The L&D Nobody Has to Show Up For with Emma Ackers

Most L&D is built for a captive audience: employees who have to attend whether the training is any good or not. Emma Ackers builds for the opposite, an audience that can walk away. Her learners are external insurance brokers, free to ignore her work entirely, and that one difference sharpens how she designs it.Adam Lacey sits down with Emma Ackers, Learning and Development Manager at Aviva and President of the Insurance Institute of Manchester. Emma is not a typical in-house L&D lead. She designs learning for Aviva's broker partners, the firms who sell insurance out in the market. It is offered to those brokers as a service, which means they only take it up if it genuinely helps them.With 21 years in insurance, starting out as a broker herself before moving into learning, Emma knows first-hand the day job her learners are trying to do.She explains why the first question is always the business problem the broker is facing and never the course itself, the ambassador model she uses to test an idea with a trusted group of brokers before rolling it out to everyone, and why she judges success by whether people apply the learning back at work more than by how many turned up.What you'll learn:Why building for an audience that can walk away makes learning sharper and more useful for everyoneHow starting from the business problem, rather than the training, builds the value in from the first conversationThe ambassador model: testing a new idea with a trusted group of customers before you roll it out to everyoneWhy the best insurance professionals need both technical knowledge and people skills, and how Emma develops bothHow volunteering, including leading the Insurance Institute of Manchester, builds skills your day job never will🔗 Connect with EmmaLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaackers/📮 The Assembly DebriefA short, practical email unpacking the best ideas from each episode, designed for modern learning leaders who want insight without the noise. https://www.assembleyou.com/the-assembly/newsletter👋 Come and connect with usWe're always keen to hear what's resonating or what you're seeing in your world.Adam Lacey - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamlacey/Richard Ward - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardpward/More from The Assembly & Assemble YouLearning that feels more like great content than training. Explore podcast-style lessons, video shorts, and series designed for real work. https://www.assembleyou.comPrivacy & DataThis podcast is hosted by Transistor. For more information on how your data is handled, please visit: https://www.transistor.fm/privacy/