In this special episode, Assemble You Co-Founders Adam Lacey and Richard Ward step out from behind the interview chair for a raw, founder-to-founder conversation - sharing the practical lessons from building Assemble You that L&D leaders can apply immediately to increase adoption, influence stakeholders and drive behavioural change.

Instead of theory or frameworks, this episode is built from real experience: testing ideas fast, getting buy-in, marketing learning internally, and building the conditions where development actually sticks.

Adam and Rich explore what happens when L&D is run with a startup mindset - agile, learner-led, problem-focused and impact-driven. They break down the lessons, mistakes and mindset shifts that helped Assemble You scale audio-based learning into hundreds of organisations, and how the same thinking can help you accelerate progress with limited resource.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

- How to validate learning needs like a product team

- Why managers - not content - often determine adoption

- How to build internal champions who spread learning for you

- Simple internal branding tactics that boost visibility

- The power of minimal viable learning vs. over-engineering

- How to influence stakeholders and stay strategic under pressure

- Where to focus first when resource is tight

- Why psychological safety fuels experimentation and growth

- How to turn requests into patterns - and patterns into strategy

If you want your learning initiatives to spread faster, embed deeper and demonstrate value sooner, this one is worth your time. It’s an honest behind-the-scenes conversation designed to give L&D leaders clarity, confidence and practical shortcuts they can use straight away.

If you love podcast-style learning, Assemble You gives you ready-to-use, audio-first courses that slot straight into your learning strategy.

Help your workforce build practical skills - communication, productivity, leadership and more - with engaging content people actually want to listen to. Explore assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Kat Hayes.

Kat is the Senior Director of People at Boden, the iconic British fashion brand. With a commercial mindset and a passion for practical, human-centred change, she works closely with the executive team to shape culture, strengthen leadership, and build sustainable talent across the UK and US.

In this episode, Kat shares the story behind Boden’s highly successful "In Conversation With" series, a masterclass in driving employee engagement through storytelling and external perspective. She offers a practical guide for L&D leaders looking to replicate this impact, including:

1. The Power of External Voices: Kat explains why bringing in speakers from outside the organisation—like fashion editors, Olympians, and industry experts—can often resonate more deeply with employees than internal messaging, especially on topics like career growth, resilience, and diversity.
2. Building a Culture of Permission: Discover how Boden’s executive team actively role-models learning by attending sessions themselves and explicitly giving their teams permission to take an hour out of their week to listen, learn, and be inspired.
3. Connecting People to Purpose: Hear the moving story of how a chance conversation between a guest speaker and a long-serving warehouse employee highlighted the deep human connection and sense of belonging that these events can foster.
4. Crowdsourcing Creativity: Kat reveals how tapping into the personal networks of employees—from the exec team to affinity groups—has been the secret sauce for finding diverse and relevant speakers without a huge budget.
5. Learning Beyond the Classroom: Learn how Boden is expanding its development initiatives, from using the Insights Discovery model to improve team collaboration to launching a cross-functional "Boden Academy" that connects head office staff with the reality of the factory floor.
6. Practical Steps for Implementation: Kat offers actionable advice for any organisation wanting to start their own speaker series: start small, listen to what your people actually want to hear about, and don't be afraid to be creative with who you invite.

Kat offers an inspiring and achievable blueprint for creating a learning culture that is engaging, inclusive, and deeply connected to the wider world. If you want to spark energy and conversation in your organisation, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Kat on LinkedIn: Kat Hayes

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Samah Salih.

Samah is a strategic talent and learning leader with over 18 years of experience in FTSE 100 retail and corporate environments, including pivotal roles at Nestlé, BGA, River Island, and BT. She specialises in helping organisations build leadership pipelines and align people strategy with business goals to enable transformation at scale.

In this episode, Samah discusses the unique challenges of executive leadership development. She provides a candid look at why senior leaders often struggle to prioritise their own growth and offers a back-to-basics framework for building resilient, empathetic leadership teams, including:

1. The Executive Development Paradox: Samah explains why leaders are often "time-poor" and risk-averse, treating development as a secondary habit rather than a core responsibility.
2. "Fail Fast" vs. "Fail Well": Why the popular buzzword is often misunderstood, and how true growth comes from the pause, reflection, and accountability that follows a setback.
3. The Power of the Coaching Mindset: Why great leaders move from "telling" to "asking." Samah argues that coaching is a fundamental skill for life, driving accountability and clarity in a complex world.
4. Case Study in Success: A deep dive into a successful global leadership program at Nestlé, highlighting the importance of sponsorship, application processes, and applying frameworks to real-world business context.
5. AI and Human Skills: While AI can drive efficiency, Samah discusses why it cannot replace the human need for empathy, difficult conversations, and authentic connection.
6. Building Psychological Safety: How to foster trust through clarity, transparency, and consistency. Samah emphasises that trust should be given first, not just earned, and highlights the underrated power of kindness.

Samah offers a deeply human and practical perspective on what it takes to lead at the highest levels. If you are looking to understand how to support and develop your executive team effectively, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Samah on LinkedIn: Samah S.

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Jez Anderson.

With over 30 years in L&D as a manager, leader, and consultant, Jez has a deep passion for understanding how people learn. He specialises in digital learning technologies, informal learning, and creating cultures that foster curiosity and growth.

In this episode, Jez draws on his extensive experience to provide a masterclass on the principles of effective learning design. He offers a thoughtful and practical guide for L&D professionals, including:

1. Learning Design as Experience Design: Jez defines learning design not just as constructing content, but as creating learning experiences that engage, inspire, and empower people to make meaningful changes.
2. Balancing Needs: He discusses the crucial (and often difficult) balance L&D must strike between meeting organisational objectives and catering to the individual learner's needs and how they best learn.
3. Three Core Pedagogies: Jez outlines the spectrum of learning approaches, from traditional instructor-led methods to adult-centred (ecological) designs, and the learner-driven heutagogical model, advocating for a blended strategy.
4. Keep It Simple, Focus on Context: Learn why effective design isn't about chasing the latest tech fad (like VR for VR's sake). Sometimes the best solution is simple and tailored to the learner's context, even if it's a well-designed PDF for shop-floor staff.
5. Beyond Content Download: Discover how to make traditional classroom or synchronous virtual sessions more impactful by shifting the focus from instruction to facilitation, using methods like reverse classrooms, experiential activities, and scenario-based learning to embed knowledge and encourage application.
6. The "So What?" Question: Jez emphasises the most critical question for any learning experience: "So what?" If learners can't articulate what they'll do differently as a result, the learning hasn't landed.
7. Embracing Digital & Informal Learning: He stresses the importance of thinking digitally about the entire learner experience (not just the LMS) and fostering informal learning through communities of practice and social connection.

Jez offers a pragmatic and experience-led perspective, grounding innovative ideas in the fundamental principles of good learning practice. If you want to design more impactful and engaging learning experiences, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Jez on LinkedIn: Jez Anderson

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Adela Paun.

Adela is a global L&D leader with over 15 years of experience, known for her pivotal role as a founding member of Spotify's L&D team, "The Greenhouse." During her 11+ years at Spotify, she witnessed and supported hypergrowth, scaling learning initiatives for thousands of employees globally while navigating the shift to a work-from-anywhere model.

In this episode, Adela provides a rare inside look at building and scaling L&D within one of the world's fastest-growing tech companies. She offers a masterclass on creating a thriving learning culture amidst constant change, including:

1. Laying the Tracks for Hypergrowth: Adela explains how the L&D team's mission was to enable learning "at the pace of change," acting as enablers, not bottlenecks, for Spotify's rapid expansion.
2. Navigating the Pandemic Pivot: Adela details the strategic decisions made when shifting L&D entirely virtual, prioritising leadership support, rethinking content ("killing darlings"), and managing the chaos of adopting (and later consolidating) new learning technologies.
3. Leveraging Leaders for Impact: Hear how Spotify strategically involved senior leaders in key learning programs to provide business context, model behaviour, and foster connection, trusting them to speak authentically.
4. L&D as a Cultural Engine: Adela highlights how L&D initiatives like Introdays and intentionally diverse training cohorts actively built cross-functional connections and reinforced Spotify's collaborative culture.

Adela offers a unique and invaluable perspective on the realities of high-growth L&D. If you want to understand how to build adaptable, impactful learning experiences that scale, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Adela on LinkedIn: Adela Paun

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Anita Anthonj.

Anita is the co-founder of Talaera, a New York-based business communication and cultural training company. Drawing on her own experience moving from Germany to the US, she has deep expertise in the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural communication in a global business environment.

In this episode, Anita provides a masterclass on why effective communication is not a "nice-to-have" but a business-critical "need-to-have." She offers a powerful framework for L&D leaders looking to foster connection and drive impact, including:

1. Building Bridges, Not Barriers: Anita defines cross-cultural communication as recognizing that "your way is not the only way." It's about empathy, curiosity, and building connections across different lived experiences.
2. The Challenges for Non-Native Speakers: Learn about the invisible hurdles non-native speakers face, from the mental processing delay in fast-paced meetings to the difficulty of bringing their "whole self" to work in a foreign language.
3. Communication is ROI: Discover how effective communication is directly tied to business outcomes. Anita shares real-world examples of how improved communication skills can decrease customer call times, build stronger client relationships, and save significant money.
4. A Bespoke, Not One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Anita explains why communication training is most effective when it’s customised to an organisation's specific pain points, using a blend of one-on-one coaching, group workshops, and scalable digital solutions.
5. A Practical Guide for L&D: Get actionable advice on how L&D teams can champion communication training, from going on a "listening tour" to identify needs, to starting with small, high-impact pilots to prove the concept and demonstrate value.
6. Why Communication Matters More Than Ever: In a volatile world with AI, hybrid work, and multiple generations in the workplace, Anita argues that human connection is the most critical skill, and investing in communication signals to employees that they are valued.

Anita offers a compelling and practical guide to unlocking the power of communication in your organisation. If you want to learn how to build trust, foster connection, and drive measurable business impact, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Anita on LinkedIn: Anita Anthonj

Check out: https://talaera.com/

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Adam sits down with Ashley Robinson of Virgin Media/O2.

Ashley is the Strategic Learning & Operational Lead at Virgin Media/O2, bringing a wealth of experience as a senior digital technology professional and project manager. He specialises in implementing learning systems globally, improving employee attainment, and demonstrating clear ROI across diverse workforces, including corporate and frontline staff.

In this episode, Ashley draws on his journey from web developer to L&D leader to provide a masterclass on successfully implementing learning technology, especially at scale.

Included in this weeks’ episode:

1. The Power of Consultation: Ashley identifies the biggest challenge in tech rollouts: organisations failing to include all user archetypes (especially frontline workers) in the initial consultation and decision-making process.
2. The Blueprint of a Successful Rollout: Learn why involving diverse working groups from the start, getting them in front of vendors, and facilitating collective reflection is crucial for building buy-in and creating internal champions.
3. Marketing Beyond the Launch: Ashley stresses that the real work begins after implementation. Success requires ongoing, engaging communication and leveraging early champions to build grassroots momentum.
4. Cracking the Frontline Code: Discover why accessibility and authentication are the most critical, yet often overlooked, factors for engaging frontline workers who might not have corporate devices or dedicated learning time.
5. Lessons from Failed Rollouts: Ashley shares examples where lack of user consultation and unaddressed access issues killed adoption within the launch window.
6. Speaking the Language of ROI: Understand the two key approaches to justifying investment: direct ROI (easily measured in areas like Sales) and indirect ROI (the strategic cost of not investing in people, impacting talent attraction/retention).

Ashley provides a candid, practical, and highly valuable guide for anyone involved in selecting, implementing, or driving adoption for learning technology. If you want to avoid common pitfalls and ensure your next tech rollout lands successfully, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: Ashley Robinson

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this excellent interview, Brigid sits down with Dan Philips.

Dan is a highly experienced L&D consultant with a deep background in psychology and behavioural change. For the last 15 years, he has specialised in using the Insights Discovery model to help individuals, teams, and leaders improve their self-awareness, communication, and collaboration.

In this episode, Dan provides a masterclass on the Insights Discovery model, a powerful personality profiling tool that uses a simple language of four colour energies to unlock profound behavioural change. He provides a comprehensive guide for L&D professionals, including:

1. What is the Insights Discovery Model?: Dan explains the Jungian-based model and its four core colour energies: Cool Blue (detail and clarity), Sunshine Yellow (innovation and collaboration), Fiery Red (action and decisions), and Earth Green (values and trust).
2. The Power of the Team Wheel: Discover how the model visually plots entire teams, helping individuals understand their colleagues' preferences and what it’s "like to be on the receiving end of me."
3. Beyond a "Fun" Team Day: Dan stresses that while the model is engaging, its true power comes from aligning it with specific business challenges—from improving stakeholder communication and breaking down silos to enhancing leadership effectiveness.
4. A Common Language for Feedback: Learn how the language of colour helps to depersonalise feedback, allowing for more open and constructive conversations that reduce interpersonal tension.
5. Driving Real Business Value: Discover how improving self-awareness and collaboration directly impacts the bottom line by increasing employee engagement, reducing turnover, and saving money.
6. How L&D Can Leverage the Model: Dan provides practical use cases for integrating Insights into leadership development, change management, one-to-one coaching, and even for an L&D team's own self-reflection.

Dan offers a clear and practical guide to a tool that gets to the heart of what drives business success: how people work effectively together. If you are looking for a framework to improve communication and team dynamics, this is a must-listen-to episode.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: Dan Philips

And check out:

Kings Hurst Consulting

A short introduction to Insights Discovery

Insights website

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.