Learning for Good | L&D Solutions and Leadership Development for Nonprofits – Details, episodes & analysis

Your nonprofit has a strong 2026 strategy. But is your team ready to bring it to life? If your team isn't fully equipped to deliver on your goals, you could be missing the bridge between strategy and success.

That's why, in this episode, I'm sharing a little of what it takes to align your L&D efforts and your nonprofit strategy by breaking down the five steps you can take to build a training plan that enables your organization and your people to achieve those 2026 goals.

▶️ Five Steps to Align Your People Development Efforts with Your Nonprofit Strategy

▶️ Key Points:

01:20 The value of getting support to build  the right training plan

04:38 Step 1: Review your organization's strategies

05:15 Step 2: Define what your people need to do

05:48 Step 3: Identify the gaps, roadblocks, or pain points

07:08 Step 4: Prioritize the needs

08:41 Step 5: Determine how to close the gaps

Resources from this episode:

 If you want to learn more about how I can support you  in creating a plan for your team, fill out this form. 

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

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Connect with Heather

LinkedIn: Heather Burright

Website: skillmastersmarket.com

Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

We have all disagreed with our nonprofit stakeholders at some point in our careers,  but speaking up and sharing that disagreement can feel hard because we tend to want to avoid conflict and not burn any bridges.

However, there are times when voicing your disagreement is necessary because it's what's best for the organization and the mission.

That's why, in this episode, I'm sharing a 4-step method to disagree with your stakeholders without causing division, along with powerful tips to make these conversations successful.

▶️ How to Say "This Isn't a Training Issue" Without Burning Bridges with Your Nonprofit Stakeholders

▶️ Key Points:

03:02 The importance of having a strong relationship with your stakeholders

04:34  When you need to speak up if you disagree

06:36 Step 1: Discover

07:34 Step 2: Align

08:21 Step 3: Compliment

09:11 Step 4: Propose

11:48 How you can prepare yourself for these conversations

13:12 Five things to keep in mind when having these conversations

Resources from this episode:

Catch up with these episodes to learn how to build a strong relationship with your stakeholders:

• Episode 134: What It Means to Be a Good Partner in Learning and Development
• Episode 108: 3 Ways to Turn Your Subject Matter Expert into Your Biggest Asset
• Episode 54: How Can Learning and Development Teams Work with Subject Matter Experts Without Frustration?

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective Catalyst Tier this November to attend our upcoming group coaching session: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇

Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather

LinkedIn: Heather Burright

Website: skillmastersmarket.com

Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

How can we create a high-performance culture that benefits not just the organization, but also the individuals in it? In this episode, I sit down with Brett Myles, leadership coach and Founder of LeadWell, and we dive deep into how to create a culture that will support all parts of the organization.

By the end of this episode, you'll have new tools to help you navigate conflict, help leaders and teams better lead themselves, and create a culture where people feel known, seen, and valued, there's joy in the work, and a mission and vision everyone can get behind.

▶️ Key Ingredients in a High-Performance Culture with Brett Myles 

▶️ Key Points:

02:46 How Brett's journey led him to start his leadership coaching business

11:01 Who LeadWell has been serving

12:01 Culture and the changing approach to high performance

17:55 Three key ingredients of a high-performance culture

22:01 The critical role of leaders and what makes a good one

26:15 How to set yourself up for success when it comes to navigating conflict

32:49 What leadership is all about and the need to approach it as a system

Resources from this episode:

Get to know yourself better with the 5 Voices Assessment Brett mentions.

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇

Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Brett

LinkedIn: Brett Myles

Website: letsleadwell.com

Connect with Heather

LinkedIn: Heather Burright

Website: skillmastersmarket.com

Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

How do we know when we are successful? And how can we actually measure that? I know this can be frustrating, but it can be done. And who better to guide us than today’s guest, L&D Detective, Kevin M. Yates.

I am so excited to have Kevin as a guest,  not only is he the L&D detective and an expert on measurement, but he also has his own nonprofit and we're going to hear about both of those things today. I know you're going to love it and get so much value from what Kevin has to share.

▶️ Measuring the Impact of Your Training  at Your Nonprofit  with L&D Detective Kevin M. Yates

▶️ Key Points:
03:49 Kevin’s career journey in training, learning, and talent development and starting his own nonprofit, Meals in the Meantime
07:38 If your nonprofit isn’t measuring impact, this is where they should start
16:02 Measuring nonprofit impact through KPIs and metrics that already exist in your nonprofit
22:13 Measuring the impact of training in your nonprofit
27:33 Actions that nonprofit Learning and Development leaders can take now to measure training more effectively in the future

Resources from this episode:

To learn more about assessments, check out these episodes:
▶️ Episode 13: Breaking Down the Good, Bad, and Ugly of Diversity Assessments with Dr. Hedy Lemar Walls
▶️ Episode 12: The Secret to Making Leadership Assessments Work
▶️ Episode 11: Three Types of Assessments that Pay Off for Your Hybrid Workforce

To learn more about employee and organization performance, check out these episodes:
▶️ Episode 44: How to Establish a Common Language for Performance
▶️ Episode 27: 4 Easy Habits to Improve Employee Performance and Culture with Veronica LaFemina
▶️ Episode 23: Improving Employee Performance: How I Tailor Staff Development Solutions to Your Organization
▶️ Episode 22: How People Managers Can Improve Employee Performance and Job Satisfaction

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Connect with Kevin
LinkedIn: Kevin M. Yates
Website: kevinmyates.com and mealsinthemeantime.org

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

The skill sets your staff need  are expected to change by 50% in 2027. That's according to LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report. 50% in just a few short years. With so much changing, Learning and Development has a role to play.

In today’s episode of the Learning for Good podcast, we are exploring two techniques L&D can use to prepare your staff for the future.

▶️ One Goal, Two Techniques: How L&D Can Prepare Your Workforce for the Future

▶️ Key Points:
02:55 Identifying skills for the future
05:48 Allowing staff to build skills for the future

Resources from this episode:
Take a look at LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report

Custom Competency Model Episodes:
▶️ Episode 51: Using Your Competency Model to Develop a Comprehensive Training Program And Boost Workforce Development
▶️ Episode 39: Ask These Two Questions to Identify Your Nonprofit's Core Competencies
▶️ Episode 20: How to Determine Which Competencies Are Right for You
▶️ Episode 19: One Nonprofit's Honest Opinion after 6 Months with a Competency Model
▶️ Episode 18: Four Reasons Your Competencies Don't Work

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

Culture can be a complex thing and it's what allows you to attract, retain, and develop your staff. That’s why I’m so excited to have Rebecca Marchiafava on the podcast today, to discuss culture change and to help you successfully lead or navigate that change.
Rebecca is the founder of Culture Work LLC, where she consults with organizations to develop healthy environments and improve well-being at work. An experienced speaker, facilitator, and consultant, Rebecca is passionate about building workplaces that are engines of health and well-being.

▶️ Culture Change is Hard - How to Succeed in 2023 with Rebecca Marchiafava

▶️ Key Points:
03:54 How Rebecca's career in trauma-informed care informs her work as an organizational culture consultant
08:02 Signs that your nonprofit workplace culture needs to change
13:21 Challenges a nonprofit might face when creating culture change
18:04 How L&D can help – and its limitations when it comes to culture change
23:09 Tips to navigate a culture change

Resources from this episode:
Episodes on well-being:
▶️ Episode 38: Dealing with Corporate Burnout? One Easy Way to Manage Stress as a Nonprofit Leader with Jessie Pagliari
▶️ Episode 30: Why Well-Being Is The Secret Sauce to Change Management with Mandy Sharp Eizinger

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Rebecca
Linkedin: Rebecca Marchiafava
Website: culturework.co

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

Have you ever left a meeting thinking that could have been an email? As a nonprofit consultant working on training and leadership development projects, I lead a lot of meetings. And my goal is to make them an effective use of time, every time.

Today, I want to share some ways you can make your meetings more effective. So no one leaves thinking it could have been an email. You’re going to want to take notes during this one!

▶️ Your Training and Development Project Meetings are Going to be VERY Different After This   

▶️ Key Points:
03:32 Identifying your ideal project team
05:33 Scheduling recurring meetings
08:31 Setting project milestone dates
10:13 Setting a meeting agenda
11:53 Making sure the right people are in the meeting
12:55 Email follow-up

Resources from this episode:

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇

Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

How do global nonprofits bring people together for a global learning cohort, despite the challenges, for the good of all involved? That's what we're going to explore on today’s episode of Learning for Good with Tommy Lee.
Tommy is a seasoned leader with extensive experience in the areas of faith and work integration, organizational development, and strategic planning and he has a wealth of knowledge on running global cohorts.

▶️ Three Tips for Running a Global Learning Cohort in Your Nonprofit Organization with Tommy Lee

▶️ Key Points:
05:00 Tommy’s career journey and a lesson in getting the job done
13:24 The structure and goals of the global learning cohorts that Tommy is running
17:25 The challenges faced when running a global cohort and overcoming those challenges
22:26 Three tips for someone getting ready to start a global learning cohort

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Tommy
LinkedIn: Tommy Lee
Website: resourceglobal.org

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

Most subject matter experts are open to redesigning activities and interactions, but when you talk about cutting content, that can be a challenge because it feels personal.

So how do I navigate situations like these? And what can you do to navigate similar situations as you are working with your subject matter experts? I have three tips to share with you today.

▶️ Need to Cut Content? How to Work with SMEs Without the Frustration

▶️ Key Points:
03:49 Establishing expectations upfront
05:15 Setting clear objectives
07:43 Aligning your deliverables with meetings

Resources from this episode:

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective

Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇

Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms

One of my favorite things is when a nonprofit comes to me with a strategic plan that specifically mentions developing their people, their staff. But this isn’t always the case. Regardless of whether Learning and Development has been written into your strategic plan or not, it still has a large role to play.

In today's episode, Carol Hamilton and I sit down to discuss the strategic planning process and how you prepare staff to implement it once your nonprofit strategic plan is done. 

▶️ Leadership Training: Strategic Planning And How to Prepare Staff for Implementation with Carol Hamilton

▶️ Key Points:
07:12 The challenges that occur when implementing a strategic plan and how to overcome them
12:20 How training supports the implementation of a strategic plan
19:04 The importance of a custom competency model
23:41 Advice for nonprofits creating training to support strategic planning and implementation
25:48 Advice for nonprofits undergoing a strategic planning process

Resources from this episode:
Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/nonprofit-learning-and-development-collective
Was this episode helpful? If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow and leave a review! 👇👇👇
Know anyone who would benefit from this episode? SHARE this with your friends. 🔗

Connect with Carol
Linkedin: Carol Hamilton
Website: gracesocialsector.com

Connect with Heather
Linkedin: Heather Burright
Website: skillmastersmarket.com
Book an interest call with Heather here.

Learning for Good is the podcast for nonprofit leaders seeking practical L&D solutions. Hosted by Heather, an experienced consultant, we dive into leadership development, instructional design, change management, and staff management strategies tailored to nonprofit organizations.

Discover how to implement impactful learning solutions, foster belonging, and influence senior leaders. Each episode provides the tools you need to confidently navigate high-level conversations and drive meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s create lasting impact through innovative L&D solutions!

Produced by Ideablossoms