COMING SOON on October 11th, 2024

Where does employee development belong in an organization? Achieving results is always the focus of leaders, employees, and organizations. However, prioritizing getting things done at the expense of other goals, leads to short-term gains and compromises long-term growth.

Welcome to Growth through Learning with Hannah Brown - a 6-part series to put employee learning and team development into the hands of leaders.

We’ll ask the big questions to uncover the importance of embedding employee learning and team development into the DNA of teams so organizations, teams and employees grow.

Organizations that grow, grow their people. And people grow when they’re learning on the job with their team and from their leader.

To learn more about these conversations and how you can achieve long-term employee, team, and organization growth through learning, read Hannah’s book Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth through Learning, published by Hambone Publishing in November 2024.

Check out Hannah’s website for more info on how to lead with learning at https://hannahbrown.co/resources/podcasts/.

Where does employee development belong in an organization? Achieving results is always the focus of leaders, employees, and organizations. However, prioritizing getting things done at the expense of other goals, leads to short-term gains and compromises long-term growth.

Welcome to Growth through Learning with Hannah Brown - a 6-part series to put employee learning and team development into the hands of leaders.

We’ll ask the big questions to uncover the importance of embedding employee learning and team development into the DNA of teams so organizations, teams and employees grow.

Organizations that grow, grow their people. And people grow when they’re learning on the job with their team and from their leader.

To learn more about these conversations and how you can achieve long-term employee, team, and organization growth through learning, read Hannah’s book Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth through Learning, published by Hambone Publishing in November 2024.

Check out Hannah’s website for more info on how to lead with learning at https://hannahbrown.co/resources/podcasts/.

How can leaders connect with employees to foster cultures of learning? Today, the myriad of changes in the professional landscape happen fast. This means that it’s more important than ever for organizations to be resilient and adaptable. So many organizations continue to prioritize short-term results over long-term, sustainable growth, but this approach often leads to employees disconnecting from their work, resulting in less effective, less engaged teams.

In this inaugural episode, your host Hannah Brown speaks with three leaders about the need for employee support, connection, and learning, all of which must be championed by the leaders themselves. Only by engaging workers beyond formal training, can companies develop the kind of team culture that continues to benefit people and organizations alike.

Hannah is your host for this 6-part series on leadership, learning, and lasting organizational growth. She brings 25 years of experience in leadership development, helping leaders bridge the gap between formal training and learning to instill this vital thread into the DNA of teams.

Featuring interviews with individuals who are experiencing first-hand the heavy bottom-line impacts of failing to invest in their people, Growth Through Learning explores Hannah’s book, Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth through Learning.

Discover the importance of prioritizing employee learning and development:

• Why leaders need to be the “heart” and build people-centred relationships with their teams;
• How cultures of fear directly derail cultures of growth;
• Why leaders need to stop “doing” and start “leading”;
• How to identify the pain points that highlight a flawed internal culture.

Important resources from the episode:

• ”Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well” by Amy Edmondson - https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Right-Kind-of-Wrong/Amy-C-Edmondson/9781982195069

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Robin Young, Director of Corporate Training Services at Durham College in Toronto - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-young-mba-63b7639b/
• Chantal McIntyre, Talent Strategist, Workplace Consultant, and Leadership Coach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chantal-mcintyre-www-chantalmcintyre-com/
• Len Switzer, Associate Director, Partnerships & External Relations at Michigan Technological University - https://www.linkedin.com/in/len-switzer/

Connect with Hannah:

• Pre-order Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation - https://hannahbrown.co/programs/
• Learn more about Hannah’s work - https://hannahbrown.co/

How do you make the shift from doing the work to supporting your team? In the previous episode of Growth Through Learning, Hannah Brown spoke with leaders about the problems that develop when organizations focus on short-term results instead of long-term growth. When short-term results take precedence, leaders who have risen to management from a team member position often feel as though they must continue doing the work they did before. They end up micromanaging their highly capable teams.

This episode explores how leaders can begin to make the shift from “doing” to “leading” and build strong, capable teams that last. Hannah explores the challenges leaders face in making this transition—so often, they struggle to maintain control and eventually burn out. Under such imposing oversight, their team members experience deepening job dissatisfaction.

Consider your own leadership style through a growth mindset lens:

• Why a focus on results leads to burnout and dissatisfaction;

• The importance of letting go of control to become the heart or mind of the team;

• The essential mindset shift from being the best to supporting the best;

• How leaders can adjust how they use their time to build self-sufficient teams.

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Christy Billan, Director of Small Business Lending Products, Farm Credit Canada - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybillan/

• Christine Helgerman, Director, St. John's Christian Nursery School - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-helgerman-rece-7b6a9490/

• Len Switzer, Associate Director, Partnerships & External Relations, Michigan Technological University - https://www.linkedin.com/in/len-switzer/

• Adam Stephens, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, The Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo & Stratford Perth - https://www.linkedin.com/in/astephens77/

• Chantal McIntyre, Talent Strategist, Workplace Consultant, and Leadership Coach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chantal-mcintyre-www-chantalmcintyre-com/

Connect with Hannah:

• Pre-order Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/

• Learn more about Hannah’s work - https://hannahbrown.co/

How can a culture of learning engage employees and lead to lasting growth? In the fast-paced and ever-changing modern workplace, it can be difficult for leaders to relinquish control - risking the satisfaction of upper management - and allow employee happiness to share the stage with immediate results.

However, employees who don’t feel supported or connected to their leadership and workplace become disengaged. Today, employees are reclaiming their power. They do just enough to get by while searching for new opportunities with better-aligned values. As a result, that laser focus on how much gets done ends up delivering short-term wins but fails in the long run.

In this episode, host Hannah Brown explores why fostering a positive culture of learning is just as important as ensuring immediate results. As the insights and experiences of these people-focused leaders highlight, stronger teams lead to lasting growth, and that strength is achieved through attention to six vital factors, the Growth Equation.

Learn how proven leadership practices and strategies can lead to both employee satisfaction and bottom-line benefits:

• What leaders can do to influence the motivation and performance of their employees;
• How fixed and growth mindsets impact both leader and employee success;
• The need for curiosity and vulnerability in the creation of great team culture;
• How to strike a leadership balance that upholds both organizational and individual goals.

Important resources from the episode:

• See the Growth Equation as a graphic: https://hannahbrown.co/resources/podcasts/growth-through-learning-episode-3/
• University of Rochester research on motivation - https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2000_RyanDeci_SDT.pdf
• “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck - https://bookshop.org/book/9780345472328
• “The Business Case for Curiosity” by Francesca Gino - https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-business-case-for-curiosity
• Quote by Henry Ward Beecher - https://www.azquotes.com/author/1130-Henry_Ward_Beecher/tag/compassion
• “The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups” by Daniel Coyle - https://bookshop.org/book/9780804176989

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Robin Young, Director of Corporate Training Services at Durham College in Toronto - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-young-mba-63b7639b/
• Julianna Morris, People Excellence and Academy Leader, Porche - https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliannamorris
• Christy Billan, Director of Small Business Lending Products, Farm Credit Canada - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybillan/
• Adam Stephens, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, The Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo & Stratford Perth - https://www.linkedin.com/in/astephens77/

Connect with Hannah:

• Pre-order Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation - https://hannahbrown.co/programs/
• Learn more about Hannah’s work - https://hannahbrown.co/

How can leaders support employee collaboration and autonomy? Whether your company has a staff of 15 or 500, the teams behind the projects are essential to the success of the whole. Instead of focusing on immediate results—which tend to have short-term benefits at best and often leave employees struggling to stay motivated—leaders can foster cultures of learning that prioritize the personal development of everyone on their team. The outcome? Committed and empowered leaders and team members, as well as sustainable growth that lasts.

In this episode, host Hannah Brown shares how one leader took a step back from the traditional top-down approach and the perceived power of having all the answers. She chose instead to share with her team both the responsibility and the pride of each project’s planning, process, and results. When employees are supported and given space to lean into their strengths and take initiatives that match their skill set and interests, they become part of a more engaged team with serious staying power. One that is confident in their ability to fix mistakes, solve problems, and achieve superior results again and again.

Discover the benefits of becoming a leader who guides rather than commands:

• The team-based alternative to top-down leadership and centralized training;
• What it means to implement a learning-focused approach as a manager;
• Why spending more time in the short term helps achieve lasting outcomes;
• How sharing power, knowledge, and success can reduce stress for leaders.

Important resources from the episode:

• The Impact of Accountability on Organizational Performance in the U.S. Federal Government: The Moderating Role of Autonomy - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0734371X16682816
• Centria University of Applied Sciences “Accountability and Employee Performance Case Study” - https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/147663/Tsafack_%20Kelly.pdf?sequence=1

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Christine Helgerman, Director, St. John's Christian Nursery School - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-helgerman-rece-7b6a9490/

Connect with Hannah:

• Pre-order Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation - https://hannahbrown.co/programs/
• Learn more about Hannah’s work - https://hannahbrown.co/

How do cultures of learning support succession planning? Cultivating a culture of learning in your organization empowers your employees to play pivotal roles now and in the future. It’s important that leaders champion their staff as so much more than pre-defined collections of skills and capabilities - this means training them not only for the job they are currently doing, but also for the job they can do when an opportunity for a promotion arises.

In this episode, Hannah Brown speaks with two leaders who have experienced tremendous success in their organizations. Their dedication to personal and professional development for their teams promoted career growth and advancement for all employees. Whatever the size of your organization, focusing on learning and growth reduces the time and cost of training newcomers by being proactive about succession plans long before a backfill is required. The burden on the leader is also alleviated. Freed of micromanaging every task and day-to-day challenge, leaders can turn their attention to strategic priorities because they are confident that their team has the capacity to excel in their jobs.

Set your team up for organizational success that stands the test of time:

• The forward-thinking benefits of building a robust pipeline of leaders;
• How proactive professional development for employees gives leaders more time;
• The effect of supportive leadership on employee satisfaction and engagement;
• How cultures of learning help alleviate burnout during tumultuous periods.

Important resources from the episode:

• Ontario Covid Science Advisory Table, “Burnout in Hospital-Based Healthcare Workers during COVID-19” - https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/sciencebrief/burnout-in-hospital-based-healthcare-workers-during-covid-19/

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Andy Rombouts, Director Of Support Services, London Health Sciences Centre - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-rombouts-23673263/
• Christy Billan, Director of Small Business Lending Products, Farm Credit Canada - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybillan/

Connect with Hannah:

• Pre-order Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation - https://hannahbrown.co/programs/
• Learn more about Hannah’s work - https://hannahbrown.co/

How do leaders create and elevate team cultures of learning? When we’re at work, most of our learning happens on the job, not in a classroom. The skills we gain contribute to our lifetime earnings, so the more we learn in our day-to-day work, but more we benefit. The more skills employees develop, the higher their incomes. However, not all workplace learning and development is cut from the same cloth. When leaders establish strong cultures of learning, they build more innovative and resilient teams that can weather any organizational change. But, relying solely on traditional departmental or formal training for career development means missing the opportunity to embed learning into a team’s DNA.

To survive, we must learn. W. Edwards Deming’s wise words exemplify the Growth Through Learning podcast. In this final episode, Hannah Brown explores practical first steps leaders can take as they work to implement or expand on cultures of learning in their organizations. We hear again from the people-focused leaders who have lent their voices throughout this series as they reflect on their own practices, listening and empathy chief among them, that helped cultivate success for their teams, themselves, and their organizations.

Lead your team in developing the skills they need for today and beyond:

• Why we must avoid the trap of focusing on results above all other metrics;
• The widespread benefits of caring about and investing in your team;
• Why it’s essential to clearly communicate your expectations around cultures of learning;
• How to continue fostering your own learning mindset.

Important resources from the episode:

• Frontiers in Communication: “Building Organizational Resilience Through Organizational Learning: A Systematic Review” - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.837386
• McKinsey: “The State of Organizations 2023: Ten Shifts transforming organizations” - https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-state-of-organizations-2023#/
• The Journal of Neuroscience: “Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Brain Structure Changes During Extensive Learning” - https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4628-05.2006.
• DDI: “Global Leadership Forecast 2023” - https://www.ddiworld.com/global-leadership-forecast-2023

Connect with the leaders who share their stories on the show:

• Julianna Morris, People Excellence and Academy Leader, Porsche Cars Canada - https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliannamorris
• Adam Stephens, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, The Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo & Stratford Perth - https://www.linkedin.com/in/astephens77/
• Chantal McIntyre, Talent Strategist, Workplace Consultant, and Leadership Coach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chantal-mcintyre-www-chantalmcintyre-com/
• Andrew Ambrose, Director of Learning, Aecon Group Inc - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewambrose/
• Christy Billan, Director of Small Business Lending Products, Farm Credit Canada - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christybillan/
• Robin Young, Director of Corporate Training Services at Durham College in Toronto - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-young-mba-63b7639b/

Connect with Hannah:

• Order Hannah’s book, Into the Hands of Leaders: Employee Growth Through Learning - https://hannahbrown.co/resources/books-and-articles/
• Learn about the programs that help leaders and organizations develop a growth through learning orientation - https://hannahbrown.co/programs/
• Partner with Hannah to grow your exceptional team - https://hannahbrown.co/