L&DI Blog & News
Learning & Development Institute, founded in 1969, is the professional body representing members concerned with Learning and Talent Development in Ireland.
conference, civil service
conference, AI
National L&D Conference ...
A small selection of photos from the 2024 National L&D Conference
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News (41)
work (30)
learning (20)
development (15)
skills (13)
teams (7)
brain (5)
business (5)
upskilling (5)
conference (3)
research (3)
AI (2)
Budget (2)
National Skills Council (2)
hybrid (2)
talent (2)
Philips ROI (1)
PowerPoint (1)
Springboard+ (1)
apprentice (1)
awareness (1)
brand (1)
bullying (1)
change (1)
civil service (1)
disability (1)
erasmus (1)
graduation (1)
leaders (1)
masters (1)
memory (1)
micro credentials (1)
partnership (1)
retention (1)
return on investment (1)
storytelling (1)
training (1)
masters, graduation
Master's Graduation
Over 40 learners assembled at DCU for the first graduation of the MSc in Strategic L&D
Spotlight: Ireland’s ...
Gerard Walker puts the spotlight on Ireland’s Employment and Training Performance based on Irish and EU sources, including comparisons with EU countries.
learning, partnership
The Power of Partnerships
Elaine McGleenan discusses what makes a long-term vendor/client partnership last the test of time.
work, skills, Budget
Budget 2025 Response
L&DI's response to the Irish Government's recent 2025 budget announcement
work, AI, PowerPoint
AI Tools in PowerPoint
Fiona Walsh, a Microsoft Master Trainer, looks at the native AI features within PowerPoint 365 and encourages AI-phobes to begin utilising the tool.
News, upskilling, National Skills Council
Irish SME: Skill ...
EU Year of Skills gave great impetus to skills development, fostering a culture of lifelong learning and matching the labour market's skills needs.
News, skills, National Skills Council
Sinead Heneghan ...
L&DI CEO Sinead Heneghan appointe to National Skills Council
Book Review: Leading ...
A light hearted book review of Leading Impactful Teams by James Loutitt with a focus on learning & development and project management
development, skills, upskilling
Curtain comes down on ...
Recap of the closing ceremony for the European Year of the Skills
learning, training, disability, awareness
The disability knowledge ...
The L&DI profession and the disability employment gap
skills, erasmus
Spotlight on the EU ...
EU Erasmus+: Fostering inclusive and innovative ways of learning and teaching in Europe.
work, skills, upskilling
Utilisation of Job ...
The recently published EU Jobs Skills survey asked employed people about the skills they used at work and the allocation of time spent on these skills
skills
Addressing Digital ...
Department of Health is finalising a new Strategic Framework to provide direction for digital healthcare to 2030.
work
It's a Wrap - A Guide to ...
A guide to creating a stress free break at Christmas for yourself, and to be able to return to work in January as a more productive version of your old self.
The Trust Piggy Bank – A ...
Managers and employees must build trust when working remotely. Things to do, and things to avoid. Build strong remote relationships.
work, News, skills, research
Ireland's Ageing ...
Ageing workforces is the subject of a recent OECD report which focuses on helping workers progress their careers or switch jobs when wanted or necessary.
work, research
SOLAS NATIONAL SKILLS ...
The SOLAS National Skills Bulletin 2023 provides valuable insights on labour market trends in Ireland with special interest for L&D professionals
Budget
Budget 2024 response
Learning & DEvelopment Institute's response and reaction to the Government's Budget announcement for 2024
work
An Evening of Excellence
With a welcome return as a gala event, the L&D community came together to celebrate the latest innovations in the sector - Excellence in Learning Awards
development, work, skills, business, micro credentials
Micro-Credentials - A ...
Recent CEDEFOP review found growth in use of micro-credentials, but review highlighted confusion among users. Now, EU aim to introduce common standards.
work, skills, talent, upskilling
Future Workforce Skills
The 2023 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report provides insights into trends on jobs and skills that businesses can use over the next 5 years.
work, business, bullying
Addressing and ...
Stopping workplace bullying, and spotting its signs, are crucial in fostering a positive work environment which nurtures growth, development & inclusivity.
News, skills, upskilling, Springboard+
Springboard+ 2023 ...
Springboard courses for 2023 have been launched offering 11,000 places over 357 different programmes with an aim of upskilling and retraining workers.
development, work, apprentice
What Works Best in the ...
Graduates transitioning from education to labour force are dealing with constant change due to decline in routine tasks and rise in tech-intensive tasks
learning, business, return on investment
Measuring Effectiveness ...
Pressure to demonstrate return from investment in L&D interventions. There is also an increasing need to reliably evaluate.
learning, News, research
Fostering Skills Use
Research investigates how organisations can harness employee skills to sustain their competitive performance in profitability, production and employment
learning, development, work, skills, business
Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation ...
Dr Cyril Kirwin makes the case for Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation Framework's shortcomings and how it is interpreted and deployed in business
learning, work, business, leaders, storytelling
Business Needs Leaders ...
Craft a narrative. Connect to a vision. Create meaning. Define the what, enable the how, share the why. All business-speak for: tell a story.
learning, development, skills, Philips ROI
Five reasons we need to ...
Dr Cyril Kirwan highlights 5 reasons why Philips ROI model is not adding any practical value to L&D efforts and why L&D's attachment to it is misplaced.
News, talent, retention
Attracting and Retaining ...
Analysis for learning & development professionals on the OECD report on attracting and retaining talent for business competitiveness
learning, development, work, News
Irish job market ...
Employment market is trending upwards in Ireland, which is of interest to Learning & Development professionals
learning, work, News, skills
Towards 2023 - European ...
boost investment in training and upskilling opportunities for workers seeking to acquire in-demand skills, the European Commission has made 2023 the European Year of Skills.
learning, development, work, conference
CURIOSITY, CHAOS & ...
Review of IITD's National Conference for L&D professionals entitled Re-Imagining Learning In the New World of Work: Curiosity, Chaos & Connection
learning, development, hybrid, work
The transition to hybrid ...
Transitioning to hybrid working is a journey. If you’ve already “arrived”, reach out to your colleagues still on the journey.
development, work, change
The Language of Change
Our emotional reactions to language are largely unavoidable. That is why the words you use matter and intentional language is critical
brand
The birth of our new ...
The Irish Institute of Training & Development (IITD) has rebranded as The Learning & Development Institute (L&DI) - a new beginning.
Why curiosity is the ...
The main principles behind The Curious Advantage, book written by Simon Brown
learning, development
It's time for L&D to fly ...
By Brian Murphy, Senior Director, Employee Skilling, Microsoft
learning
Nanolearning: The next ...
What is nanolearning?
work
How the talent agenda is ...
What can companies do to better measure and communicate how their people drive material value and risk?
learning, development, teams, hybrid, work
Reconnecting Teams
Ahead of a fast-changing future, leaders need to bring their teams back together – with purpose, energy and through fostering a sense of belonging.
learning, development, brain, memory
Learn by numbers
how to memorise the periodic table of elements. Tips and tricks.
brain
Be Braver and Bolder
A good place for learning & development professionals to start their education on green climate issues
News
Spotlight on Life Sector ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Life Science sector in Ireland comprises 500 Biopharmachem and Medical Devices companies with clusters of activity in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Waterford, and Athlone. The sector employs 50,000 people directly as well
News
National Skills Bulletin ...
Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The National Skills Bulletin 2020 produced by SOLAS (published this week) assesses Ireland’s labour market in 2019 and how the effect of COVID-19 has impacted on occupational employment outlooks in 2020. During 2019, employment c
News
Expert Group on Future ...
Expert Group report shows further improvements in the Irish labour market and an intensifying of skills shortages in certain areas The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) published the National Skills Bulletin 2015, which provides an overview of employment trends at occupational level. Wel
News
Reskilling Revolution to ...
By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increase in unemployment across the world. In Ireland, the unemployment rate has risen to 16% with young people (15-25 years) hardest hit with 38% unemployed. The importance of inv
News
Building Future Skills
By Gerard Walker Senior Economist, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Demand for Skills in Ireland’s Built Environment Sector to 2030 The Expert Group on Future Skills has just published a report which identifies the skills required by the Built Environme
News
Reaction to Budget 2022
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Department of Finance expects that the Covid-19 adjusted unemployment rate, which includes everyone on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, will fall to 9.25% this year. This is down from the peak of 19% recorded at
News
SKILLS FOR GREEN JOBS IN ...
By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Government’s 2020 Budget Statement highlights that the defining challenge of our generation is to ensure that the economy can grow while reducing our carbon emissions impact. Transitioning to a low carbon economy is a
News
National Training Awards ...
Abbott Ireland, Vascular Division scoop top prize at 2020 National Training Awards Abbot Ireland’s Vascular Division scooped the top prize at the National Training Awards last week. Abbott Ireland Vascular Division, which is based in Clonmel, County Tipperary, landed the Over
News
OECD Review of Ireland's ...
By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights Ireland's current National Skills Strategy is to be reviewed as part of a joint project between the State, stakeholders in the skills sector and the OECD. The review, led by the OECD, will focus on how Ireland is equipped to mee
News
Logistics and Supply ...
By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights Excellence in Logistics and Supply Chain Skills capability is vital for Irish enterprise competitiveness and regional development. Along with the distribution of freight goods around the country, some 80% of Irish manufacturing output is ex
News
European Company Survey ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights “Workplace practices unlocking employee potential” Findings from the 4th European Company Survey 2019 carried out by Eurofound and CEDEFOP indicate that companies with high performance workplace practices sc
News
Government publishes ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skill-Work-Insights Following on for a call for public submissions in July 2020, the Government published a Making Remote Work - National Remote Working Policy. The IITD was pleased to make a submission on how the existing
News
Personal and Work-Life ...
Job and Life Satisfaction and Barriers to Work, CSO, April 2022 By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights Remote workers and those who operate a hybrid work model were most satisfied with their job according to the recent CSO Personal and Work-Life Bala
News
Gay White elected as new ...
The IITD is delighted to welcome Gay White as its new President following her election at the Institute's AGM last week. Newly elected IITD President Gay White Gay succeeds Kevin Hannigan who has served as President of the Institute for the past four years and expertly led t
News
July Jobs Stimulus 2020
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights The Government's July Jobs Stimulus is aimed at helping businesses to protect jobs and create new jobs, supporting people without jobs, especially young people, building confidence and solidarity in consumers and communities and starti
News
OECD Report: Training in ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights This recent OECD report investigates what, why and how enterprises provide training. It presents evidence from 100 qualitative cases studies of medium and large sized companies from five countries: Ireland, Austria, Estonia, Franc
News
Digitisation as ...
“Two sides of the coin” By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs Skills-Work-Insights Initial findings from the s
News
Planning for the ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 32% of the labour force are currently in receipt of state support payments including 530,000 on COVID-19 pandemic support, 210,000 on the normal unemployed benefit, and 27,000 on COVID-19 illnes
News
The Circular Economy: ...
Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Government has recently published Ireland’s first Circular Economy Strategy 20
News
Ireland’s Jobs Market: A ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights Total employment is now at 2,506,000 - almost 150,000 higher than prior to the pandemic, according to recent employment data figures for 2021 recently released by the CSO. The figures enable a comparison with tw
News
IITD Response to Budget ...
Targeted investment and upskilling crucial Budget 2020 highlights growing risks to the global economy and uncertainty relating to the timing and form of the UK’s exit from the EU. The central scenario of Budget 2020 is preparing for the risk of a No Deal Brexit. It anticipates that in
News
Remote Work In Ireland ...
The Government's research paper on Remote Work in Ireland is a deliverable of Future Jobs Ireland 2019, which places a focus on fostering participation in the labour force through flexible working solutions. Such solutions are increasingly a priority from a range of perspectives, from sust
News
Upskilling and ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights An EU conference on Upskilling and Reskilling in the Post-covid Era took place over June 29th and 30th, 2021. This online event of European and USA presenters focussed on the upskilling and reskilling ch
News
Measuring Employee ...
Many organizations are using a variety of ways to measure employee engagement in an effort to understand the connection to organizational results and to establish a barometer on the level of engagement in their culture. Recently, the researchers at The Ken Blanchard Companies launched a study to w
News
Pathway to Work Strategy ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs Skills-Work-Insights This new Government Pathways to Work Strategy is designed to drive employment recovery in Ireland. It comprises a key element of the Governments Recovery Plan, which aims to exceed pre-crisis employment levels by 2024. The Strategy is fr
News
National Training Awards ...
Woodie’s scoop top prize at 2021 National Training Awards IITD CEO Sinead Heneghan with Woodie's Training and Communications Co-Ordinator Sean Henderson Learning and Development Organisation of the Year Winner: Woodie’s Pearse Walsh Award, presented by Ha
News
Government announce an ...
By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights Some 17,000 upskilling and reskilling training opportunities within Higher Education have been announced by the Government. This includes 11,100 new places for people seeking to upskill or reskill under the Springboard+ 2020 programme and an ad
News
IITD Comment on Budget ...
Invest in future proofing workforce skills to drive employment growth and enterprise productivity and innovation Irish Institute Training & Development response on the Budget 2019 Statement Responding to the Budget Statement Sinead Heneghan, CEO IITD commented “
News
IITD welcome provision ...
The backdrop to the framing of Budget 2021 is indeed challenging. It includes managing the economic and
News
Passing of former IITD ...
Dolores Carr-Wicks, Past President IITD and IFTDO from Letterkenny, Co.Donegal It is with great sadness that one of the great characters of IITD passed away on Friday, June 19th. Dolores was a great personality and was forever omni present for a period of 10 years in the 1990s and early pa
News
Maynooth University ...
Maynooth University Department of Adult and Community Education are asking for submission from the public on how policy for adult learning could be re-framed, adjusted or developed. The department is undertaking research in relation to policy under REGIONAL, a European research project which is ta
News
IITD book launch: New ...
August 2020 IITD is delighted to launch our commissioned publication: LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT in ORGANISATIONS: STRATEGY, EVIDENCE and PRACTICE. Authored by Prof Thomas Garavan and his co-authors, Amanda Cahir O’Donnell, Claire Gubbins, and Carole Hogan, thi
News
Public Consultation on ...
By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights The Department of Business, Enterprise, and Innovation held a Public Consultation on remote working guidance this summer in terms of how the existing guidance on remote working could be improved with some 520 submissions being made.
work
Why Email makes us less ...
Email has become a huge distraction in today’s workplace and research is pointing to the performance and productivity costs. According to McKinsey & Company, the average US worker spends 28% of their week reading and answering emails and according Stanford psychology professor Clifford Na
development, brain, teams
Why is positive mental ...
By Geoff McDonald Through his positive mental health advocacy work, Geoff McDonald has seen a significant increase in workplace interest in the topic. However, he is warning that there is a lot of work still to be done. He highlights mental health and general health should be a strategic pri
learning, brain, work
Strategic imperatives ...
There are 10 strategic imperatives every business needs to understand if it’s to be successful, according to William Buist, CEO of Abelard Collaborative Consultancy and author of ‘At your Fingertips’ and ‘The Little Book of Mentoring’. These 1
work
WE'VE GOT TO STOP ...
Okay - confession time. Did you ever leave a meeting and say to yourself – or your confidants something like “…well, that was a complete waste of time…. that’ll never work…. somebody needs to deal with yer man…” Maybe YOU didn’t and ha
work
Twitter for L&D ...
Should L&D Professionals bother with Twitter? Today’s post is by Logicearth’s Head of Learning Innovation, Fiona Quigley – who is an avid Twitter and Social Media user. (@fionaquigs) I’ve been using Twitter for a few years now. It has honestly greatly enriched my pro
learning, work
Mental Fitness: How to ...
by Kathleen Fanning Coaches and trainers are always upskilling and building up their knowledge base to serve their clients better. In recent years, the whole area of neuroscience has caught our imagination with the wonderful ‘discovery’ of neuroplasticity. As learning
learning
Starting your Digital ...
Starting your Digital Learning Journey By Ryan McInnes - eLearning Director, The Learning Rooms What is Digital Learning and why does your organisation need it? How can you ensure your digital learning strategy is aligned with your business goals? What does good digital learnin
work
Awake at Work – Using ...
Work can often be frustrating. On the job we frequently face conflicts, difficult personalities, disappointing results—a variety of challenges and obstacles. Can meditation offer us a way to manage daily struggles and challenges? Michael Carroll - author of ‘Awake at Work’ - and
teams, work
The Rise & Power of Team ...
By Louise McNamara, Director, Invisio In part one of this two-part series, Louise McNamara explored the rise of teams in organisation structures and what a high-performing team looks like, before going on to clarify what team coaching is, how it differs from other
brain
Rethinking Positive ...
We’ve all heard about the power of positive thinking but research published two weeks ago and conducted over 20 years suggests that positive thinking doesn’t actually help us as much as we suppose. In fact, across dozens of peer-reviewed studies examining the effects of positive v
development
Are You Ready? 4 ...
By Kathleen Fanning “When you are hit with life-disrupting events, you will never be the same again. You either cope or you crumble; you become better or bitter; you emerge stronger or weaker.” Al Siebert This quote by Al Siebert certainly captures the time we
teams
We’re All in Leadership ...
Barry Posner, co-author of best-selling The Leadership Challenge and Professor of Leadership at Santa Clara University, California, presented a seminar in Dublin last week entitled: The truth about leadership: What exemplary leaders do, as part of the 21st international Vincentian Business Et
teams
Cultivating a Coaching ...
By Louise Mc Namara, Director at Invisio Indulge me for a moment and think about the things that concerned you in your work life before the current crisis. Were you concerned about any, or indeed all of these?: 1. Customer experience 2. R
learning
Launch of MSC in ...
Yesterday saw the launch of an exciting collaboration between DCU Business School and the Irish Institute of Training and Development (IITD) who have come together, with the support of the Trainers’ Learning Skillnet (TLS) through Skillnet Ireland, to bring this unique programme to the learnin
learning, development, teams
Online Courses Help ...
By Mary Connaughton, Business Strategist, Code Institute The speed at which our world is changing came into sharp focus recently as the evolving pandemic forced the closure of campuses and business around the world. While many businesses were equipped to respond swiftly, colleges scramble
work
Social Media Can Improve ...
Employees see social media as key to improving workplace collaboration, according to a research report based on a survey of finance, HR and IT staff from 160 mid-market UK organisations, carried out to examine changing attitudes to the use of social media as a means of improving productivity. The s
teams, work
The Engaged Employee – ...
By Danny Sheahan There is an often quoted account of President John F Kennedy’s visit to the NASA space centre in 1962, whereby the President meets a janitor and asks, “What is it that you do?”. The janitor replies “Mr President, I’m helping to put a ma
work
Will robots be the ...
Robots already do surgery, fly drones, drive cars and answer calls for hotel chains. But could they lead human teams? Research at MIT has shown that they can make better managers and that people would rather work for a robot boss who gave out tasks than for a human being. The research by docto