Wellbeing & Mental Health
From intention to action: Designing behaviour that makes change stick
Don’t demand just willpower! This article draws on two Make Your Brain Work podcast episodes with Amy Brann and Dr Jessie Gulsin to explain why change snaps back to old habits. Learn how biology drives ‘resistance’, why environments beat motivation, and how L&D can use cues to make change stick. Most organisational change programmes fail not because people are lazy or resistant, but because they are human. Despite good intentions, behaviour often snaps back to familiar patterns, leaving leaders frustrated…
Designing resilience training that supports people, not broken systems
Resilience training needs better design if it’s to help rather than harm. Stephan Lendi writes that L&D teams should stop treating resilience as an add-on. Instead, Stephan promotes that we build programmes that strengthen individual capability, expose structural pressures and feed honest organisational insight back to decision-makers for meaningful change. In many organisations, resilience has become the default extra module in leadership and learning programmes. New conflict‑management course? “Let’s add a short resilience session.” Change workshop? “Can you teach people…
TJ interviews: Mark Travis Rivera about braver workplaces starting with belonging
Belonging takes more than statements and symbolic support. Mark Travis Rivera shares why inclusion must be built through listening, honest conversations and everyday action. This interview explores how leaders can challenge performative allyship, create braver organisations cultures and help people feel recognised, respected and able to do their best work. Mark Travis Rivera is an award-winning creative entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of The Professional Storyteller, and a globally recognised advocate for inclusive workplace culture. Drawing on lived experience as a…
Loneliness is an entrepreneur’s hidden challenge
Entrepreneurship promises freedom, but Reece Borg argues that independence can also bring loneliness, pressure and disconnection. For freelancers, consultants and business owners, success depends not only on resilience and performance, but on building trusted relationships, support networks and spaces for learning, perspective and connection that sustains business growth over time. Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a journey filled with freedom, flexibility and opportunity. For many freelancers, consultants and business owners, the ability to build something independently is exactly what attracted…
From ‘just busy’ to burned out: Knowing when to reclaim time and when to ask for help
Drawing on Make Your Brain Work podcast episodes, Amy Brann and Dr Jessie Gulsin unpack how ‘busy’ slips into chronic stress, hijacking prioritisation and health. Learn the biological red flags, why time feels distorted under pressure, and how L&D can build kinder systems, practical tools, and routes to professional support. “Busy” has become the default answer to How are you? In many workplaces, constant busyness is worn as a badge of honour, signalling commitment and value. Yet the podcasts When…
Beyond Words – book review
Most leadership challenges are relational, not transactional and that should reshape L&D priorities. In his review, Andy Evans explores Beyond Words and its 8 Principles of Relational Capacity, following the path from survival to safety to success, and what this lens reveals about burnout, culture initiatives, and AI in organisations. Book: Beyond Words: How to Lead People from Survival to SuccessAuthor: Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes There’s a particular type of leadership book that arrives with a bold premise, delivers three hundred pages…
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…
Can you teach self-belief?
Confidence is not fixed: it rises and falls with meetings, roles and the way feedback lands. Penny Haslam shares research with Northumbria University showing measurable gains from confidence training, plus three memorable tools to challenge self-talk. Lasting change needs commitment, support and timely reminders so belief becomes action at work. Many people think confidence is something you either have or don’t, and that it’s simply part of your personality. It doesn’t work that way: one day, you can feel capable…
Decision armour is the new normal: Supporting clear thinking across a changed workforce
Design work that protects thinking under pressure, and decision quality follows. In this article, Amy Brann and Dr Jessie Gulsin share neuroscience-backed ways for L&D to reduce cognitive load, reframe resilience for shifting values, and strengthen connection in hybrid teams. Practical tips help people perform without burnout day after day. By now, most L&D professionals will recognise two parallel challenges shaping today’s workplace. First, decision-making feels harder: cognitive load is high, attention is fragmented, and errors creep in under pressure.…
Five ways to boost confidence and reduce stress at work
Confidence and stress are not separate tracks at work. This article shows how situational awareness turns confidence into visible behaviours that lower pressure. Five practical moves clarify expectations, ask better questions, build feedback loops, set boundaries and use body language. Anne Maartje Oud links personal habits with culture for performance. “Boost your confidence” and “reduce stress” sound great, but they are often treated as separate goals. That is where the interpretation becomes misleading. Confidence that helps prevent stress is not…
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