Independent Professionals
Forget quiet quitting! Revenge quitting is the new workplace wake-up call
Dr Ryne Sherman explores the rise of revenge quitting, where frustrated employees walk away, but with impact, not silence. Driven by unmet needs around purpose, safety, and leadership, today’s workforce is pushing back. Here’s what organisations must do to retain talent, and why quick fixes just won’t cut it anymore. We’ll wish for quiet quitting as we’ve entered a new era of bold exits where frustrated employees aren’t just handing in their notice—they’re making sure it’s heard loud and clear.…
The future of work: Stop confusing performance with capability
Many organisations confuse past performance with future capability – and it’s costing them. Ban Satchwell explains why relying on outcomes alone leads to flawed decisions, missed potential and ineffective people development. To build resilient, adaptable teams, we must treat performance and capability as utterly distinct, and assess them through separate processes. In HR, we often mistake what someone has done for what they can do. This confusion between performance and capability is one of the most persistent and costly errors…
L&D’s moment to reboot management for a hybrid world
Hybrid working isn’t broken; but it is being left to chance. Gary Cookson shows how L&D can fix it: define team norms, build purposeful onsite experiences, enable collaboration and management capabilities, and support individuals with real-time learning tools. Enabling hybrid by design, can only drive improve engagement, productivity and retention. Why are we still talking about hybrid working? Isn’t it all so very 2022? Not so. It is often in the media as various organisations (or, more specifically, the leader…
Six leadership essentials for a changed world: From the legacy of Andrew Kakabadse
Professor Andrew Kakabadse’s leadership insights remain vital for today’s HR and L&D professionals. Drawing from decades of research and consultancy experience, Steve Macaulay distils six essential principles that equip leaders to thrive in a complex, unpredictable world. These lessons demand a fresh, values-driven approach to development, governance, and organisational culture. Leadership and governance expert Professor Andrew Kakabadse, who died recently. His work is particularly relevant for L&D and HR professionals today: these core essentials are highly focused on meeting the…
Trust beats tech: why culture decides AI’s return on investment
Simon Blockley explores how AI can support workforce transformation when paired with strong leadership and investment in people. As skills gaps widen and business needs evolve, organisations must go beyond technical fixes. The future lies in smarter alignment of talent, technology and values, building agile, high-performing teams for the future. In a climate defined by rapid change, rising costs, and shifting workforce expectations, business leaders are under increasing pressure to address critical skills shortages. As demand for specialist contractor capabilities…
Meetings that spark commitment, not eye-rolls
When facilitated badly, leadership gatherings waste time and money. Facilitated well, they create energy, commitment and momentum. Laura Thomson-Staveley shares her fabulous toolkit for turning meetings into engines of collaboration. From Liberating Structures to visible accountability, she shows how skilled facilitation can transform in-person time into outcomes leaders can’t ignore. Picture this: 50 people in a room equals 50 working days of investment. Are you getting genuine value from that time, or watching one person dominate while others mentally check…
Training could turn whistle-blowers into culture changers
Whistleblowing is becoming more common, but many organisations still fail to handle it effectively. Dispute resolution expert Paul O’Donnell argues that managers need better training to distinguish between grievances and whistleblowing, protect staff from retaliation, and build healthier workplace cultures. Otherwise organisations risk mistrust, reputational damage, and costly legal consequences. The Alan Turing Institute suddenly became front page news in August after staff went public with claims of poor leadership, a ‘toxic culture’, and fears of funding being withdrawn. Even…
Learning that lifts: designing for social mobility in the workplace
Learning that supports social mobility requires more than accessible content, it demands intention, empathy and inclusive design. Anna Ogilby explores how workplace learning can be a catalyst for equity, connection and career progression. When we prioritise flexibility in design, representation and lived experience in every step of the learning journey. For the best learner experience, it goes without saying that learning design must go beyond knowledge transfer into creation of opportunity. In the modern workplace, however, socio economic background remains…
Why project leadership belongs to everyone
Leadership is too often seen as the domain of managers and frameworks, but Rob Anderson believes it starts much earlier, and much wider. Drawing on personal experience, he makes the case for inclusive, human-first project leadership that empowers people at every level to own outcomes, navigate challenges, and drive success. With nearly 70% of UK workplace projects failing to meet expectations, the conversation around leadership has never been more urgent, or more misunderstood. Project failure is often blamed on weak planning…
L&D teams as agility champions in the age of disruption
Tristan Boutros argues that agility is no longer a niche methodology, but a core skillset for everyone. With AI reshaping work at speed, L&D leaders must embed iterative practices, real-time feedback, and shared ownership into learning strategies, ensuring teams can adapt, grow, and succeed in an era of constant disruption. L&D and HR can no longer rely on static training programs or traditional upskilling models. With AI accelerating the pace of change and disrupting how we work and learn, L&D…
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