Category For people managers

From controller to keyboard: Why gamers are an untapped IT pipeline

Group of friends celebrating victory of asian girl in video game while standing next to her in cybersport club

Could your next cybersecurity analyst be a gamer? Ben Smith explores five gaming-honed strengths, from pattern recognition to resilient problem solving, and shows how L&D can convert them into job-ready capability. Expect practical ideas for onboarding, labs and simulations that…

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Gen Z – rebuilding workplace culture, break by break

Young man enjoys remote work with matcha in a vibrant cafe during summer

We’ve been told that Gen Z are reshaping the workplace, and not always for the better. They’ve been typecast as less focused, more demanding, and more likely to challenge traditional ways of working. Russell Cowley argues that taking proper breaks…

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The global team trap: 5 mistakes leaders keep making

Global business word team brainstorming meeting session

Leading teams across time zones means more than adding Zoom calls. Mykhailo Voitovych explains five common mistakes that derail multicultural, distributed work, from fuzzy definitions of “done” to undocumented decisions and clumsy feedback. He shares practical fixes: structured handoffs, decision…

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The leadership blind spot: Managers who stop listening when it gets awkward

Hear what people are really saying sign. Active listening technique concept.

Difficult workplace conversations are now routine, but many managers lose confidence when emotions rise and listening matters most. Joseph Conway explores why employees feel dismissed, what the psychological safety data reveals, and how L&D can build people’s skills for listening…

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SOFest: A learning festival where everything is an invitation

Outdoors in a wood, with log seats, fire pit, shepherds hut and trees in the background

Kirsty Lewis shares what makes SOFest different, from focused speaker sessions and practical workshops to silent discos, sound baths, business development and creative reflection. With everything framed as an invitation, delegates choose their own route through learning, connection, rest and…

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From breakdown to backbone: Helping people thrive under selfish leaders

Selfish

Selfish leaders can drain confidence, distort reality and trigger burnout, but support can be a turning point. Drawing on a case study, this article shares coaching tools to build awareness, protect boundaries and respond strategically. Josefine Campbell shows how clients…

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From job redesign to work transformation: How organisations can future-proof roles in the age of AI and skills shortages

Sticky note, planning and schedule or desk text for writing or business growth ready for change. Post it or future proofing in leadership, creative innovation or new startup for company improvement

Technology isn’t the blocker, work design is. Many organisations trap people in low-value tasks while layering AI onto old workflows. Johnson Wong argues leaders must shift from updating job descriptions to transforming how work flows at task level, prioritising high-impact…

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The AI bottleneck is people

AI generate content with prompt in laptop. Image with artificial intelligence in computer. Work with chatbot and text model. Using search and virtual assistant.

AI adoption is racing ahead, but most organisations are blocked by people, not technology. Skills gaps, weak data fluency and shaky governance turn pilots into bottlenecks. Mehdi Paryavi explains how HR and L&D can build AI literacy, upskill leaders, embed…

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When leaders run on empty, strategy turns into firefighting

Coronavirus and economy news headlines

Workplace stress is surging, executive burnout is a systemic risk to organisational performance. In a DUSTy polycrisis world, traditional wellbeing initiatives barely touch the root causes. Steve Macaulay sets out a practical HR and L&D roadmap to redesign roles, build…

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The risk radar that stops culture biting back

Try - Fail - Success. Purpose and movement to success despite obstacles.

Most leadership programmes scale fast on assumptions that only unravel in the room. A genuine pilot surfaces hidden beliefs, resistance and the workplace conditions that make behaviour change stick, before the full investment lands. Jimmy Burroughes argues against biased, stacked…

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