People Managers
Too busy to think: Why clarity, influence and inspiration begin with intention
Sue Stockdale explores why thinking time is so critical for effective leadership. When leaders slow down, clarity returns, influence grows, and energy builds. This insightful piece shares practical ways to reclaim space for reflection, helping leaders shift from reactive to intentional, and inspiring others through purpose-driven presence, not constant motion. If there’s one symptom I see time and time again in my coaching work with leaders, it’s this: thinking time is in critically short supply. The people I work with…
Putting teamwork front and centre: A guide for HR and L&D leaders
Steve Macaulay and Sarah Cook explore how HR and L&D professionals can create high-performing teams using proven models, practical strategies, and the human skills that bring them to life. This guide blends research, emotional intelligence, and real-world tools to build team cultures of trust, growth, and sustained collaboration. Team building is essential for fostering strong, effective organisations. HR and L&D professionals play a crucial role in driving collaboration, innovation, and growth. Conversely, dysfunctional teams can hinder progress and divert focus…
Three ways to show training’s real value
In a world where training drives business strategy, measuring its impact is crucial. Dr. Ajit Kumar Kar outlines three practical approaches, ROI, ROTI and ROE, that help organisations justify investment, track outcomes and align learning with performance. Discover how to make training accountable, strategic, and report well for future investment. In today’s volatile business landscape, training is no longer optional, it’s a strategic enabler. Companies invest in training for a number of reasons: Training fuels people’s growth to match the…
Rewriting the leadership playbook: Why burnout is a system failure
Burnout isn’t a flaw in individuals; it’s a warning light for broken systems. Mia Serra and Claudie Plen-McCormack argue that leadership and culture must evolve to prioritise inclusion, psychological safety and sustainable performance. Without structural change, well-being initiatives remain surface-level fixes in complex environments that continue to overstretch and exclude. Burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s a system failure. Yet in many organisations, burnout is still treated as an individual shortcoming, something to be “fixed” with a mindfulness session, an…
The AI acceleration of careers: Why the next generation of managers will arrive sooner than we think
AI is transforming early careers, not by eliminating them, but by accelerating them. John Schneider explores how companies like PwC are rethinking onboarding and leadership development, equipping new hires to supervise AI from day one. The challenge? Ensuring tomorrow’s leaders don’t miss the vital learning today’s grunt work once offered. There’s a common refrain in conversations about AI and the workforce: Entry-level jobs are disappearing. If AI can take over the repetitive tasks that have traditionally been the proving ground…
Trust, talent and the tightrope of skip-level leadership
Srideep Sarkar explores the complex, often overlooked role of skip-level managers. Far from being passive observers, they must balance influence with restraint, strategy with empathy. From avoiding the saviour complex to nurturing talent indirectly, this is a guide to leading large teams without weakening leadership layers that hold them together. The Boston Consulting Group report The End of Management as We Know It indicates that just 9% of Western non-managers aspire to become a manager and 81% managers think the job…
Beyond skills: How Baringa built a coaching-powered leadership culture
Lee Robertson explores how a consultancy invested in coaching for a core leadership capability, transforming culture, performance and progression. Their collaboration with the AoEC helped embed everyday coaching, reshaping how leaders engage, empower and grow talent. The result? A more human, sustainable and impactful approach to leadership development and business. Baringa Partners has embedded coaching at the heart of its people-first culture, and the management consultancy has created a high-impact development strategy that’s as good for business as it is…
New shifts and trends in cybersecurity
The cybersecurity landscape is shifting rapidly, with AI-fuelled attacks, evolving malware, and cloud vulnerabilities becoming increasingly hard to manage. Nazy Fouladirad explores the key threats businesses face today, from Internet of Things risks to critical staffing shortages, and why proactive, intelligent defence is the only way for businesses stay ahead. With every year that passes, there are a wide range of new digital threats that businesses in all industries need to track and defend themselves against. Unfortunately, the speed at…
Can strategic growth and people-first values truly go hand in hand?
High growth can strain culture, yet scaling with intent keeps people, clients and communities front and centre. Invest in learning, wellbeing and inclusive leadership; align acquisitions to values; embed in local economies; measure performance, not just speed. Heidi Thompson argues that the real challenge is to grow while protecting values. It is well documented that a strict growth mindset can often come at the expense of a people-first culture, demonstrated in McKinsey research, which shows that many high-growth companies struggle…
From preference to performance: adapting training for new hires
Onboarding is evolving fast: Eleanor Hecks shows leaders must tailor training to diverse learning preferences, neurodiversity and hybrid work. Use analytics, microlearning, translation and gamification to personalise pathways, boost engagement and prove ROI through retention and performance. Prioritise accessibility, mentorship, coaching to embed continuous learning and resilience from day one. The business world is changing dramatically, requiring leaders to quickly identify and adjust to new hires’ learning preferences and streamline onboarding. A heightened focus on personalised instruction and adaptive training…
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