Talent & Skills
How can culture gaps in the workplace be turned into strengths?
Anna Flynn explains why commercial and technical teams often pull in different directions, and how growing tech businesses can build shared purpose without flattening diversity. She explores culture, structured communication and meaningful recognition, showing how better alignment reduces friction, improves retention and strengthens delivery, efficiency and employer brand over time. “Variety is the spice of life” may be a cliché, but it rings true in the modern workplace. Organisations are powered by individuals with varied personalities, experiences, and areas of…
The qualification trap: Why apprenticeship frameworks are excluding capable talent
Apprenticeships were designed to prioritise applied capability, yet assessment frameworks can still exclude individuals who can perform the role itself. And exclusion means less people getting what they need. Michelle Carson examines how this misalignment is narrowing workforce pipelines and where L&D leaders have the greatest leverage to change it. Apprenticeships were designed as an alternative to academic routes, a practical pathway into skilled work for those whose strengths are best demonstrated through doing. Yet in practice, many apprenticeship frameworks…
Building the bridge between competence and capability
Ben Satchwell explains how organisations can integrate competency and capability frameworks, avoiding duplication by clarifying where each operates. Ben shows just why levels mean different things, position skills taxonomies are the connecting layer for digital interoperability, and outlines practical ways to embed both lenses across performance, learning and workforce planning. This final piece in the three-part series brings the two frameworks together – showing how to integrate assurance and development into one coherent system. Part one was about improving our…
Why competency frameworks hit a ceiling for development
Ben Satchwell explains why competency frameworks can support development only within the boundaries of current role performance, because they were built for assurance and consistency. Ben contrasts this with capability frameworks, designed for future readiness, and argue the strongest approach is to connect both: competencies evidence mastery, capabilities guide growth. This is the second article in a three-part series examining the evolving relationship between competence and capability frameworks – and how each supports performance, development and strategy. Part one was…
Does reaching the top of the corporate ladder really bring happiness in 2026?
Rochelle Trow argues that today’s senior roles sit at the centre of global turbulence, where pressure rarely eases and success no longer guarantees fulfilment. Drawing on research from WEF, Gallup and Deloitte, she explores cognitive load, organisational strain and why leadership development must build inner steadiness, not just outward skills. For decades, the message was simple: work hard, climb high, and life will feel better when you get there. Influence, control, reward. Success was expected to bring happiness. But in…
Stop calling everything a skill
Ben Satchwell argues that muddled language is undermining people frameworks, HR systems and L&D credibility, especially as skills data becomes machine-readable. Ben clarifies the building blocks from knowledge to behaviour, explains why competencies evidence individual performance while capabilities describe systemic potential, and shows how aligning both creates readiness without duplication. This article is the first in a three-part series exploring how organisations can clarify, connect and modernise their use of competence, capability and skills frameworks. There’s a quiet crisis of…
Beyond generative: The leadership playbook for agentic AI learning
As agentic AI moves to setting goals and acting, workplace learning is shifting into the flow of work. Johnson Wong argues leaders must design AI-enabled workflows, reskill for human oversight, and enable department alignment of IT, operations and the people profession to turn continuous, embedded learning into measurable performance gains. Enterprises around the world are entering a new phase of digital transformation, one defined not just by automation, but by intelligent collaboration between humans and autonomous digital agents. This shift…
The learning crisis no one wants to trace back to recruitment
AI-polished job applications hide how people really learn. Dmitry Zaytsev talks through hiring using simple games to reveal learning readiness early. Dmitry’s case study shows why behavioural signals like persistence and attention matter more than credentials for talent, L&D, onboarding, and building learning cultures that actually stick in modern organisations. In many organisations, learning and development begins only after a person has signed a contract. By that point, L&D teams inherit a challenge they did not create: they are asked…
TJ interviews: Euan Crosby on making AI work for learning, careers and talent
Jo Cook chats with Euan Crosby, Director of Global Talent Acquisition at Litmos, about how AI is reshaping skills, learning and careers. He shares why training often feels overwhelming, how personalised development makes a difference, and what organisations can do to keep people confident, engaged and growing as work evolves Training Journal: With AI being so impactful, how can organisations encourage everyone to embrace something so big, and potentially overwhelming? Euan Crosby: The opportunities for AI integration in today’s workplace are vast and, consequently, overwhelming…
The Traitors: Jobs most likely to get you banished or murdered
As TV show The Traitors UK fuels watercooler chat, Shane Duffy argues the castle is really a bias lab. From teachers to barristers, players are judged by their job title before they speak. Analysis shows who gets targeted, who survives and what workplaces can learn about trust, status and threat. As the nation remains gripped by the latest season of The Traitors UK, Shane Duffy, Managing Director of serviced office brokerage Click Offices, warns that the hit BBC show offers…
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