Ongoing Skill Development

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗟&𝗗 𝗧𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗩𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗟&𝗗 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 Most organisations still approach Learning & Development with a simple request: “Can you run a training on this?” And on the surface, it sounds reasonable. But the truth is… That question is often the beginning of the wrong solution. Because high-impact L&D does not start with training. It starts with clarity. ▶️ What exactly is not working? ▶️ Where is the performance breaking down? ▶️ Is it a skill gap… or something deeper? ▶️ What outcome are we trying to change? Most of the time, the issue is not: -Lack of knowledge -Lack of content -Lack of courses It is: -Misaligned expectations -Broken processes -Weak manager capability -No reinforcement after learning And this is where the role of L&D changes. From: 👉 Delivering programmes To: 👉 Diagnosing problems 👉 Challenging assumptions 👉 Recommending the right intervention (even if it is NOT training) 👉 Connecting learning directly to performance and business outcomes Sometimes, the most valuable thing L&D can do is pause and say: “Let us not jump to training yet.” Because real impact does not come from how many sessions you deliver. It comes from what actually changes after the learning. 👉 Do people behave differently? 👉 Do managers lead differently? 👉 Do results improve? If the answer is no… then learning did not happen. Only activity did. If you work in L&D, here is a simple reflection for you: The next time someone asks for training… Will you design a programme? Or will you diagnose the problem? Because that choice… quietly defines your career. What do you think? Is L&D still seen as a training function in your organisation… or is it evolving into a performance partner? #LearningAndDevelopment #LearningStrategy #WorkplaceLearning #TalentDevelopment #FutureOfWork

Continuous improvement (CI) in organizations is only possible through developing CI competencies in people and teams!! It's clear that every business wants competent, capable employees who have the ability to streamline processes and swiftly adapt to process changes... BUT... ...despite recognizing the importance of CI, many organizations find themselves with a workforce unskilled in the practical, agile application of continuous improvement. There's a real disconnect! Why is this? 🤔 A few reasons.... 👉 It could be an issue with training vs real-world application. Often, employee training programs are heavy on theory but light on practical, hands-on experience. Employees understand the 'what' but struggle with the 'how.' Including leaders! 👉 It could be cultural resistance. People may not embrace adaptability and learning. That problem could be also caused by ineffective leadership! 👉 It could be lack of tools, resources or autonomy. Knowing what needs improvement is one thing; having the tools and authority to make changes is another. That's also something leaders influence! 🚨 So what's the call to action here? Leaders need support to develop themselves and they also need to understand the important role they play in developing CI competencies in every person. This involves: ✅ Hands-on Coaching and Learning. Shift from traditional "telling" to coaching on the job. Provide real-world problem solving opportunities, ask great questions and involve people in process management to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in every person. ✅ Cultivating a Psychologically Safe CI Culture. Foster an environment where every employee feels empowered and motivated to seek out and try out improvements, without fear of failure. Transparent and regular communication is key. ✅ Empowering people. Equip teams, not just with tools but also the authority to lead and implement changes. People are much more innovative and creative when they feel they are in control of their own work. When employees see their ideas come to life, it reinforces their capability and drive for continuous improvement. What else works to bridge the gaps in continuous improvement skills? Leave your suggestions in the comments below 🙏 #continuousimprovement #lean #agile #employeedevelopment #learninganddevelopment #leadership #skilldevelopment

I’ve recently been working with a footballer...we’ve created a philosophy: “Train carefully, play carefree” I’ve recently been working with a golfer...we’ve created a maxim: “Practice like this means everything, compete like this means nothing” Because so many sports competitors are way too tough on their performance and way too tolerant on their training, when they should be far tougher on their training and far more tolerant on their performance. Training (or practice if you prefer) is an opportunity for players to engage in meta-cognitive strategies. By this I mean to ‘think about their thinking’ - to reflect on what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and whether the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ are optimal. It’s also an opportunity for players to break down their skills around the technical, tactical, mental, and physical components of the game, pick one or two specific areas to improve, and engage with those areas as they train...deliberately and intentionally. Both meta-cognitive practice and deliberate practice can feel uncomfortable. And, because they both demand that players constantly self-monitor, they both can atrophy performance. They both can feel hard and unpleasant to experience (although they both may be associated with a flow state). There’s no question that training should provide players with a range of inner experiences, but if we want our players to push through glass ceilings, if we want them to continue to learn and grow their game, then we need to help them visit that ‘zone of ugly’ - not always, but often. Conversely, players can tend to put far too much pressure on themselves come game day. Having been involved in high performance sport for 25 years, I honestly believe players and coaches are socialised into extreme language around performance. “I must perform” and “We have-to win” are positions adopted by coaches and players, often to the detriment of their game rather than to their advantage. In my consultancy work, and from talking with other sport psychologists who work with elite level sports competitors, I’ve found a robust approach to competition many players would do well to take is one of indifference to outcome and performance. Most competitors would do well to trust their ability, trust their training, and focus on executing a well-defined process to give themselves their best chance to have their best possible performance. Somewhat paradoxically, competitors may be better served accepting that the more they try to force performance the worse they may make it. The more they stress about their performance the worse they may make it. “All I can do is strive to execute my process to the very best of my ability. This will help me have my best possible performance. I trust my ability, I trust my training, and I trust my process. My best possible performance is all I can ask from myself” In summary... Tough on training, tolerant on performance. This approach may be the most adaptive one you can take

Dan Hurley's 4 Key Principles and Strategies to Attain them in Your Team It's important that all coaches and leaders have a strategic vision, which underpins decision making, behaviours, and innovation, because this helps inspire team members and forges collectiveness in the pursuit of goals. Dan Hurley, who turned down the head coach role with the Los Angeles Lakers to remain with University of Connecticut, outlines his four core principles, that he wants the players to focus on: 1️⃣ Strength of the Pack Coach Hurley stated that the behaviours, habits, and mindset of athletes should build the collective strength of the team, and that players should not do things to weaken it. This concept relates strongly to Group Integration-Task (GI-T; Carron et al., 1985). That is, athletes exhibit behaviours that are congruent with achieving team goals and are highly motivated to fulfil their individual role. It is important that coaches set team goals as well as individual goals, when working with team sport athletes, because team goals are strongly linked to overall team success (Prapavessis and Carron, 1996) and team motivation (Munroe et al. 2002). 2️⃣ Consistent Improvement Coach Hurley wanted players to focus on getting better (i.e., player, person, physically, and psychologically), rather than outcomes. Performance profiling (Butler, 1989) is an excellent way of helping athletes achieve this. The performance profile was developed to enhance an athlete’s self-awareness regarding the characteristics that facilitate successful performance and to enhance the coach’s understanding of the athlete’s viewpoint (Butler, 1989: Butler et al., 1993). 3️⃣ Relentless Competitive Effort During times of physical and mental stress, there is a tendency for some athletes to disengage mentally and physically, and therefore stop trying. As such, coaches can educate players about this tendency, and teach alternate coping strategies such: *Maximising effort expenditure during stressful periods *Thought stopping to prevent thoughts of giving up *Approach coping to master or solve the causes of distress *Meaning-focused coping motivates coping during sustained periods of stress (i.e., hard physical sessions). 4️⃣ Mindful Communication A key facet of mindfulness training relates to increasing feelings of warmth, kindness, and caring towards oneself and others (Baltzell et al., 2014). Coaches can encourage athletes to be kind to themselves and other teammates if mistakes are made (e.g., defender missing a tackle and opponents score). As such, coaches could instruct athletes not to shout or degrade their ability, but to tell athletes to accept mistakes as things that happen. Further, Baltzell’s intervention involved athletes being taught to wish warmth and kindness to their teammates. As such, coaches could ask players to think about players on their team and imaging oneself being kind to them if they make a mistake or them being kind to themselves.

This is my biggest advice to new graduates 👇 Welcome to the real world—it sucks, you’re gonna love it! (The AI Edition 😂) 1️⃣ Refine the Four Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Curiosity, and Coding ↳ Communication: Even the most powerful AI models lose value if stakeholders can’t clearly understand their impact. Focus on making complex ideas accessible and straightforward. ↳ Collaboration: AI is deeply interdisciplinary—solutions emerge from teamwork across healthcare, finance, climate tech, ethics, and more. Build partnerships and speak your team’s language early on. ↳ Curiosity: In AI, today’s innovation quickly becomes tomorrow’s baseline. Keep exploring new technologies, models, and methodologies. Continuous learning is your superpower. ↳ Coding: Even with the rise of low-code and no-code tools, strong technical foundations set you apart. Deep coding knowledge remains critical for building innovative solutions. 2️⃣ Get Hands-On with Agentic AI Autonomous AI agents—intelligent assistants capable of completing tasks independently—are mainstream in 2025. Understand their strengths and limitations. Be ready to step in, troubleshoot, and optimize, treating your AI agents like valuable team members. 3️⃣ Master Multimodal AI AI isn’t limited to just text or code anymore. Today’s leading models effortlessly blend text, speech, images, and video. Develop your skills with multimodal tools such as GPT-Vision, Google’s Gemini, or DeepMind’s latest offerings to stay versatile and relevant. 4️⃣ Prioritize Ethics and Compliance Ethics and regulation (like Europe’s AI Act, US AI Bill, Copyright Protection Act) aren’t optional—they’re fundamental. Be proactive, ensuring your AI solutions are transparent, fair, and accountable. Anticipate ethical implications early to build responsible, trusted technologies. 5️⃣ Become Familiar with Cutting-Edge Infrastructure AI hardware advancements, like NVIDIA ’s Vera Rubin and BlackWell Ultra are pushing the memory and inference speeds. Learning about modern infrastructure—chips, data centers, cloud operations—will enhance your ability to scale and deliver reliable solutions, making you indispensable. 6️⃣ Align AI Innovations with Business Strategy Organizations in 2025 increasingly seek measurable returns from AI. Focus on solving real-world business problems and clearly communicate your project’s impact—whether it’s reducing costs, boosting efficiency, or driving revenue growth. 7️⃣ Cultivate a Growth Mindset AI moves quickly, and your greatest advantage is your willingness to learn and adapt. Be open to exploring new ideas, actively seek opportunities to expand your skillset, and don’t shy away from challenges—they’re your best opportunities for growth. Share this guide with fellow professionals navigating their own AI journeys ♻️ Follow me (Aishwarya Srinivasan) for more actionable AI insights to thrive in 2025 and beyond!

a twelve year old athlete cannot process the same instructions as a twenty two year old. obvious. yet we still design sessions as if they can. this became clear when we tried one small change. one cue per rep. junior athletes were receiving layered instructions that sounded sophisticated but created cognitive overload. they were told to split step, read the racquet angle, and anticipate direction at the same time. the intention was good. the result was hesitation. we stripped it back to one cue. split step. accuracy improved by eighteen percent within a few sessions. movement became cleaner, decisions became faster, and confidence followed. nothing about the athletes changed. the design did. this is the principle of age appropriate cognitive load. juniors need simplicity and repetition. seniors can handle scenario stacking and layered decisions. the brain develops over time, and instruction should develop with it. a useful framework is the cognitive load ladder. cue, pair, sequence, scenario. match the level to the developmental stage instead of the competitive ambition. there is also a practical rule. if you are giving more than one instruction to a player under fourteen, you are probably coaching for your comfort rather than their development. coaches working with juniors, what is your one cue per rep equivalent. drop it below. #coaching #sports #learninganddevelopment #youthdevelopment #highperformance

Your "perfect candidate" is your biggest mistake. Here's what actually works in 2025: This office sign changed how I hire forever. It said: "Hire for Attitude Train for Hard Skills Mentor for Soft Skills." ↳ Most people nodded. ↳ A few truly understood it. Until I started proving it was true. Example: Sarah, my most controversial hire. ↳ Zero industry experience ↳ Wrong degree ↳ "Too junior" for the role But she had something different: When everyone saw processes ↳ she saw possibilities When we discussed problems ↳ she explored patterns When others defended tradition ↳ she asked "what if?" 6 months later: She rebuilt our entire client approach. ↳ Revenue up 47%. 12 months later: She's training the "experienced" team. Here's what most miss about hiring: Skills are temporary. Mindset is transformative. ↳ I can teach you our tech stack in 3 months ↳ I can't teach curiosity in 3 years ↳ I can train process, but not persistence ↳ I can mentor management, but not drive The game has changed: Your "perfect candidate" with 10 years XP? They're perfect for the past. You need someone who can create the future. After 370 interviews and 15 mis-hires, this is the formula I trust: 50% - Attitude ↳ Learning velocity ↳ Problem-solving instinct ↳ The energy they bring to the room 30% - Potential ↳ Pattern recognition ↳ Adaptability ↳ Leadership instincts 20% - Base Skills ↳ Just enough to start ↳ Everything else can be taught The results? ↳ 90% of these hires exceed expectations ↳ 70% promoted within 18 months ↳ 85% have led major innovations Traditional hiring is broken. ↳ It optimises for the past. ↳ This approach builds the future. Who's the best "inexperienced" hire you've ever made? Share their story below ⬇️ ---- Follow ⚡️Harvey Lee ⚡️ for career acceleration tips that actually work in 2025.

After managing 500+ salespeople over 20 years, I can tell you exactly why this works 👇 I once hired two candidates: Candidate A: 10 years experience, perfect resume, knew every sales methodology Candidate B: Zero sales experience, bartender, but hungry to learn Guess who became my top performer? The bartender.  Within 6 months, he was outselling veterans. Why? He had what you can't teach. Here's what I've learned about hiring for attitude: People with the right attitude will run through walls. They'll make 100 calls when others make 20. They'll learn your product inside out. They'll turn rejection into fuel. Character shows up when things get tough: When the deal falls through at month-end. When the customer's angry. When quotas seem impossible. Character doesn't quit. Skills might not be enough. Passion is your secret weapon: Passionate people don't watch the clock. They obsess over getting better. They inspire customers to believe. They make everyone around them better. But here's the part most companies get wrong: They hire for skill and hope for attitude. They pick experience over hunger. They choose credentials over character. Then wonder why their culture's broken. Skills can be taught in weeks. Attitude takes a lifetime to build. Character is forged through years of choices. Passion? You either have it or you don't. I'll take someone with zero experience but the right mindset over a seasoned pro with a bad attitude. Every. Single. Time. Because skills without the right foundation? That's just wasted potential. But attitude + character + passion + training? That's how you build champions. What matters more to you when hiring - the resume or the mindset?

Psychological Development in Youth Football: Lessons from Benfica One of the standout features of Benfica’s youth academy is their focus on the psychological development of players. They recognize that mental toughness and emotional resilience are as crucial as physical abilities. Key Psychological Training Elements 💪 Resilience Training Benfica implements exercises that push players out of their comfort zones, fostering resilience. This might include dealing with controlled failures or managing high-pressure situations during training, preparing them for the challenges of competitive matches. ❤️ Emotional Intelligence Through regular team meetings and individual sessions, Benfica coaches help players develop self-awareness and emotional regulation. This is crucial for maintaining composure during critical moments in games. 🎯 Goal Setting Benfica encourages players to set short-term and long-term goals, both individually and as a team. This practice not only drives motivation but also teaches players the importance of discipline and perseverance in achieving their objectives. 💡 Takeaway Incorporating psychological elements into your training can create mentally strong players who are better equipped to handle the pressures of the game.