Opinion
AI is changing work. Is L&D changing fast enough?
Dr Ravinder Tulsiani argues that generative AI demands more than basic tool training. L&D must map AI to real work, build judgement and validation skills, update competency frameworks and measure performance impact. The opportunity is to move beyond content delivery and redesign capability for an increasingly AI-enabled workplace at scale. Generative AI is reshaping how work happens. L&D professionals need to look at what exactly is changing about work and how we should we respond. A major Microsoft Research study…
What is helping or holding back your L&D impact?
Impact depends on more than measurement. This reflection asks whether you have the access, data, permission and support needed to act on what you learn. Use it to sense-check your current reality, spot what may be holding progress back, and add your perspective to TJ’s wider research this year too. It’s easy to talk about L&D impact as if it is mainly a question of measurement. What are we tracking? What data do we have? How do we prove value?…
Executive sponsorship is mostly theatre. Here’s what real looks like
Ben Satchwell argues most executive sponsorship is theatre: a budget sign-off, a launch email, a kick-off cameo. Prosci research shows active, visible sponsorship is the biggest driver of change success. Ben sets out five behaviours real sponsors demonstrate, from owning the why to spending political capital and handling resistance personally. Ask any capability framework project who the executive sponsor is and you will get a name instantly. Ask what that sponsor actually does, and the answer is usually thinner: they…
The future of work isn’t a younger workforce. It’s more flexibility
Sara Daw argues that L&D must look beyond traditional full-time employment to unlock the value of a multigenerational workforce. By embracing fractional, flexible and blended working models, organisations can retain experienced talent, strengthen mentoring and succession planning, and gain the fresh insights needed to build greater resilience for the future. How do L&D professionals plan for the future of work? Focus may logically fall on developing the younger workforce to ensure business longevity. But today’s workplaces are already multigenerational, and…
The AI fire hydrant: L&D’s new job is to redesign the pipework
AI can make the creation of work dramatically faster. Unless L&D helps their organisation to change how work moves, gets judged and turns into value, the result will be pressure, not progress: stress on teams that are already at capacity, using process that weren’t designed for AI, says Erica Farmer. I keep hearing a version of the same story; someone uses AI to produce a first draft, analysis or set of options in a fraction of the usual time. Their…
Why AI automation fails when organisations move too fast
Redesign workflows before deploying AI to avoid costly failures and build responsible automation. Dr Wendy Lynch explains what organisations can learn from flawed chatbots, biased recruitment tools and rushed cost-cutting, and why governance, stress-testing, human oversight and thoughtful process design are the foundations of effective, trustworthy AI adoption at scale. AI Automation is expanding exponentially and improving rapidly. As we leap ahead, it’s helpful to learn from the stumbles made by early pioneers. The cautionary tales around AI tend to…
The skills gap putting your hiring at risk, and what it’s really costing you
Background screening is often treated as an administrative task, but its risks demand far greater capability and consistency. In this article, Mat Armstrong argues that for L&D and HR leaders, outsourcing screening should be seen not only as a compliance safeguard, but as a smarter response to skills gaps internally. Background screening is one of the most risk-sensitive tasks in the hiring process. It demands consistency, attention to detail, and the ability to spot anomalies under pressure. Yet in most…
The executive pipeline is missing neurodivergent leaders
Redefine leadership around outcomes rather than personality to stop neurodivergent talent being overlooked. Dr Jo Perkins explains how narrow executive archetypes, subjective promotion processes and low psychological safety exclude capable leaders, and why structural neuroinclusion can strengthen decision-making, innovation, resilience and organisational performance at the highest level of business leadership. One dimension remains consistently underrepresented within executive leadership: neurodiversity. Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in how human brains function. Estimates suggest that 10–20% of the global population is neurodivergent,…
From unburdening the brain to bouncing back: Rethinking stress and resilience at work
Design behaviour, don’t demand willpower: this article draws on Make Your Brain Work episodes with Amy Brann to explain why change snaps back to old habits. Learn how biology drives ‘resistance’, why environments beat motivation, and how L&D can use cues, if–then plans, and identity language to make change stick. Stress and resilience are often discussed as separate challenges in the workplace: one to be reduced, the other to be strengthened. Yet neuroscience tells a more integrated story. A brain…
John Adair’s three circles still shape better leadership
A timeless framework for modern challenges, Action-Centred Leadership still offers leaders a clear way to balance results, relationships and individual needs under intense modern pressure. Steve Macaulay shows how John Adair’s enduring three-circle model remains a practical diagnostic and leadership tool for today’s complex organisational realities, no matter your seniority. Action-Centred Leadership is a common starting point in the leadership L&D toolkit. Its creator, John Adair, passed away last year, yet he leaves behind a lasting legacy of a powerful…
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