There are many practical reasons why we spend our working lives in offices, meeting and conference rooms, but it doesn’t mean it’s doing us any good.

I was chatting to a fellow runner recently, while on our regular 5km route, about my work in helping individuals switch jobs. They expressed the frustration they experience when their organisation changes their role from underneath them. This led me to think about transitions coaching being useful for individuals to navigate organisational change, not just those undertaking key career moves.

As an employee, when you consider undertaking learning and development, you’re most likely to be thinking about how that particular training course or new qualification is going to benefit you, whether that’s in terms of improved skills, enhanced knowledge or potentially a career boost.

Business success is a cycle that justifies itself. Having the skills and determination to deliver success is all that seems important on the way up. But when you reach the top as a CEO or entrepreneur, it can start to seem more like a trap - a bubble of habits and behaviours that’s holding you back.

Large scale organisations are all around us, having such a profound influence on our lives, and yet, they aren’t what we think they are. This becomes an essential problem for anyone taking on a new leadership role. What is this ‘thing’ they’re supposed to be shaping and providing direction for?

Trust. Now there’s a scary word, right? Trusting other people to do what you know you could do well, but shouldn’t be focusing your attention on right now. Trusting your team to carry out tasks for which they are trained and equipped, but of which you feel strong ownership. It’s not easy.

Online learning – or distance learning as it is sometimes called – is becoming increasingly popular. Advances in technology are making it easier to access, and it has broad appeal with a modern workforce that values its flexibility.

In February 2019, we invited HR and L&D professionals responsible for investing in the development of their organisations' high potential employees to join us at Chelsea Football Club to explore Cranfield's new General Management portfolio, meet our tutors, and learn how to align the different development pathways with the specific needs and challenges embedded within their own organisational context. 

February 2019 saw the launch event of Cranfield's refreshed General Management portfolio at Chelsea Football Club. 50 HR and L&D professionals came together to explore the new courses, meet the tutors, discuss how to invest in the development of their organisations' high potential employees and learn how to align the different development pathways with the specific needs and challenges embedded within their own organisational context. 

A previous company I worked for used an evaluation sheet which asked participants to grade elements of the development programmes from 1 to 10.