Features

Work-life balance An illustration of a person balancing work and personal life on a scale.

A week in the life of: A champion of women’s professional growth

Gaëlle Delmas-Watson

Discover how Gaëlle Delmas-Watson balances business, family and wellbeing, building a company that drives change  It’s Monday,10 September, 6am. The alarm goes off – it’s time to get moving! I’m Gaëlle Watson: champion of gender equality, founder of SyncSkills Performance (a company specialising in digital learning design and facilitation), mother of two boys, and recreational jogger.   In just over a month, it will be 10 years since I launched SyncSkills and, last week, my eldest son started secondary school.…

A woman sits at a boardroom table, leading a meeting with confidence and authority, a pink nameplate symbol with the word "CEO" on it placed in front of her.

A week in the life of: The CEO of a learning provider

Cathy Hoy

Step inside the world of CLO100 where Cathy Hoyexperiences innovation, collaboration, and strategic vision Picture juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle through treacle. This is a glimpse into the exhilarating, and somewhat chaotic, life of a CEO leading training start-up. At CLO100 my role as Co-founder and CEO never ceases to challenge and inspire me, demanding resilience, creativity, and a relentless drive to lead our industry forward. Strategic beginnings Each week kicks off with a substantial cup of tea…

Learning News in action - Rob Clarke interviews Donald H Taylor - with cameras and sound systems. (C) Rob Clarke, Learning News

A week in the life of: The Editor of Learning News

Rob Clarke

Working in L&D media, Rob Clarke shares his view on modern learning and business performance The reason I do this is because I want to see our working lives improve. I’d like to see the culture improve across our workplaces: less stress, less rat race, less wasted energy, better productivity, better leadership, compassionate workplaces and better mental health at work.  So, we need to unlock learning.  While we might well ask if Learning and Development has the right key, one…

Zoomed-in view of a social media manager responding to comments and queries on a brands post, fostering community engagement

A week in the life of: A Learning Community Manager

Sheridan Webb

Being a Community Manager is a full-time role, with technical and topic talent needed – as Sheridan Webb explains Learning socially, as part of a community is not only an enjoyable way to learn, it’s also pretty effective! But unless it’s very small, every community needs managing. Many people totally underestimate what goes into running a learning community; it’s not really something that can be done as a side hustle. Many people tried that during the pandemic and soon had…

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A week in the life of: A Leadership Development Manager

Andy McConville

What’s involved in contemporary leadership development? Andy McConville shares about training, support and other responsibilities I’m one of the lucky ones, I really love my job. It’s fair to say that Leadership Capability isn’t often recognised, let alone invested in, when it comes to outsourcers, so I am privileged to be trusted with the opportunity to develop leaders. And, as readers of TJ know, it’s absolutely the right thing to do. Admittedly, growing up, I didn’t necessarily dream that one…

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A week in the life of: The CEO of a learning business community and Learning Network board member

Kim Ellis

Kim Ellis shares about L&D Free Spirits that serves freelancers and small businesses in L&D Hi everyone, my name is Kim, and I have been in the amazing L&D world for nearly 20 years. For the past seven of those, I have been self-employed as the Chief Learning Architect of Go Ginger Learning Solutions. When the first Covid lockdowns happened in 2020, I suggested hosting coffee mornings for members of The Learning Network (LN). I then started editing their newsletter…

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A week in the life of: The Editor of Training Journal

Jo Cook

What does being the Editor of a learning content websiteinvolve? Jo Cook enlightens us I developed a desire to write when I was 12 years old and was always drawn to periodicals rather than newspapers or novels. I have no idea why; it just seemed to happen naturally. My role for Training Journal is part time (currently just one and a half days a week) and, being the creative person I am (my mum would say awkward), I’m flexible on…

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AI in coaching: A tool for the many, but not a replacement for the few

Markus Bernhardt

AI is reshaping coaching, making personalised development accessible. But will we lose the human touch? Markus Bernhardt and Teresa Rose take us on a journey to discover Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries globally, and coaching is no exception. Once a domain reserved for senior executives, coaching is now being democratised thanks to AI-driven tools that make personalised professional development more accessible to employees at all levels. AI’s capabilities extend beyond mere scalability, as recent studies suggest that large language…

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Why your brainstorming sessions fail: How to unlock your team’s true creative potential

Chris Griffiths

Discover how strategies like daydreaming breaks, eliminating groupthink, and BrainSprinting can boost your team’s creativity with Chris Griffiths and Caragh Medlicott  In an ideal world, brainstorming sessions would always be fruitful. Everyone would come together, ideas would fly, and you’d leave with ideas aplenty and clear plans for implementation. Sadly, an ideal world isn’t quite where we live. Still, do not despair! As with anything in life, the strategy we bring to a task can have a huge impact on…

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Bringing L&D to centre stage: How improv elevated the learning experience 

Sian Harrington

Neil Mullarkey’s theatre improvisation techniques prepare leaders for the unpredictable nature of real-world business interactions – all while boosting the impact of the L&D function  For learning and development professionals, standing out in a crowded field of conventional training programmes can be a significant challenge. One seasoned L&D director in the professional services sector discovered a ground-breaking approach that not only enhanced the skills of her leaders but also elevated the status and impact of the L&D function itself.   “Improv training addresses a…