Opinion
From the only woman in the room to 70% female leadership: What we learned
Malvina Belgrano and Molly Zeugner reflect together on what it takes to reach the C-suite as women, from finding visible role models to challenging biased feedback and pay gaps. They argue that safe spaces, transparency and diverse leadership are essential to building fairer workplaces, stronger decisions and better business outcomes. EdTech GoodHabitz recently welcomed Malvina Belgrano as COO and Molly Zeugner as CPO, bringing the GoodHabitz C-suite to a total of 70% women. The pair use the opportunity to reflect…
Why AI-native learning is the next big shift for L&D
Nicola Cox explores why workplace learning needs to move beyond AI add-ons and build intelligent ecosystems that connect skills, content and performance. As MCP servers and agentic AI reshape daily workflows, L&D leaders have a chance to make learning more proactive, responsible and embedded in the tools people already use. For years, learning technology has been defined by the next big feature, and lately, almost all of them have been AI. Smart search here, auto-tagging there, a new assistant tool…
Why yesterday’s performance reviews are failing today’s teams
As performance management shifts from annual reviews to continuous conversations, Steve Macaulay and Sarah Cook explains how HR and L&D can build fairer systems that align goals, strengthen coaching, support development and help people thrive, while reducing bureaucracy and making performance a genuine driver of culture, capability, engagement and wellbeing. Performance management used to be a once-a-year ritual: managers dusted off last year’s objectives, employees braced themselves, and HR prepared for the paperwork. In today’s world of rapid change, dispersed…
Empathy in action: Why coaching conversations turn understanding into impact
Empathy can get dismissed, but paired with coaching it becomes a performance lever. Drawing on podcast insights, Amy Brann and Dr Jessie Gulsin explore how empathy reduces threat, deep listening builds psychological safety, and clear boundaries strengthen accountability. Practical tips help leaders turn supportive conversations into sustained change at work. Empathy has had something of a reputation problem in leadership. Often dismissed as “soft”, or confused with lowering standards, it is still questioned in performance-driven cultures. Yet when empathy is…
From compliance to competitive advantage: Men’s health in shift-based environments
In shift-based or manufacturing environments, men’s mental health support must be designed for how and when people actually work. Rick van den Bosch outlines practical moves for L&D and leaders: build intervention skills beyond signposting, provide flexible 24/7 resources and peer networks, and normalise movement as part of everyday culture. The perception that strength is synonymous with silence is outdated, inefficient, and may have harmful effects. Modern industry leadership understands that the strongest, safest, and most resilient teams are built…
Proportionate online assessment is now a governance issue
Dr. James Gupta argues the legitimacy of digital assessment now depends on proportionality. Blanket surveillance can harm accessibility, candidate trust and legal defensibility, especially under current GDPR expectations. A risk-based model specifies controls to exam stakes, using privacy-by-design and transparency to protect integrity while avoiding unnecessary intrusion and reputational exposure. The legitimacy of digital assessment is becoming a defining issue for organisations operating in regulated and skills-driven environments. As online exams become embedded across education and workforce certification, ethical scrutiny…
Generative AI rollout in government: More than a software skills challenge
Former senior civil servants Kate Sturdy and Clare Dobson share lessons from training policymakers as AI moves from pilots to everyday use. They explain why prompting is a discipline, critical thinking prevents hallucinations, and the smartest officials know when to think first and use AI second for better public outcomes. Government use of AI tools is growing. Last year, a government study trialling the use of generative AI with 20,000 civil servants concluded that that the potential time savings were…
A capability framework is a change programme, not a document
Ben Satchwell argues that capability frameworks fail when treated as a design deliverable instead of a change programme. The document is only the opening move. Prioritise sponsorship, manager enablement, behaviour change and reinforcement before taxonomy perfection. Budget for adoption first, run communication as a campaign, and plan beyond go live. Most capability frameworks are commissioned as documents. Someone signs off a project to define the capabilities the organisation needs, a team spends three or four months drafting them, and the…
Escaping the Activity Trap: How L&D proves business impact
Many L&D teams talk about ‘outcomes-focused’ strategies, but few are delivering them. Harry Chapman-Walker shares about this gap between ambition and execution, which he calls the Activity Trap. There is a way out of L&D credibility risk, but only when L&D stops using activity metrics as evidence of business value. For years, L&D has fought to prove its strategic value. And yet, when it comes to measuring impact, most teams continue to rely on the same familiar activity metrics: courses…
The Platinum Workforce – book review
In The Platinum Workforce, futurist Trond Arne Undheim maps how AI, IoT and biotech could reshape jobs and spawn new roles. Catherine Dock reviews the book’s practical role frameworks, credible case studies and warnings about disruption for white-collar work, and asks what skills we should learn, teach and question next. Book: The Platinum WorkforceAuthor: Trond Arne Undheim As someone who has run Technology Learning & Development organisations, I was excited to read this book. I’m also as the parent of…
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