Learning Rebels

It all started with the BIG question on the table.
What skills did we need in 2025 that we didn't see coming—and what does that mean for our careers?

This Coffee Chat was all about looking in the rearview mirror at the year behind us and thinking forward to what skills matter now. We kicked off with the big one: prompt engineering. Would we have known in January 2025 that mastering AI prompts would become critical? Some of us saw the signals, but most of us didn't jump on it fast enough. The question became: how do we get better at spotting trends before they pass us by?

The conversation turned to staying informed and developing a radar for what's next. Reading widely—Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, industry newsletters—and practicing pattern recognition helps you see what's coming down the hall. One participant carved out intentional innovation time each week to stay ahead of trends. Another pointed out that AI isn't just a tool—it's part of the workflow now. Prompt engineering, understanding AI agents versus simple prompts, and knowing which AI tool fits which task all became essential skills this year.

We explored creativity, storytelling, and binge-worthy learning. One participant asked: what if we designed learning people actually wanted to come back to, like a Netflix series? The group talked about framing content around compelling narratives, using humor and relatability (even corny stuff works if it's memorable), and building playlists instead of learning paths. Old-school techniques came back up too—process mapping, branching scenarios, empathy mapping, and the lost art of asking the right questions. Not "What problem are you solving?" but "What happened that brought you to my office today?"

We also tackled content curation with purpose. Throwing an entire library at people doesn't work. Instead, we need to help learners build targeted playlists—whether it's curated courses, YouTube videos, or internal resources—that actually match what they need. And we talked about dusting off skills like questioning, critical thinking, and creative problem solving. These aren't nice-to-haves anymore. They're essential.

The takeaway? The skills we need keep shifting faster than ever. Staying curious, staying informed, and staying flexible isn't optional—it's how we keep up.

So what skill are you sharpening as we head into 2026?

Stay curious! -Shannon

Video

Transcript

Transcript Summary

Chat Box

Other Resources:

Don’t forget!

Pass the Cranberry Sauce

Q1 Coffee Chat Schedule

Coffee Chat Schedule

Blog Posts:

Order taker to STRATEGIC Business Partner (2025)

Five skills L&D professionals couldn't ignore

6 must-have skills for 2025

Ditch Engagement! Create Learning People Can’t Ignore

Why Everyday Development is Crucial to Closing the Skills Gap

Podcasts:

Harvard’s Taylor Swift Course What You’re Really Learning

Examples:

When HR Goes Too Hard

Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish - Annenberg Learner

Webinar:

Creating Training Videos That Stick: Small Changes for Improved Outcomes

LinkedIn Posts

LinkedIn post on Microsoft by Dylan Tokar

Building Your Radar: How to Spot Signals and Make Sense of Change by Al Dea

Dear Leadership, We Need to Talk Not Activity by Shannon Tipton


Books:

The CEO's Guide to Training, eLearning & Work: Empowering Learning for a Competitive Advantage by Will Thalheimer

Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro: Strategies to Ignite Learning by Bianca Baumann and Mike Taylor

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath

The Accidental Instructional Designer by Cammy Bean

Practical Empathy by Indi Young

Be part of the Community.
Gain more valuable resources to build your skills! Learn more here.

Join the conversation
Be part of the live chat! Sign up here.

Hire Learning Rebels
When you need learning that sticks, we’ll fight to make performance results happen. Visit the Learning Rebels website to learn more

Host: Shannon Tipton
Podcast produced by: Obsidian Productions

It all started with the BIG question on the table. What do we wish our stakeholders knew about learning—and how do we actually tell them?

This Coffee Chat was all about the communication breakdowns between L&D and stakeholders, and how to fix them without just venting for an hour (though we did some of that too). We kicked off with a hard truth: sometimes the misunderstandings are our fault. When we say yes to impossible deadlines, we train stakeholders to keep asking. So how do we break the cycle and have better conversations?

The group tackled the classic stakeholder statements. "Everyone needs this training" got unpacked with the five whys—asking why, why, why until you get to the actual problem they're trying to solve. We talked about shifting from big questions like "What's the business goal?" to smaller, clearer ones like "What behavior are you seeing that you don't like?" or "What failures are we trying to prevent?" Sometimes stakeholders have more clarity around what they want to avoid than what they want to create.

We explored practical tools for working with SMEs and stakeholders. Training request forms that are short enough to actually get filled out. Checklists that prompt SMEs to gather what we need without us having to nag. Discovery meetings where we fill out the form together. And the magic phrase: "If I don't hear from you by Friday, silence means yes." Documentation and receipts matter—send back what you agreed on so there's no confusion later.

The conversation turned to getting real reviews from SMEs. Sit with them and go through it together. Send them one section at a time instead of a 20-minute course. Give them specific examples of what feedback looks like—"This looks great" doesn't help, but "I like the tone you used on slide 3" does. Test it with someone who knows nothing about the topic. Read it out loud. Project it on a big screen. All of these catch things you'd never see otherwise.

We also vented about the things that drive us up the wall. Everything defaults to one hour. SMEs who tell us the solution instead of the problem. Requests that arrive with "turn this into a game" or "make a video" already baked in. The key is reframing without being combative—asking what "game" means to them, explaining constraints, helping them break content into need-to-know versus nice-to-know buckets.

The takeaway? We need to communicate better, set expectations upfront, and remember that stakeholders and SMEs aren't the enemy—they just don't know what we need unless we tell them clearly.

So what's one conversation you could reframe this week?

Stay curious! -Shannon

Andrew Jacobs

Chatbox

Andrew Jacobs Transcript

Transcript Summary

Resources

The Learning Rebels’ The 2025 Edition: From L&D Order-Taker To Strategic Business Partner

Where L&D Will Survive and Where It Will Die In Age of AI

What is Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model?

Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model

Andrew Jacobs’ PPT

Andrew Jacobs’ Four Cs:


Collaboration - this is where we want to be but requires us to agree with their outcomes and theirs with ours
Cooperation - we have different objectives from the business but we work with them to create effective elements which support both
Coordination - we can't help the business but get out of the businesses' way so they can do their thing
Competition - we're trying to get attention and fight for awareness with every other team, e.g. facilities, IT, Finance, etc


Cathy Moore’s Action Mapping

Management by Wandering Around

Andrew Jacobs’ Linkedin

Books

Leading the Learning Function: Tools and Techniques for Organizational Impact by MJ Hall and Laleh Patel

The Trusted Learning Advisor: The Tools, Techniques and Skills You Need to Make L&D a Business Priority by Keith Ketting

Employee Engagement for Organizational Change: The Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement by Julie Hodges

Be part of the Community.
Gain more valuable resources to build your skills! Learn more here.

Join the conversation
Be part of the live chat! Sign up here.

Hire Learning Rebels
When you need learning that sticks, we’ll fight to make performance results happen. Visit the Learning Rebels website to learn more

Host: Shannon Tipton
Podcast produced by: Obsidian Productions