founder of Learnnovators. She makes designing scenarios approachable and shares what we need to know to create training scenarios that truly engag...

Creating a strong learning culture is no longer a luxury - it's a necessity for nonprofit leadership development and sustainable mission impact. In this episode, I sit down with leadership coach and author Yogi Mueller to explore how nonprofits can foster curiosity, promote vulnerability, and embed learning into their everyday operations. Whether you're facing high turnover, stagnant performance, or disengaged teams, building a learning culture can be the catalyst for change. ▶️ How t...

Are your nonprofit’s people managers equipped to lead with clarity and confidence, or just left to figure it out on their own? In this episode, I take a deep dive into how to develop nonprofit people managers using proven learning and development strategies. With a focus on building leadership through competency models, coaching, enablement, and accountability, you’ll discover how to build confident, capable staff who can lead, not just execute. ▶️ Key Points: 02:58 Identifying competen...

In this episode of Learning for Good, we explore how nonprofit leaders can navigate the complexities of global teams with guest Dr. Lori Beyar, Global VP of Strategy & Organizational Development at Cru. If your nonprofit is scaling across borders, or even just managing diverse teams, you’ll want to hear this conversation on nonprofit leadership development, building trust, and creating high-performing multicultural teams. We dive deep into how to build a foundation for consistent performa...

Nonprofit leadership development hinges on the ability to bring people together while still moving projects forward. In this episode of Learning for Good, I dive into how inclusive decision making can elevate your training and leadership initiatives without stalling progress. Using real-life examples, I share ten practical strategies to lead collaborative projects while staying focused on outcomes. You’ll learn how to clarify roles, create psychological safety, and ensure that every voice is ...

When nonprofits scale programs too quickly without the right foundation, teams experience burnout, confusion, and inconsistent outcomes. In this episode of Learning for Good, I unpack the role of learning and development strategies in sustainable growth - and why scaling success starts with your people, not just your program. You’ll learn how to build infrastructure and clarity, develop staff capacity through behavior-based training, and ensure long-term success through continuous improvement...

Succession planning may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about nonprofit leadership development, but it should be. In this episode, I sit down with transition strategist Naomi Hattaway to explore what it really takes to ensure leadership continuity and why it's a core part of any learning and development strategy. With executive turnover on the rise and funding environments shifting, organizations can’t afford to leave leadership transitions to chance. Succession plann...

If training alone isn't moving the needle, it’s time to bring coaching into the equation. In this episode, I share how nonprofit leaders can use three simple yet powerful coaching questions to drive behavior change and improve staff performance, without micromanaging. You’ll discover why traditional training isn’t always enough and how coaching can help build autonomy and accountability. These coaching questions are rooted in the Situation-Behavior-Impact framework for feedback and can be tau...

Creating meaningful change through staff training and development in a nonprofit can feel overwhelming, especially when you're the only one driving it. In this episode, I talk with Jamie Bussey, Senior Director of Learning and Development at the National Audubon Society. Jamie joined Audubon as a team of one, inheriting a blank slate and a whole lot of opportunity. She shares how she used a needs assessment to guide her strategy, implemented scalable solutions like a learning management syste...

Improving staff accountability doesn’t always require a training program. In fact, some of the most effective strategies for nonprofit leadership development and team performance don’t involve training at all. In this episode of Learning for Good, I share three powerful non-training solutions to boost accountability, enhance team culture, and drive consistent performance across teams. Whether you're facing missed deadlines, inconsistent follow-through, or simply want to elevate your team’s ef...

Are you curious about what a career in nonprofit Learning and Development looks like across different types of organizations? In this episode of Learning for Good, we explore the real-life journeys of two nonprofit L&D leaders - Eric Wu, formerly of Northwestern University, and Matt Tod of Plan International Canada. You’ll get an inside look at what Learning and Development roles actually look like in two very different nonprofit settings and honest advice if you’re looking to make the tr...

Employees spend 42% of their time collaborating with others. That’s almost half of their time. But are they any good at it? Or are there challenges around collaboration? And if there are challenges, what can we do about them? Most people would say collaboration is important for their work, but we're less likely to do it when it feels challenging. And when there's conflict, we're less likely to do it then, too. Can training help? That’s what we’re exploring in this episode. ▶️ How Trai...

What does it mean to be a good partner in Learning and Development? That’s what we’re exploring in this episode, but we’re doing it from the truest sense of the word partner. I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is that we focus on the actions we need to take to be a good partner. And while actions are important, I don't want a list of actions today. I want us to look at the attributes or the characteristics of being a good partner. ▶️ Being a Strategic Learning Partner & T...

All too often, new managers have no training, peer group, or support. Then, when they fail or burnout, we say they weren’t management material. We can and we should do more to support new managers. When Cru, a faith-based nonprofit, faced this exact challenge, they decided to offer a coaching program to their emerging leaders. This coaching program would bring in business leaders from outside their organization and engage them as coaches, creating cross-sector support, cross-sector relationsh...

When we create learning solutions, what we really want is to create a new behavior or change behavior in some way. So, what does it take to create a new behavior? On this episode of Learning for Good, I’m sharing lessons from behavior change experts Charles Duhigg, James Clear, and BJ Fogg. Then, I’m going to take those behavior change lessons and translate them into workplace learning. ▶️ Translating Behavior Science into L&D Strategy: Lessons from Top Experts ▶️ Ke...

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 to us about generational differences in the workplace. Kat ...

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 Dr. Jaimie Hoffman, the senior director of learning and deve...

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 Points: 02:11 Understanding your training audience to intentionall...

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 expertise? On this episode, I’m sharing three ways you can identify train...