Independent Professionals
Your team is using AI, but are your prompts letting you down?
AI use in L&D is rising fast, but prompt quality often lags behind. Poor inputs lead to weak outputs, wasted time and reduced learner trust. Drawing on the testing methodologies of verification and validation, together with Dakan and Feller’s 4Ds framework, Catherine Dock explains how to strengthen your AI prompts We know from recent L&D research that Learning teams are using AI more widely to support increased volumes of L&D design delivery, and personalisation of learning at scale. This trend…
The rise of learning as a strategic growth driver
Frédéric Hébert unpacks findings from Rise Up’s 2025 State of Learning Report, exploring why L&D is gaining influence but still struggles for strategic investment. To truly lead growth, learning must align with business outcomes and speak in a language the board understands or is at risk of being left behind. Across industries, the perception of workplace learning is shifting. Roles are becoming more fluid, the need for upskilling and reskilling is increasing as technology evolves, and businesses are trying to find value wherever…
Agile learning: A story of relevance, responsibility and real change
Siobhan Orchard-Webb shares a case study on how a bespoke leadership programme became a transformative journey. Blending agile learning with human-centred facilitation, the experience empowered individuals to lead with confidence, curiosity and care, showing how the most powerful learning happens not from instruction, but from listening, adapting, and growing together. On an autumnal morning, in a quiet training room tucked away in an area of a community building, twelve managers gathered around a set of tables arranged in a semi-circle.…
Inclusion starts here: Empower your team to make the difference
Robert Ordever explores why top-down diversity, equity and inclusion strategies often fall short. He argues that truly inclusive cultures are built from the ground up, through team behaviours, emotional intelligence and authentic recognition—turning DE&I from a corporate initiative into an experience that helps everyone feel valued, heard and respected. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives fail when organisations adopt a purely top-down approach. Often concentrating on attracting a range of diverse employees from varying backgrounds, these organisations throw employees together…
TJ podcast: Learning’s human heartbeat: L&D then and now – episode 329
At TJ’s 60th Anniversary Conference, Andrew Jacobs discusses with Laura Overton and Kirsty Lewis what L&D has gained and lost over six decades. The exploration goes from laserdiscs to AI, classrooms to communities, and why social, human learning still matters more than ever for performance, culture, connection and future readiness. Podcast summary: Created by ChatGPT Recorded live at TJ’s 60th Anniversary Conference, this special episode sees Andrew Jacobs take over the Training Journal podcast to host a reflective debate with…
My book ‘AI for People Professionals’ was a human-first experiment
Behind the pages of a book shaped by humans and machines, Erica Farmer shares the creative highs, challenges and lessons from writing ‘AI for People Professionals’. From neurodivergent-friendly workflows to AI-supported thinking, it’s a candid look at what it means to write about the future of work in real time. When I started writing my book AI for People Professionals, I had no idea how much of a creative, emotional and intellectual rollercoaster it would be. This wasn’t just a…
Redundancy isn’t just business, it’s personal
Andy Evans shares the deeply personal story of being made redundant and the emotional and professional aftermath. Drawing on lived experience and learning theory, he explores how leaders can handle redundancy with humanity, and reflects on how moments of loss can spark growth, resilience, and a renewed sense of purpose. It was 8:45 on a September morning when the meeting invite appeared in my inbox. No context, no agenda, just a 3:00pm slot with my CPO and HR. I didn’t…
Psychological safety is the missing piece in your AI strategy
AI is changing the workplace, but without psychological safety, adoption efforts risk falling flat. Erica Farmer explores why trust, openness and permission to fail are essential for innovation, and shares practical steps for leaders, HR and L&D to create a culture where people can learn, experiment and thrive with AI. Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of work faster than most organisations can adapt. From productivity tools to advanced data analytics and talent systems, AI now sits quietly in the…
The Training Officer 1980s magazine snippets
From youth training schemes and battles for women in engineering to microcomputers in the classroom, 1980s Training Officer pages show L&D wrestling with technology, equity and unemployment, while trying to keep learning human, practical and hopeful in the face of policy experiments and rapid workplace change for people at work. The 1980s snippets from Training Officer capture a profession wrestling with inclusion, mass youth unemployment and the first wave of digital transformation… all at once. On the January 1984 pages,…
The Training Officer 1968 magazine snippets
From critical path diagrams and formal standards to televised training and overseas schemes, The Training Officer in 1968 shows an L&D profession preoccupied with order, technology and status. Through today’s lens, its worries about credibility, media hype and meaningful impact feel familiar, and sometimes uncomfortably unfinished. Dive in and explore! This time, rather than a full magazine, this is some selected articles from a few issues in 1968. What jumps out first is how professionalisation obsessed the 1968 issues are.…
Want smart, useful L&D insight in your inbox (without the fluff)?
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Editor-only commentary, and exclusive insight that isn’t published anywhere else online.
If you want a quick roundup of what matters, fresh ideas you can use, and the best new reads from Training Journal, this is where it lands
It’s free, only takes a minute, and you can unsubscribe any time.
