Learning Uncut

Hosted by Michelle Parry-Slater

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Episodes

290

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

Learning Uncut is about real conversations around real learning solutions and real experiences with real advice from real people. We're all about keeping it "real." Here's an overview of our approach: Strategy and tactics. We want to unpack the strategy and how-to's of creating great learning solutions, frameworks and teams. CONVERSATIONS, NOT SCRIPTED DISCUSSION Our podcasts are professional but not so edited and polished that they lose their authenticity. We want our audience to hear real people having real conversations and sharing real examples and advice. PROGRESSIVE We want to showcase the "unsung L&D heroes" out there doing great work, being brave and trying new things. PRACTICAL We invite our guests to share tips and strategies to help listeners take their solutions to the next level. We aim to provide actionable takeaways for our listeners through show notes, links and downloads wherever possible.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 19, 2026Episode 19345 min

193: Optimising Learning Technology at Starbucks Australia – Peter Elkhuizen

You've chosen your learning technology and a launch date draws near. Then what? Peter Elkhuizen, Partner Capability and Growth Manager at Starbucks Australia, shares how he moved around 1,600 partners from paper-based learning to a gamified mobile platform, and kept them using it two years on. We cover launching with baristas first, using leaderboards to keep people engaged, blending digital with in-store training and learning from Starbucks UK. Peter also explains how he knows the platform is earning its place, what he would do differently, and previews his HR Fest Australia session on 18 November in Melbourne. Transcript and related resources : learninguncut.global/podcast/193 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

October 5, 2026Episode 19249 min

192: Choosing Learning Technology in the age of AI - Audrey Chan and Adam Hepper

Most L&D teams don't choose the wrong learning platform because they're careless, they choose it because the process is confusing, rushed, or driven by shiny demos. In this episode, Audrey Chan and Adam Hepper join Michelle Parry-Slater to explore how L&D teams can make better decisions when choosing learning technology. They unpack what a good RFP process looks like, why getting clear on your requirements before speaking to vendors is so important, and how to look beyond features to find a technology partner that genuinely fits your organisation. They also discuss how AI is changing the learning technology landscape, the questions L&D teams should now be asking vendors, and why understanding your organisation's needs remain more important than chasing the latest functionality. If you're reviewing your learning technology, preparing for an RFP, or simply trying to make sense of an increasingly complex market, this episode offers practical guidance to help you make a more informed and confident choice. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/192 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

September 21, 2026Episode 19054 min

191: Team alignment is commitment, not agreement - Lindsay Uittenbogaard and John Dobbin

What does alignment really mean when the stakes are high? Drawing on a global banking case study involving a major regulatory deadline, Lindsay and John share how surfacing different perspectives and working through tensions enabled hundreds of people across multiple geographies to coordinate action and deliver results. This conversation offers practical insights into collaboration, performance, change, and the role learning can play in creating organisational alignment when it matters most, both for L&D professionals and those working in adjacent industries. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/191 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

September 7, 2026Episode 19045 min

190: The Education Revolution – Jeff Davis

The choices we make in education today shape the workforce thirty years from now. In this episode Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Jeff Davis, Executive Head at Hillcrest Christian College on the Gold Coast and author of Leading the Learning Revolution , about what happens when a school decides to turn education on its head. From teaching curriculum on Coolangatta Beach to a framework of six secret skills that prepare students for a world of AI and rapid change, Jeff argues that character, service and emotional intelligence are not extras. They are the curriculum. This conversation challenges common assumptions about what schooling is for, explores whole person teaching that blends academic knowledge with purpose and resilience, and surfaces practical ideas for L&D and HR professionals wondering why great candidates are so hard to find and what might change if education did. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/190 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

August 24, 2026Episode 18945 min

189: What Happens After the Award, Reflection 18 months on – Millie Law ANZ

What happens after the award, is won? In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater welcomes back Millie Law, Enterprise Capability Lead at ANZ for an 18-month update on the Better Business Development programme first shared in Episode 161 for reflective practice in action The BD program delivered a 20–25% improvement in a key business metric and a four times return on investment. This revisit episode explores how an award-winning program built on genuine performance consulting, a deep understanding of business language, and deliberate mindset design has continued to live in the business long after the enterprise team stepped back. Millie also takes us inside the capability community of practice she leads at ANZ, with a virtual, open, monthly drumbeat that keeps a federated learning community connected, curious and growing, and how you know it's working as the numbers don't tell the whole story. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/189 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

August 10, 2026Episode 18845 min

188: Minimal Interventions, Maximum Outcomes - Andrew Lawson & Alice Smith

Michelle Parry-Slater is joined by Andrew Lawson (2026 AITD L&D Professional of the Year) and his client Alice Smith, about a deliberately different approach to leadership training. Instead of two days out of the office, where delegates leave with overwhelmed brains but make little change back at work before the learning gets totally forgotten, Andrew offers a leadership programme deliberately designed to benefit learners. Using spaced learning practice, retrieval practice, and highly engaging short interventions, Andrew shares his TARGER framework, which is a brain-friendly learning design checklist built on neuroscience. Alice shares what it actually felt like from the client side to experience an 8-month programme of 90-minute sessions a month plus a variety of practice activities and coaching. With results that shifted behaviour and real change, together they turned a group of siloed managers into a genuine leadership cohort. This is a masterclass in how to create a much more effective, efficient, engaging and enjoyable leadership programme. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/188 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

July 27, 2026Episode 5048 min

Elevate 50: What's next for L&D? Donald Taylor

For three years running, AI topped the list of what's hot in L&D. This year it dipped, and Donald H Taylor is taking it off the survey altogether. Don has run the Global Sentiment Survey for over a decade. In this Elevate episode, he joins host Michelle Parry-Slater to go back across five years of data and unpack what it actually tells us about where the profession is heading. They get into the transformation triangle's three destinations for L&D, the two separate futures Don thinks the profession may be splitting into, and why compliance training deserves to be taken seriously as a shop window rather than dismissed as a chore of endurance. And why hope on its own isn't enough. It needs action behind it, and courage for when things get hard. It's a conversation grounded in research, honest about what's difficult right now, full of ideas, and genuinely hopeful about what's next for L&D. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/elevate-50 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

July 13, 2026Episode 4956 min

Elevate 49: Gari Yala - Speak the Truth | Indigenous Employment and the L&D Responsibility

It will take 118 years, at the current rate of change, before an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person can go to work without hearing a racial slur. This is not history. This is what is happening in Australian workplaces right now. In this Elevate episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Professor Nareen Young and Josh Gilbert from the Centre for Indigenous People and Work at the University of Technology Sydney, both Aboriginal researchers and practitioners who have spent decades working to shift the Indigenous employment narrative from deficit to truth. Together they share the findings of the 2025 Gari Yala (Speak the Truth) report, Australia's only Indigenous-led national survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment experiences and make a direct, generous and urgent call to L&D professionals to act. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/elevate-49/ Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast/

June 29, 2026Episode 18754 min

187: Recognition as a Learning Tool Sarah McVanel & Lisa Anstey

Recognition is often written off as a "nice to have." In this episode, Michelle Parry-Slater speaks with Sarah McVanel, Canada's recognition expert and founder of Greatness Magnified, and Lisa Anstey, manager of Medical Device Reprocessing at Waterloo Regional Health Network, to make the case that recognition is not soft. Recognition is one of the most powerful learning and behaviour-change tools available. Together they share the story of a deeply disengaged hospital team that became one of the most recognised in the country. The framework, the coaching, the daily huddles, and the sheer persistence behind that shift. If you work in L&D and you have ever wondered how to make learning stick, or how to advocate for what your people really need, this one is for you. Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/187 Podcast information and more episodes: learninguncut.global/podcast

June 15, 202647 min

Elevate 48: Eight Years of Learning Uncut – Michelle Ockers

Eight years. Nearly 200 episodes. One consistent heartbeat. In this special Elevate episode, Michelle Parry-Slater sits down with Learning Uncut founder Michelle Ockers to reflect on eight lessons from eight years of the podcast. From community as the engine that started it all, to the quiet discipline of showing up and being of service without knowing where it leads... Transcript and related resources: learninguncut.global/podcast/elevate-48 Podcast information and more episodes: https://learninguncut.global/podcast/

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