L&D Professionals
Why your top talent is quietly checking out
Why do high performers disengage from careers that seem successful on paper? In this article, Laura Simms unpacks how competence, conditioning and misdiagnosed burnout can hide poor fit, and argues that better support starts when organisations help people question the path they are on and redefine work around meaning sustainably. The professionals most likely to feel disconnected from work are often the last ones anyone suspects. They perform well. They get promoted. They earn the salary that was supposed to…
Influence is L&D’s biggest readiness challenge: The Josh Bersin Company reacts to the TJ L&D Influence Report 2026
Jordan Hammerstad, L&D lead at The Josh Bersin Company, argues that L&D must step out of the course factory and into the messy reality of performance where influence evidence and business proximity decide whether change sticks. L&D needs to build capability before gaps bite adaptation as part of everyday work. Recently, Training Journal produced a special report on the state of Learning and Development (L&D) and introduced the TJ Readiness Enablers Index. It concluded this is a vital practice being…
Your capability framework didn’t fail. Your rollout did.
Ben Satchwell challenges the default diagnosis when capability frameworks sit unused after twelve months. Low usage often signals a failed launch, not flawed content. Before expensive redesigns, audit sponsorship, manager understanding, communication and reinforcement. Distinguish neglect from design issues, fix sustainment, and resist rewriting artefacts that were never truly introduced. A capability framework that nobody uses at the twelve-month mark gets a predictable diagnosis: the content was wrong. The levels were too granular, or not granular enough. The language didn’t…
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…
Breaking the L&D loop: Why more content isn’t the answer
Chris Eigeland argues that L&D teams must stop measuring success by the size of their content libraries and start curating smarter, skills-led pathways. With AI, governance and better evaluation, organisations can reduce waste, improve engagement and build learning cultures focused on application, performance and meaningful career growth for everyone involved. Learning and development leaders have access to unprecedented volumes of training content, but the disconnect lies in managing, impact and evaluation. While 80% of L&D leaders claim satisfaction with their…
TJ interviews: Dr Alex Zarifis on how AI is forcing leaders to rethink how people learn, work and create value
Dr Alex Zarifis says UK firms will only unlock AI value when leaders redesign processes and business models, not just add tools. He urges transparent communication to build trust without blind faith, and argues agentic AI will push leaders towards clearer, transactional direction when managing mixed human and machine teams. UK businesses are starting to see AI’s productivity potential, but the value story is still uneven. The UK government’s 2026 AI Adoption Research found that 56% of businesses using AI…
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…
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