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AI in Learning 2026: A day built for sensemaking, not just adoption
Slow down, question the hype and reclaim a voice in workplace AI decisions. Julie Drybrough explores why L&D and HR professionals need space to make sense of fast-moving technology, examine its practical and ethical implications, and shape how AI is adopted rather than simply implementing choices made elsewhere for them. How much AI information can any of us actually process before “keeping up” starts to feel like drowning? That was one of the questions that prompted Fiona McBride (Fiona McBride…
Mindset under pressure: Making better decisions in a noisy world
Information overload, AI and relentless workplace change are putting decision-making under pressure. Martin Fairn argues that mindset development can help people pause, regain perspective and think more clearly, strengthening resilience, improving judgement and supporting better decisions when demands mount, uncertainty grows and the pace of work becomes difficult to manage. With the possible exception of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, no event in human history has so quickly and irreversibly changed our lives as the birth of our digital world.…
AI is changing work. Is L&D changing fast enough?
Dr Ravinder Tulsiani argues that generative AI demands more than basic tool training. L&D must map AI to real work, build judgement and validation skills, update competency frameworks and measure performance impact. The opportunity is to move beyond content delivery and redesign capability for an increasingly AI-enabled workplace at scale. Generative AI is reshaping how work happens. L&D professionals need to look at what exactly is changing about work and how we should we respond. A major Microsoft Research study…
Beyond the training calendar: Building continuous learning interventions
L&D needs to move beyond periodic programmes and participation metrics, building continuous interventions that respond to real workplace challenges. By listening closely, reinforcing behaviour and measuring meaningful outcomes, learning teams can become strategic partners. Nikhil Sharma explores how this shift can improve managers, culture and employees’ everyday experience of work. The session receives excellent feedback, participants leave energised, and certificates are distributed. Three months later, however, attrition in the team remains high, employees continue to report unclear expectations, and the…
What is helping or holding back your L&D impact?
Impact depends on more than measurement. This reflection asks whether you have the access, data, permission and support needed to act on what you learn. Use it to sense-check your current reality, spot what may be holding progress back, and add your perspective to TJ’s wider research this year too. It’s easy to talk about L&D impact as if it is mainly a question of measurement. What are we tracking? What data do we have? How do we prove value?…
Transfer by design: The next maturity level of learning design
Closing the transfer gap means designing for workplace application from the outset, not hoping learning will stick afterwards. Melanie Martinelli and Ger Driesen explain how the 12 Levers of Transfer Effectiveness can help L&D teams build stronger transfer conditions, establish shared standards and connect learning more clearly to organisational performance. Your learning program is well designed. The facilitators are strong. Participation is high and the feedback scores look reassuring. Then people return to work. Three months later, managers struggle to…
TJ podcast: L&D needs to stop talking about learning, with Cathy Hoy – episode 332
What does it take for L&D leaders to now think more commercially, connect learning to business outcomes and move way beyond delivery? Cathy Hoy talks strategic thinking, the limits of ROI, the importance of understanding the business, and how L&D can build greater influence, confidence and impact across the organisation. Key takeaways: Podcast summary: Should L&D leaders stop talking about learning? That’s one of the provocations in the latest TJ podcast, where Jo Cook speaks with Cathy Hoy about what it…
The AI fire hydrant: L&D’s new job is to redesign the pipework
AI can make the creation of work dramatically faster. Unless L&D helps their organisation to change how work moves, gets judged and turns into value, the result will be pressure, not progress: stress on teams that are already at capacity, using process that weren’t designed for AI, says Erica Farmer. I keep hearing a version of the same story; someone uses AI to produce a first draft, analysis or set of options in a fraction of the usual time. Their…
My journey from HR to the c-suite, and what I learned along the way
A cold shift in a supermarket set an unexpected career in motion. Tom Emery traces the decisions led to the C-suite. Reflecting on setbacks, stretch roles and hard-won lessons, he shows how adaptability, relationships and courage can shape a career in the people profession far more than any grand plan. I was an accidental HR professional. Growing up, I wanted to work in public relations. I loved the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. The characters, the outfits, the champagne and I thought…
John Adair’s three circles still shape better leadership
A timeless framework for modern challenges, Action-Centred Leadership still offers leaders a clear way to balance results, relationships and individual needs under intense modern pressure. Steve Macaulay shows how John Adair’s enduring three-circle model remains a practical diagnostic and leadership tool for today’s complex organisational realities, no matter your seniority. Action-Centred Leadership is a common starting point in the leadership L&D toolkit. Its creator, John Adair, passed away last year, yet he leaves behind a lasting legacy of a powerful…
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