Independent Professionals
Reviewers don’t become advocates, co-designers do
Ben Satchwell argues that review rounds create judges, not champions. Sending a near-final capability framework for comment builds critique, not ownership. Co-design brings influential practitioners into the room early, at key moments: framing the problem, shaping the structure, and testing reality. Shared authorship fuels advocacy, accelerating adoption more than perfection. Most capability frameworks go through a review round. The team drafts the framework, then sends it to a group of stakeholders for comment. The feedback comes back, some of it…
How L&D can build the agility that AI adoption demands
As organisations race to adopt AI, Tristan Boutros argues that technology alone is not enough. Real progress depends on agile learning cultures, adaptive talent and psychological safety. For L&D leaders, the task is to build human capability that helps organisations experiment, learn quickly and turn AI into long lasting value. Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than most organisations can comfortably keep up with. New tools promise efficiency and scale, but many AI initiatives stall, underdeliver or even quietly disappear. For…
AI is exposing L&D’s value problem
Generative AI is accelerating content creation, but Dr Ravinder Tulsiani argues that speed and volume are not the same as value. For L&D, the real opportunity is to move beyond mere output and focus on capability, judgement and measurable performance change, especially where organisations need stronger human decision-making most. It’s a moment many of us will recognise: A well-meaning stakeholder asks for a new learning module. The problem is described vaguely, inconsistent performance, missed decisions, something “not landing”. The solution,…
From intention to action: Designing behaviour that makes change stick
Don’t demand just willpower! This article draws on two Make Your Brain Work podcast episodes with Amy Brann and Dr Jessie Gulsin 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 to make change stick. Most organisational change programmes fail not because people are lazy or resistant, but because they are human. Despite good intentions, behaviour often snaps back to familiar patterns, leaving leaders frustrated…
Designing resilience training that supports people, not broken systems
Resilience training needs better design if it’s to help rather than harm. Stephan Lendi writes that L&D teams should stop treating resilience as an add-on. Instead, Stephan promotes that we build programmes that strengthen individual capability, expose structural pressures and feed honest organisational insight back to decision-makers for meaningful change. In many organisations, resilience has become the default extra module in leadership and learning programmes. New conflict‑management course? “Let’s add a short resilience session.” Change workshop? “Can you teach people…
Good leaders don’t avoid office politics
Leaders who want to drive effective change cannot afford to ignore office politics, much as they might want to. Far from being manipulative, political skill helps people build trust, read situations, and influence organisational outcomes constructively. Steve Macaulay and David Buchanan explain why it should be a core leadership capability. For busy people, “office politics” can often feel like a barrier to skill and culture-building and just getting things done. However, developing political skill is not about encouraging scheming, it…
TJ interviews: Ravin Jesuthasan on actionable insights for building skills-first enterprises
Conor Gilligan speaks with Ravin Jesuthasan about why job-based models are failing, how skills-powered organisations unlock AI and productivity gains, and the practical steps HR and L&D leaders can take to redesign work, reskill talent and deploy skills faster for stronger business performance in volatile markets today and tomorrow alike. Ravin Jesuthasan, a recognised futurist and authority on the future of work, human capital, and automation is a Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer, an Executive Fellow…
AI adoption has a people problem, not a tech problem
Jennie Marshall argues that while organisations are investing heavily in AI, too few are turning pilots into meaningful impact. The real barrier is not technology but leadership, culture and capability. To close the gap, leaders must build confidence, embed AI into workflows and measure adoption, not just expenditure at scale. A while back I was heading north to visit a client, coffee in hand, when I put on the Science & Tech Daily podcast. Piers Linney was talking about AI,…
Employee engagement is rising up the agenda. So why can’t leaders agree on what it is?
Alice Desbouvrie argues that employee engagement improves when leaders share a clear definition of what it means. Without that alignment, learning, communication and support become easily fragmented. Lisa explores why consistent leadership thinking matters, how disengagement affects performance and retention, and what organisations can do to build stronger workplace connection. According to LumApps’ Future of Work Index Report, nearly 70% of senior leaders say employee engagement has become an increased priority for their organisation over the past two years. This…
Is your organisation’s leadership judgement built by design, or by damage?
Helen Routledge argues that leadership judgement is rarely built in classrooms or reviews, but in high-pressure moments where the stakes are already real. She explores why relying on live exposure is costly, how the practice gap forms, and why organisations need safer ways for leaders to learn before consequences hit. Most leaders don’t struggle because they don’t know what to do. The problem tends to show up later, in the moment where they have to decide what matters most, with…
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