Creating impactful training programs for nonprofit teams takes more than good intentions; it takes strategy.

In this episode of Learning for Good, we’re diving deep into the hidden and high costs of getting training wrong. From budget overruns to burnout, I’m breaking down what nonprofit leaders risk when they don’t start with the right diagnosis—and how to get it right.

This conversation is especially critical for leaders focused on nonprofit leadership development, staff training and development, and building a culture of learning that drives mission impact. Whether you're exploring learning and development strategies or already implementing instructional design in nonprofit organizations, this episode gives you a practical lens for avoiding costly missteps.

▶️ Key Points:

01:52 Training doesn't always work

02:31 Wasted resources

06:32 Hidden costs

08:20 Missed impact

09:21 How to ensure you don't build the wrong thing

Resources from this episode:

Catch up with Episode 152: When Training Works and When It Doesn't and Episode 154: Why So Many Trainings Fail.

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective Catalyst Tier before November to attend our group coaching session around solving the right problems with the right solutions: 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

Sometimes, when we work with nonprofit executive leaders, it's easy to jump to an assumption about what they thought or what they wanted. The problem is that when we act on that, things don't turn out the way either of us expects.

I don't want that to be you, so in this episode, I'm having a chat with Danika Mitcham, the Vice President of Supporter Operations at Compassion International. We delve into what nonprofit executives really want from learning and development, their expectations, and what we may be assuming wrong.

▶️ What Executives Really Want from L&D with Danika Mitcham

▶️ Key Points:

02:49 Lessons that shaped Danika's approach  to work and leadership

06:43 L&D's critical role in a nonprofit organization's strategy

09:25 Why Danika invests in training as a Nonprofit Executive

13:09 Balancing short-term pressures with long-term sustainability

16:14 What Danika looks for when she invests in training

18:46 The importance of measuring impact and a helpful tip

21:12 What L&D teams and executives should know about working together

Resources from this episode:

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective Catalyst Tier before November to attend our group coaching session around solving the right problems with the right solutions: 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 Danika

LinkedIn: Danika Mitcham

Website: compassion.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

If you are a nonprofit L&D pro, you know how to design learning experiences. You've got the experience. Yet, sometimes the trainings we spend time and money creating don't work.

And if you are a nonprofit leader, you want to ensure that what you spend valuable time and resources on works.

Over the years,  I've spent a lot of time thinking about this issue, and that's why in this episode, we're exploring the reasons why so many trainings fail and how to avoid that outcome, because your mission depends on it.

▶️ Why So Many Trainings Fail

▶️ Key Points:

01:20 The reality of unsuccessful trainings

03:42 #1 Solving the wrong problem

06:12 #2 The scope is just too big

07:31 #3 Behavior change principles are missing

09:35 #4 The lack of wraparound support

10:16 #5 Not actually measuring anything meaningful

Resources from this episode:

Find the full Workplace Learning Report 2025 here.

Catch up with episode 132, Translating Behavior Science into L&D Strategy: Lessons from Top Experts, to avoid reason #3.

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective Catalyst Tier before November to attend our group coaching session on this topic: 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

Empathy might be one of the most essential skills for learning designers, and there's no better place to learn it than design thinking. That's why, in this episode, I am joined by Sheryl Cababa, a design researcher and strategist, and the Chief Strategy Officer at Optimistic Design, to give us some insight into her process.

She clarifies what design thinking is and what it entails, how it can help us design better learning solutions and navigate stakeholders in the decision-making process, and three principles that will get you a level deeper in the analysis phase.

▶️ 3 Design Thinking Principles for Learning & Development Pros with Sheryl Cababa

▶️ Key Points:

03:37 How Sheryl is helping clients reimagine education with design

08:31 Design thinking or human-centered design in a nutshell

12:20 The significant benefits of using a design thinking approach in L&D

17:52 Understand everyone's incentives

19:42 Always center the end user in your work

20:45 Think about your most extreme users

24:28 Valuable resources to get started with design thinking

Resources from this episode:

Get Sheryl's book Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking For Designers.

For a toolkit with practical tips on applying human-centered design, access IDEO's Design Kit.

For a breakdown of what it means to do research around design and user experience, check out the book: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall.

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 Sheryl

LinkedIn: Sheryl Cababa

Website: optimistic.design

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

Training is often the go-to solution in our nonprofits. But what if I told you that training isn't always the right solution?

In this episode, I discuss why jumping to solutions without first diagnosing the problem can be a bad idea, and I share some situations where training works well and others where a different solution is necessary.

▶️ When Training Works and When It Doesn't

▶️ Key Points:

01:20 Training may not be the right solution

02:27 What must always be the first step

03:49 Four good use cases for training

10:02 Five times when training doesn't work

12:11 Where you can learn to know when to use training

Resources from this episode:

Join the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective Catalyst Tier before November to attend our group coaching session on this topic: 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

When we think of a high-performance team, we usually think of things like productivity, how much effort people are putting in, accountability, and higher outputs and profits. All that is important, but there is one other thing without which a team will never be high-performing.

In this episode, I sit down with Ashley Cox, a leadership mentor who equips women to build high-performance teams they trust. She shares what the missing piece is for your team, as well as practical strategies to implement this key ingredient and ensure your team's success.

▶️ Team Struggling to Meet Expectations? THIS is the Missing Piece with Ashley Cox

▶️ Key Points:

02:02 How Ashley's career started down an unexpected but welcome path

05:31 THE missing piece to building a high-performing team

09:12 The Triangle of Trust framework for high performance

11:16 Strategies for leaders to build trust in their team

16:07 Strategies for leaders to earn and maintain their team's trust

20:43 The value of having support as you work on building trust

22:46 Strategies to foster trust among team members

26:46 Signs that you succeeded in  creating high trust in your team

30:55 The impact ripples of not building trust among your teams

33:48 Vulnerability isn't a weakness

Resources from this episode:

Learn more about Ashley's book, Transform Your Stories.

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 Guest

LinkedIn: Ashley Cox

Website: ashleycox.co

Podcast: The Impact Ripple

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

Welcome to episode 150 of the Learning For Good podcast! Thank you, dear listener. This podcast has grown so much since 2022, and it's all because of you.

In this special episode, we are doing something a little different to celebrate: I'm going to be on the other side of the mic as  my friend, fellow nonprofit consultant and community builder, Tasha Van Vlack, interviews me.

You'll get my story, my career journey, and what I see as the biggest setbacks and opportunities for nonprofit learning and development.

▶️ Key Points:

02:17 Meet today's special interviewer, Tasha Van Vlack, and her story

06:00 Heather's journey from unsure English major to nonprofit L&D consultant

11:40 The importance of creating learning experiences that are meaningful

12:26 What's behind creating change and turning learning into action

14:30 How the right training can save lives and where change happens

17:24 The one big trap in L&D  that we don't talk enough about

21:12 How to measure whether or not a training resulted in real impact

27:58 The why behind the podcast and the Nonprofit L&D Collective

29:58 The valuable peer-led learning and conversations within the Collective

32:51 Helping people do the most good in a way that feels good

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 Tasha

LinkedIn: Tasha Van Vlack

Website: communityhives.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 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