Features
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…
Managers may be making workplace conflict worse: Try non-directiveness instead
A quick and direct ‘fix’ for conflict situations, whilst tempting for all involved, is not always the best route for individuals or teams. How can organisations build non-directive skills in managers so that employees can take greater ownership of resolving workplace conflict? Anna Shields sets out the benefits of non-directiveness. When it comes to conflict at work, the most natural solution often seems to be the most direct one. Employees often look to their managers or the HR team for…
Skills-based hiring is everywhere. So why aren’t we seeing results?
Look beyond job titles and credentials to understand what candidates can actually do. Rami Albatal explores why skills-based hiring often fails to deliver meaningful hiring change, how task level data can uncover overlooked talent, and why closer collaboration between recruitment and learning teams can strengthen internal mobility and hiring outcomes. Talent leaders today describe hiring differently than they did a few years ago. They talk more about skills, what people can do, rather than the credentials and previous roles they…
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…
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…
Learning without limits: Meeting the expectations of the modern workforce
Morgan Burn explores how changing attention, technology and learner expectations are reshaping workplace development, and why L&D must move beyond isolated interventions. From personalised reflection to richer content and real-world scenarios, organisations need better continuous learning ecosystems that help people access, apply and revisit knowledge precisely when it matters most. There is a widespread perception that attention spans are getting shorter. A 2022 survey by the Policy Institute and Centre for Attention Studies at King’s College London found that almost half…
Connecting the dots across assessment data
Dan Harrison and Kimberly Farace argue that assessment teams need better connections between fragmented data, not more dashboards. By linking operational, technical, behavioural and candidate feedback signals across the journey, organisations can uncover hidden microtrends, diagnose friction faster, strengthen integrity and make more confident, targeted improvements to candidate experience overall. Programs aren’t struggling to grow globally or meet candidates’ needs because they lack data. They’re struggling because the complete story is hidden. When assessment and credentialing teams can’t see the…
The hidden cost of hybrid work: Rebuilding informal learning for early-career employees
Early-career employees need more than formal training to build judgement, confidence and practical their skills. Hybrid work and AI have made every-day learning less visible and more important. Don Spear explains how organisations can recreate observation, coaching, practice and feedback to help people move more quickly from potential to performance. Companies face a talent-development challenge that many leaders overlook. Early-career employees still need the learning that happens around the work, not just the training that organisations assign to them. For…
From empathy to action: How L&D can build compassionate workplaces
Nicky McCrudden explores why compassion at work so often stops at good intentions and how L&D can help turn concern into action. Her research identifies skills gaps, workplace beliefs and social pressures as key barriers, pointing to practical, scenario-based ways to build confidence, strengthen connection and create more compassionate workplaces. Compassion deficits in the workplace, where colleagues’ suffering goes unnoticed or unaddressed and anti-compassionate behaviours, are driving costly outcomes that organisations know all too well. Productivity losses from poor mental health…
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