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The paper aims to put forward ten ways in which learning and development can become more effective.

It explains how each of the ten characteristics – align learning and development with strategic direction, control learning and development activity, develop the learning and development team, quantify learning and development, seek external accreditation and recognition, involve senior leadership, establish a heightened profile, integrate technology in learning, model best practice and move the function outside its comfort zone – helps to ensure that learning and development will become more effective.

It reveals that showing how learning and development provides a return on investment is only part of demonstrating its success.

The paper emphasizes the importance of learning and development aligning its activities with organizational strategic direction.

It highlights the importance of an effective learning and development function to the success of individual organizations and, through that, to society as a whole.

The paper gives easy‐to‐understand advice to learning and development specialists.

The idea that learning is a natural human activity which takes place in a relatively non‐contrived way as part of everyday life has, in the author's experience, been lost when one considers the present state of training and development in many modern organisations. While it is accepted that some contrivance of the learning activity is necessary in order to make it more effective, there has been something of an obsession amongst trainers and consultants to come up with new methods and approaches, rather than concentrating on helping people to learn. Furthermore, the training function has tended not to emphasise the important role that the line manager plays in the development activity within the modern organisation. This may have arisen because the training function wanted to demonstrate ownership and establish a power base within the organisation; however, centralised ownership of training and development does not lend itself to the promotion and undertaking of non‐contrived on‐the‐job/natural development activities.

Some recent research lends support to the evolving idea that management is specific to the situation, so that neither the work nor development of managers can be considered without reference to many variables. Case studies of four organisations and interviews with more than fifty managers in the construction industry suggest that managers rely heavily on interpersonal, decisional and problem handling skills, which they consider are largely derived from their work experiences. Management development programmes may assist the learning of such skills but are unlikely to make their best contribution unless organisations acknowledge learning as a mainstream activity, giving more thought to their long range development strategies, evolving suitable ‘learning climates’ and encouraging their managers to take a greater measure of responsibility for their own development. On the basis of this research we concluded that the contribution of the management development practitioner should be more variable than has usually been the case. His role, like that of the manager, should be largely determined by the situation and he should be responsive to the particular needs of organisations and individual managers. The research supports the argument for greater emphasis on the relationship between managerial action and learning and suggests that the methods used should be more carefully selected to suit individual managers' learning styles and development objectives.

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers about the use of gamification and active learning as effective learning methods, particularly in hybrid, diverse and global organisations.

This study takes an advisory approach based upon experienced delivery of blended learning and gamification in an human resources (HR), training and development environment.

The introduction of gamification and blended learning is like any other method of development. It is only as good as the planning. Gamification as a novel way of learning will not last the distance without setting objectives, planning how to reach them, evaluation and ongoing support for behavioural change.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the viewpoint of the author and has not been published elsewhere.

This article presents a summary of the interview with Rino Schreuder, managing director of the European Management Development (EMD) Centre, founder and chairman of the European Executive Development Network, Editor of the Dutch Management Development Journal, and Editorial Board member of the UK journals Development & Learning in Organizations and Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Schreuder has over 20 years of experience working for Fortune 500 and other firms in the area of management development and training.

The interview is conducted by three independent interviewers.

In this interview, Rino Schreuder shares his perspective on the present situation and the future of the Dutch learning and development market. Drawing on a parallel between the properties of the Dutch culture and problems in the learning market, Schreuder highlights the importance of more integrated ways of working between learning providers. He also calls for rethinking the role of learning professionals and chief learning officers (CLOs) in organizations and the organizational practices that measure learning outcomes through return on investments (ROI).

The paper presents valuable insights of a leading professional in the field of management development and training into the future of learning and development in The Netherlands.

Highly developed and agile learners who can clearly convey and call on their skills are sought in all walks of life. Diverse demand for these capacities has called attention to how the skills and knowledge gained during doctoral study can be conveyed, translated and leveraged in non-academic settings; however, the complex learning reality underneath doctoral development is challenging to convey.

The data set for this particular analysis was obtained from 245 in-depth telephone interviews with PhD candidates collected prior to COVID-19. Candidates were asked about learning processes, challenges and changes, and both the questions and thematic analysis were guided by theories of doctoral development and transformational learning.

For many participants, learning and development were not familiar topics, while a small proportion deflected questions about learning altogether. One fifth of participants presented rich and lucid accounts of learning in which cognisance of complexity, metacognitive processes and transformational experiences were embedded and multiple avenues of development were in evidence. They were well-placed to convey the complexion of doctoral development. Candidates more deeply engaged in learning also commented more about changes they noticed in themselves. The most identified avenue of development was in understanding and approach to knowledge.

Candidate communication about learning and development is an under-explored dimension of doctoral experience and skill that is relevant to advancing knowledge about doctoral development and illuminating graduate potential both within and outside academe. This must constitute a key element of the re-vitalisation of the doctorate post-pandemic. The salience of framing transferable skills within a learning development perspective is discussed.

Looks at learning logs and their relevance in the context of self‐development in organizations and in education ‐ especially within skills development programmes.

Recounts how learning and development strategy at Costa Coffee (a division of Whitbread Restaurants) was investigated and shaped through a postgraduate research study. Describes the research methodology, which sought to benchmark Costa Coffee’s learning and development department and team against two competitors, resulting in the creation of a new benchmarking model. Shows how the model can be used to measure and monitor learning and development effectiveness and offers conclusions for organizations in hospitality, retail and other industries.

Little has been written about developing directors and even less about how to integrate learning on a formal programme with learning through work itself. New research on learning from experience is reviewed and the four approaches which were found to have been used by directors are described. Examples are given of programmes built on structured work‐shops for directors of two major UK companies; how working on real projects within such workshops can be integrated with “normal” learning from experience is illustrated. Finally it is shown how this form of devel‐opment improves organisational performance.

As universities find new ways of implementing professional development programs (PDPs), very few scholarly studies have examined how teachers could advance their knowledge and skills through PDPs that are developed based on nonformal learning approaches. To address this knowledge gap, the current study examines how PDPs could be facilitated using nonformal learning approaches to enhance the current and future professional practice of teachers in a South African University.

Data for the current study were gathered using semistructured face-to-face interviews among 28 teachers who were purposively sampled from the university. The interview data gathered were analyzed using thematic analysis.

The four themes that emerged from the narrative data analyzed were: developing teacher professional practice through diverse nonformal learning arrangements; challenges associated with PDPs that are designed using nonformal learning arrangements; teacher rationale for participating in PDPs that follow nonformal learning arrangements and; the role of leadership in professional development. The findings reveal that nonformal approaches are used widely in the professional development of teachers and teachers have diverse reasons for joining PDPs. Further, leadership also plays a major role in the professional development of teachers.

When HEIs use nonformal learning approaches to facilitate PDPs, they could 1) enable teachers to easily transfer the knowledge they acquire from the PDPs to the teaching and learning setting and 2) create a situated learning environment where experienced teachers and other experts support the professional development of young teachers.

This paper presents original ideas on how nonformal learning approaches could be used to facilitate PDPs and to enhance the professional practice of teachers in HEIs.