In this episode we talk with renowned leadership expert, public speaker, and author, Bob Bradley.
We delve into the nuances of leadership and the power of diversity, not only in terms of background and experience but also traditional diversity factors like race and gender.
Bob talks to us about everything from 'loneliness at the top' to the need for a safe space for leaders to discuss vulnerabilities and uncertainties. 

This week we're joined by Common Wealth Games gold medalist, Sarina Sundara Rajah. Sarina shares her journey from competitive gymnastics to running a rhythmic gymnastics club since 2004. She emphasizes the challenges young athletes, especially in gymnastics, face regarding body image and societal pressures. Sarina discusses her compassionate leadership style and advocates for safe sports, sharing her experience in spearheading the Safe Sport movement in Malaysia.

She highlights the importance of a proactive approach in preventing abuse, recommending policies that limit one-on-one interactions and ensure observable and interruptible situations. Sarina also talks about evidence-based strategies for abuse prevention in sports, emphasizing the need for timely intervention.

Towards the end, Serena reflects on her coaching experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of adaptability, resilience, and a growth mindset. She advises aspiring leaders to challenge the status quo, be rebels with a cause, and use their voices constructively for positive change. Serena envisions a safer sports culture and continues her advocacy work for comprehensive protection of children in sports.

In this episode of our host Ulrika Brunnerdials in for a conversation with Christine Amour-Levar.

The discussion revolves around the theme of embracing discomfort for personal and professional growth. Christine emphasizes the importance of curiosity, rating it beyond the scale, and narrates her experiences in venturing into unfamiliar territories, such as launching an NFT-based community in Singapore.

Get an inside look at the courage required to step out of your comfort zone. Hear about the significance of continuous learning, and the impact of leaving a legacy. Christine's commitment to inspiring other women, shines through as she encourages diverse career paths and alternative approaches to success.

Tune in to explore how embracing change, staying curious, and taking risks can lead to transformative leadership journeys.

Join us for an insightful episode as CEO of SweetRush, Andrei Hedstrom, discusses the intricate connections between learning and development in the corporate landscape. Explore the future of leadership, the influence of neuroscience on employee performance, and the thrilling possibilities that emerging technologies bring to crafting effective marketing strategies for corporations. Get ready for a deep dive into the realms of servant leadership, consciousness studies, and the transformative power of learning and development tailored for corporate success.

In the latest 'Learning to Fly' episode, Danny, an expert in leadership development, delves into the intricate fabric of workplace culture. Part 1 sets the stage by emphasizing the impact of organizational history and effective leadership. Tune in as Danny shares personal experiences and explores the delicate balance between shaping culture and nurturing learning environments.

In this two-part episode of 'Learning to Fly,' join Danny, a seasoned leadership development manager, as he shares insights on shaping workplace culture. Part 1 explores the pivotal role of history and leadership in defining an organization's culture. Stay tuned for Part 2 in a few weeks to delve deeper into actionable strategies.

In this episode, Mark Lewis, Head of People and Culture at Connectics, delves into the core of organizational growth. He discusses the vital link between people, capability, and the success of businesses. From navigating leadership challenges to fostering a culture of continuous learning, Mark shares invaluable insights. Join us for a thought-provoking kōrero which offers a holistic perspective on building thriving and resilient teams.

In this episode, Damien Woods, the Chapter Lead of Learning and Growing at 7-Eleven, discusses the development of a learning culture in an Agile business environment.

Damien emphasizes the importance of building habits and rituals, such as regular retrospectives and reflective practices, to foster a culture of continuous learning.

He highlights that Agile is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be adapted to fit the unique characteristics of the organization. Damien encourages the mindset of constant improvement and adaptation in pursuit of a more agile and learning-focused culture.

In a special Learning to Fly episode we welcome Chris Maika, CEO of Māori eLearning and capability consultancy, Ruku ki te ako.

As a follow on from our most recent Inspire Connect events, Chris shares insights into embedding Te Ao Māori in organisations, emphasizing the importance of leadership engagement, understanding the organisation's why, and implementing a strategic direction. He highlights the need for a sustainable, long-term approach that involves both top-down and ground-up efforts.

The discussion also touches on the significance of Te Tiriti ō Waitangi, and the importance of meaningful embedding to avoid tokenism. Chris addresses concerns about disengagement, urging organisations to create a supportive environment where individuals feel safe to make mistakes and learn.

Links to resources discussed in the episode:

• Business Readiness Assessment (adapted from the Te Arawhiti Framework)
• Free eLearning Module - Pronouncing Māori Vowel Sounds

Join your host (and our New Zealand CEO), Aidan Stoate, as he has a kōrero with the agent of change, Digby Scott.

Digby's superpower is bringing people together to create high-trust, deep-learning environments. He geeks out on making the complex simple (but not simplistic).

His perspectives on leadership and change are what made him the perfect guest to kick off the revitalisation of our Learning To Fly podcast.

Enjoy!

We dialled in for a kōrero with Gemma Sides, the Kaiwhakatere for Inspire Group. We discussed 'Decolonising Ohu Inspire' which is an internal initiative—now in it's third year at Inspire Group—which is focused on helping the organisation become better Treaty partners, and develop better, more inclusive learning for their clients. Gemma shares the what, why and how, of Decolonising Ohu Inspire as well as sharing tips for organisations looking to embark on a similar journey.

Time flies! Inspire Group is 20 years young! 

Aidan Stoate interviews Dan Tohill on all the challenges, changes and lessons learnt in the L&D industry over the last 20 years.

Inspire started with an idea, to bring to the market a new approach to organisational learning with the belief that – 'better learning is life changing'.

Over the last 20 years we have grown from our Wellington base to Auckland, Australia and Malaysia and now serve a global market with learning solutions, leadership development and talent solutions.

From a distance the growth curve looks like a smooth trajectory, but just like personal growth, there’s been plenty of ups and downs, steps forward and backwards and a few sideways moves.

In this episode Dan Tohill talks to Fran Hoover who shares some of her experiences while working for many years in the public and community sectors and the importance of ensuring learning is culturally appropriate.

Ulrika Brunner interviews Michaela Boye - Managing Director from Scania Group Taiwan, and they discuss how leadership is democratising globally and the importance of having open discussions to nurture your company culture through developing trust and ensuring employees align with core values early on in their induction process.

Ulrika Brunner interviews James Hudson from Drive Development Solutions and L&D Mastermind and they discuss leadership and L&D challenges at this time and how to lead with genuine compassion and understanding to help people adapt to change and this new digital world of virtual working. They also discuss the three stages of leadership development:

1. Lead self
2. Lead others
3. Lead results

Connect with James Hudson:

Dan Tohill interviews Peter Keegan. At the time of recording Peter was the Capability Development Manager for the Department of Conservation. Peter shares some of the work he's done around personas for the learning and development of DOCs diverse workforce.

Connect with Peter Keegan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterandrewkeegan/

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/

In this episode Nat Gunn chats to Dan Tohill and provides practical tips on building your team culture online.

Nat, co-owner of Epic Learning, is a Learning and Development Specialist with a lot of experience both working and learning online. She leads a remote team, spread across Australasia. Epic has carved a great company culture online, continue to grow and develop their people and even get a chance to have some fun, even if they have never all physically been in the same location together at once.  Nat enjoys the challenges of leading a remote team, and this year her experience in the area has been put to good use, helping others adapt to the shift toward remote working. 

Connect with Nat Gunn:

https://epiclearning.co.nz/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashagunn/

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/

Kimble Vowless shares his thoughts with Dan Tohill on the incredibly unique year that was 2020, how he managed working 80 hour weeks urgently training people in the health sector, his tips on virtual working and the 'remote learning revolution'.

Connect with Kimble Vowless:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimble-vowless/

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/

Aidan Stoate interviews Andrew Curtis, one of our trusted associates here at Inspire Group.

Listen to this episode to get tips and techniques on how to effectively lead and engage with people in a virtual working environment and how to facilitate great learning experiences and meetings online.

Some of our favourite quotes from Andrew in this episode:

"The only way to get trust is to give trust. If I'm the leader then I have to show trust first. I have to look for ways that I trust you."

"If I have trust I have everything."

"When it comes to creating that trust environment, I look for opportunities to share moments where I haven't understood, or where I have failed to meet an objective. And what I'm saying as a leader is that I want to create a high-trust environment here. So whereby I'm sharing an area that I had to learn, people pick up that this is a place where they can say they don't understand." 

"In a virtual meeting I find I need to be really directive and really clear on what I want and how I want people to respond."

"The principle of trust and open sharing is the foundation of really good conversations. In terms of how you really help someone, one of the most powerful things that I have discovered is if a person is safe to notice their own thinking about something, that is when change can become possible."

"As a leader I have to think how can I give trust first, how can I give safety first, how can I give as sense non-judgement first, and then I can build from there."

"Your energy will follow where your heart is, and you can't fake that long term."

Connect with Andrew Curtis:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewgcurtis/

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/

In this episode Dan Tohill interviews Todd Hammington a Visual Designer, Illustrator, UX and UI expert and product owner of Chameleon Creator an online learning authoring tool. 

Listen to Todd explain how UX and UI principles can be used in a learning design context to enhance learning outcomes.

Some of our favourite quotes from Todd in this episode: 

"A good learning designer really cares about the user experience, they really care about the end user learning something" 

"Sticking to UX design principles means you're taking away the subjectivity around whether you like the colour blue or not. You're bringing in real data into the conversation because you've gone out and tested it with the end users. It's hard to argue with that" 

Learn more about how Chameleon Creator can improve the user experience of your learners.

Feedback:

Any feedback or ideas on how we can make this podcast better please let us know by emailing:

info@inspiregroup.co.nz

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/

Aidan Stoate interviews Alyson Garrido, one of our trusted associates here at Inspire Group.

Feedback:

Any feedback or ideas on how we can make this podcast better please let us know by emailing:

info@inspiregroup.co.nz

Connect to us online everywhere:

Visit our website:

https://www.inspiregroup.co.nz/

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/inspiregroupnz/

Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspire-group

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/inspire_group/