The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: Coaching could bolster charity leaders, while deskless staff face recognition gaps. Hospitality may unlock youth employment, AI governance lags adoption, data centres battle skills shortages, curricula need faster updates and Second Brain training.
AI-native performance is reshaping HR: Lattice’s 2027 State of People Strategy Report
Lattice, the best-in-class people platform where people and AI succeed together, today released its annual 2027 State of People Strategy Report. The report points to one of the most significant shifts in the role of HR in decades: as AI changes how work gets done, people strategy is no longer adjacent to business strategy, it is the strategy.
For years, HR leaders have argued that culture, manager effectiveness, workforce capability, and performance are fundamental to business performance. AI has quickly settled the debate. The questions keeping executives up at night—how jobs change, how productivity improves, how employees adopt AI, what high performance looks like, and how to keep pace with competition—are all people questions.
Confidence is the number one communication challenge facing senior professionals
Confidence, nerves and self-belief are the most common communication concerns raised by senior professionals, according to new research from executive communication coaching firm Benjamin Ball Associates.
The report, From Expertise to Influence, includes the results of 2,589 pre-coaching questionnaires, covering 15,768 answer fields submitted by professionals attending executive communication programmes. A lack of confidence, nerves and self-belief issues appeared in 74% of responses, ahead of preparation and rehearsal at 73% and audience engagement at 71%.
The Learning Hack returns with a focus on AI enablement and capability
Season 16 of the top-5% podcast opens on Monday 14 September, seven years to the month after its first episode. The first three guests — Erica Farmer [Our conference keynote speaker! -Ed], Robin Hoyle and Ross Stevenson — each argue, from very different directions, that L&D’s AI problem is not the technology.
The Learning Hack, John Helmer’s fortnightly podcast for L&D and HR professionals, returns on Monday 14 September for its sixteenth season
Bozarth & Jacobs: Show Your Work is a podcast for L&D practitioners
Jane Bozarth and Andrew Jacobs work through the tensions, evidence, and practical realities behind learning decisions. Each episode puts ideas on the table and tests them against research, organisational context, and professional judgement.
The show is for people working in L&D, OD, HR, private-sector, public-sector, regulated, and mission-led settings who are tired of learning fluff and easy answers. We focus on the issues that shape real capability and performance, including transfer, judgement, accessibility, informal learning, AI, measurement, and organisational outcomes.
LinkedIn shares insights into younger professionals
LinkedIn has published new insights based on a survey of more than 18,000 professionals, which examine how Generation Z employees are approaching the workforce. The report also examines how the workforce is adapting to these early career employees, and what marketers think matters most when it comes to connecting with them.
LinkedIn data showed that around 72% of Gen Z professionals are missing out on opportunities because they’re hesitant to step forward for fear of bothering people (37%), being judged (37%) or sounding inauthentic (34%).
New research suggests coaching could help ease the pressure on UK’s stretched charity leaders
Research from Matt Middler Coaching finds evidence that 1:1 coaching builds resilience and confidence in third-sector leaders and suggests it could be one remedy for overstretched and under resourced third sector leaders.
Charity leaders across Scotland are under sustained and growing pressure. New sector research reported by TFN this summer found that 66% of senior charity leaders are personally considering leaving their roles, and 88% of charity executives say they have already seen colleagues leave the sector altogether.
Against that backdrop, a new independent research report, ‘Coaching for Impact’, has launched this month, offering evidence that 1:1 coaching is one practical, accessible way to help charity leaders build the resilience and clarity to navigate those pressures.
62% of HR leaders admit their organisation recognises desk-based staff more often than deskless workers
New research shows UK employers still recognise, reward and manage desk-based staff differently to deskless and frontline workers. Based on research among 2,000 UK employees, run by Censuswide.
- The manager relationship gap: why deskless workers see far less of their manager
- The recognition gap: who gets seen, and who does not
- The reward gap: how bonus and pay decisions still favour the office
Hospitality could offer £2.3bn economic benefit as NEET “Experience Trap” fuels UK’s youth unemployment crisis
Analysis by Hilton and WPI Economics estimates that moving one young NEET – someone not in education, employment or training – into a first job generates around £152,000 in economic value per year through higher output, tax revenues, lower benefits spending and reduced long-term scarring effects.
But with many struggling to take this first step into work due to a lack of prior experience, young people are being caught in an “experience trap” that is holding back growth and contributing to record levels of youth unemployment.
With recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showing 400,000 NEETs are actively looking for work, and new Censuswide polling finding that one in four (24%) NEETs cite a lack of experience as their biggest barrier to getting a job, WPI analysis calculates that this “experience trap” could be costing Britain up to £14.4 billion a year in lost economic output.
AI adoption is outpacing governance oversight, new research finds
New research from the Chartered Governance has found that organisations are embedding artificial intelligence into decision-making far faster than governance systems are evolving to oversee it. Drawing on evidence from governance professionals across the corporate, public, charity and education sectors, the research found broad agreement that AI adoption is advancing faster than organisations’ ability to govern it effectively.
Data centre employers face acute shortage of skilled workers, report finds
Data centre development has created a significant new demand for employees with specialized skills — especially those in construction, utilities and telecommunications — causing acute labour shortages in the industry and driving up wages, according to a report from global staffing and workforce consulting firm Kelly Services Inc.
Kelly’s analysis of its workforce data, cross-referenced with data from the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, found that by 2026, data centre employment is expected to reach 650,000 positions, a 30% increase from 2023; data centre-related construction jobs will likely exceed 180,000 positions through 2028. Yet, as data centres struggle to fill critical roles, 25% of their personnel get hired away by competing hyperscalers and operators, according to the report.
AI skills curricula need faster update cycles, says Coders Guild CEO
Crispin Read says digital skills provision needs faster updating as AI changes workplace roles and the capabilities employers require. Digital and AI skills programmes need faster mechanisms for updating their content as workplace technology and job requirements change, according to Crispin Read, CEO of The Coders Guild.
Mediazoo Group empowers professionals to work smarter with free “Second Brain” course
Mediazoo Group has made its innovative Second Brain course available on demand, enabling professionals to build practical AI-enhanced knowledge management skills at their own pace. The free programme helps professionals organise, connect and act on information more effectively through a structured second-brain system.
Do you want to make sure you stay in-the-know about the L&D industry?
Then the TJ newsletter is where it’s at.
It’s free, arrives every Thursday to your inbox, and it comes with exclusive subscriber-only content!
