Professional Development
Embracing your creative potential: a guide inspired by Cat Hase’s story
In this feature as part of International Women’s Day, Cat Hase explores what creativity can bring to your work and personal development Would you call yourself creative? It’s a question that, unfortunately, far too many people answer with a “no.” But let’s pause and ask ourselves: What is creativity? Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc. It’s about seeing what’s inside us and harnessing it as it’s…
Unlocking the power of neurodiversity
In this feature, Steve Macaulay looks at the benefits and importance of neurodiverse employees Every manager aims to make the best use of all the resources available so that their employees feel fulfilled and satisfied that they are reaching their full potential and contributing fully to the success of the organisation. However, a potential performance gap that has not been fully explored is the wide variation in the way each person approaches work and relationships and how each learns. Fostering…
Learning from life: writing a book
This month Michelle Parry-Slater is an open book about the challenges of writing This month my book, The Learning and Development Handbook is three years old. Writing that book taught me so much about myself and expectations on learning new skills. Who was I to write a book? I couldn’t write because I wasn’t the right person Writing the book was really hard for me, which came as a surprise. A big surprise! I had written short form content for…
Navigating the evolving landscape of the L&D Job market: insights and trends for 2024
Exploring the job market for job seekers and those in hiring roles, four L&D experts share their experience and suggestions in this detailed feature As the year 2023 unfolded, the Learning and Development (L&D) job market underwent a profound transformation. The pandemic catalysed a shift in work environments and learning modalities, challenging the traditional in-person training model and giving rise to a more flexible, multi-faceted approach to professional development. L&D professionals need to acquire a deep understanding of business strategies…
The show must go on: leveraging 8 performance techniques for dynamic presentations
Karl Green unleashes the power of performance with his approach for mastering presentation skills As someone from a performance background of over a decade, and recently pivoted career from dance and musical theatre to coaching and development, I have witnessed the transformative impact performance skills can offer in life, careers and most importantly when giving presentations. Just like a captivating stage performance, a successful presentation requires more than just the right words—it demands a compelling performance persona, audience connection and…
L&D skills for the digital world
Is the current state of technology overwhelming you? Or is your organisation asking you to focus on something when your passion is elsewhere? And is technology the most important thing anyway? Harri Le Claire and Jo Cook share more in this full-on feature The recent journey most organisations and individuals have been on with the digital skills can be a challenging one for many. Covid accelerated digital skills adoption with users, learners, workers and of course within L&D and 2023…
Learning matters: how to make the most of the three forms of reflection
We all know about reflecting back on something – but how many of us do so going forwards? This blog from Andrew Gibbons is here to shine a light Think for a moment about the word ‘reflection’. Doesn’t it imply thinking back? Hasn’t the word become, inappropriately, associated with retrospection and reviewing past events? Reflection must be seen to be a legitimate, purposeful, valuable activity My preferred definition of ‘reflection’ is “serious thinking or careful consideration”. I like this because…
Preparing for the Evolving L&D Landscape in 2024
Three L&D experts, Tommy Richardson, Kyile Stair and Dr. Jill Stefaniak, share their predictions and advice for 2024, stressing the importance of AI training, time-sensitive training, and keeping up to date with evolving regulatory landscapes Employee demand for corporate training opportunities has been rising steadily over the past few years. With 76% of employees being more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training than one that does not, continuous training has become more of a “need” than…
Conversations, relationships and learning: jumping right in
Julie Drybrough questions where and when we start our learning and reflection Can you begin in the middle? The middle of a month? The middle of a process? Can you take that neat list of intentions and bang right through the middle of it, messing things up? I’m asking because I hoped to begin at the start – the start of the month, of the year, like proper people do. I hoped to adhere to the conventions I had set…
TJ podcast: Challengers and practitioner focus – episode 312
The TJ podcast has a host of L&D experts talk through the challenges, leadership and practitioner focus for workplace learning. Speakers include: Links from the discussion: CIPD report L&D: New challenges, new approaches Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum TJ article Spotlight on critical reflection by Mary Holmes Follow the Training Journal podcast on your app of choice, or sign up to the newsletter to always be in the know!
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