Firstly, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise, stay close to your business and understand their needs. My experience is that if you understand the way your organisation makes money, and their route to market, and can talk about it in the language of those working with customers and clients it builds massive amounts of credibility and allows us to do good work.

Secondly, don’t overlook the basics. We might want to do interesting work that pushes the boundaries of learning, but our organisations might not be ready for it. There is often a journey to go on to take them to where we want them to be.

Finally, there still seems to be a focus on wellbeing initiatives. This isn’t a problem in itself, but it does seem that most initiatives are in response to the volume of workload, the pace of change, or other stimuli. The more enlightened organisations are building wellbeing upfront, so the support is systemic, rather than retroactively addressing potentially avoidable problems.

It is coming up every month, and May was no exception. Discussions this month centred on incorporating AI into the design and development of learning programmes with community members discussing vendors and thought leaders they have used and would recommend.

There still isn’t consensus on the best approach to take here and there is a wide range of uptake. This makes sense as different organisations are in different places with some industries being impacted more than others as well as the usual range of budget available to devote to new technologies when there isn’t a proven user case. I’m also hearing a bit of resistance sneaking in as the reality isn’t seen to be matching the hype, yet.

Designing and implementing 360-degree feedback tools is a recurring theme, with vendor recommendations being requested. Conversations also explored performance management strategies, debating the separation of performance reviews and compensation processes. This builds on the theme of assessment and developing an understanding of the capabilities organisations have within their people.

I’ve experienced this in periods of economic uncertainty with organisations focussing on the bottom line much more, as well as seeking to understand who their key talent are so they can be retained.

Organisations shared their approaches to remote working, such as limiting remote work to certain locations and setting maximum remote days. These discussions reflect the adaptation to post-pandemic work norms and navigating local legislation.

The exchange highlights the challenges and innovations in remote work policies and the fact that we haven’t settled on a new normal just yet. It feels as if the economy shifts the ability of employees to make demands of their employers in terms of where and when they work shifts with the more enlightened employers using working practices as a source of attraction that it feels will pay off in the long run.