WE WENT PIRATE!

Last Friday, we held our first face-to-face Talent Forum event since 2019. It was a complete joy seeing so many L&D professionals in one room, and the energy they brought was palpable.

In a session facilitated by Alex Barker, co-author of How to: Be More Pirate, we explored how we could use the lessons from the Golden Age of Piracy – taking the cartoonish buccaneers we know from pop culture and reframing them as social revolutionaries and entrepreneurs, which stimulated our conversation to re-write our own ‘rules’ and commit to action.

As one of the group shared:

“Loads going on at work and today has given me a proper can-do attitude.”

Lucy Neale, Director of Interaction L&D, shared some insight on what we have been noticing about the shift in L&D offerings in the past 18 months, which stimulated a conversation about the next chapter for L&D. She concluded that, looking ahead to the next 18 months, L&D offerings need to be:

• Flexible (in all ways)

• Connected (to what matters – to the organisation/culture)

• Individual (to circumstances/needs)

A great day all round, and it highlighted why the Talent Forum has become such an important network. Summed up beautifully by one of the group:

“I recently had the opportunity to join the Talent Forum’s first face-to-face networking session since the pandemic. I’ve been a huge fan of the Talent Forum since it started and, during the last 18 months, it’s really evolved into something special. During the pandemic, having this network at my fingertips helped me find solutions to many varied challenges and stopped me having to reinvent the wheel on numerous occasions. Finding an hour most weeks to join the Friday call is a pleasure. I broaden my knowledge of L&D every time I join, and can honestly say that through the Forum, I work on my CPD every week.”

If you’re an L&D/HR professional looking for a brilliant opportunity to meet new people within the industry and work on your own CPD, register your interest here: