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The sound of authority is changing. Are our assumptions keeping pace?
The way we speak can shape how others perceive our intelligence, credibility and leadership potential. But should it? Cath Baxter challenges the everyday assumptions behind accent bias, explores its damaging impact on careers and confidence, and explains why being understood matters far more than sounding like someone else at work. For the first time in more than a decade, the UK is being led by a voice that sounds unmistakably like where it’s from. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s voice is…
TJ interviews: Mark Agnew on the four questions that turn uncertainty into a shared challenge
Resilience is easier to sustain when people find meaning in the challenge itself. Mark Agnew talks about reframing setbacks, strengthening camaraderie, developing mental fitness gradually, all based on adventuring experience. This helps teams focus on shared purpose, intrinsic motivation and practical choices when uncertainty threatens performance at work under pressure. Plans can become useless within hours in the Arctic. During Mark Agnew’s human-powered kayak expedition through the Northwest Passage, headwinds, shifting sea ice and the threat of failure forced his…
Culture is not an afterthought, it’s a commercial imperative
Culture is not a people profession side issue. It shapes retention, productivity, innovation and commercial performance every day. Sandi Wassmer asserts that leaders must treat culture as a strategic priority, role-model the right behaviours and create psychologically safe workplaces where people can contribute fully, learn openly and perform sustainably together. When leaders treat culture as an afterthought, rather than a core business imperative, they don’t just put the well-being of their people at risk, they put commercial performance on the…
Final days to nominate for the Ethnic Minorities into Leadership Awards 2026
Nominations are closing soon for awards celebrating people who are helping ethnic minority talent progress into leadership across the civil service and wider public sector. With 10 categories recognising mentors, managers, networks and emerging leaders, the awards shine a light on work that is vital but largely unseen and uncelebrated. Nominations close on Friday 16 October for the awards recognising those opening up routes to leadership for ethnic minority talent across the civil service and wider public sector. Run by TJ’s…
L&D was not built for this speed of change
Traditional learning models struggle when roles, knowledge and context shift faster than training can keep up. Dr. Ravinder Tulsiani argues for a two-layer capability model combining structured preparation with real-time support, helping organisations strengthen decision-making, reduce costly errors and position L&D for improved performance rather than content delivery and completion. Learning and development was not designed for continuous, high-velocity change. It was built for environments where roles were stable, knowledge had a longer shelf life and change was episodic, not…
Confidence is a business issue, not a personal weakness
Workplace self-belief affects who speaks up, progresses, takes risks and contributes ideas, making it far more than an individual concern. Penny Haslam argues that organisations should actively develop confidence through training, supportive managers and everyday conversations. This helps employees perform more effectively while strengthening inclusion, wellbeing, engagement and business performance. Most people see confidence as something you’re born with, or not, like brown eyes or curly hair. But I have seen over the last decade, as an executive coach and…
Why instructional design needs an open industry learning lab
L&D teams should look beyond their organisations and use open course contests to sharpen professional judgement, argues Tanya Galton. Comparing real instructional design work across industries can expose stronger practices, recurring weaknesses and fresh ideas, helping practitioners turn external feedback into concrete improvements in how learning is designed and reviewed. The iSpring Course Creation Contest, now a global annual event for instructional designers, started out with a traditional competition format: people submit their work, experts judge it, and the strongest…
Stronger partnerships start with financial fluency
Financial fluency helps L&D professionals manage external partnerships with greater clarity and accountability. Jane Deeks explains how to spot compliance risks, strengthen contracts, and work effectively with finance and legal teams. All to build ethical, transparent relationships that protect budgets, reputations and long-term learning impact across their organisations and partners. In an increasingly interconnected learning and development landscape, trainers are no longer operating in isolation. Collaborations with external partners, whether with freelance specialists, technology vendors, or contracted content providers, have…
Workers need to learn how to question AI, not just how to use it
As AI becomes commonplace at work, employees need more than technical know-how. Gray Mytton explains why workers must question outputs, spot errors and apply human judgement, while developing critical thinking, adaptability and curiosity to navigate changing tasks, emerging roles and increasingly AI-shaped workplaces with confidence and care in future work. Workers need to learn how to question and check AI-generated information rather than simply how to use AI tools, as new figures show AI use is becoming increasingly common across…
Why AI-Generated content is becoming harder for L&D teams to manage
As AI accelerates content production, Chris Van Wingerden stresses that L&D teams face a new bottleneck: managing the volume of learning content they can create. Drawing on dominKnow’s LCMS Report, he explores why content management, governance and human oversight are becoming essential to keeping AI-generated learning trustworthy, compliant and useful. For years, the learning industry has focused on one persistent challenge: creating enough content to keep pace with organisational change. Today, that challenge looks very different. AI has transformed the…
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