Booking now
London
What if we're wrong about performance?
29 September 2026 · 15:00 – 17:30
What if skills aren't the issue, and a learning programme is no longer the answer?
Charles Jennings · Alex Boulting
Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, EC1
Four Corners Club
For people creating better places to work.
A professional community for people leading Learning, People, Talent and Organisational Development.
London conversations now. Manchester joins in January 2027.
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Our belief
Better conversations
lead to better decisions.
Better decisions create better organisations.
Better organisations create a better society.
Why Four Corners
How are other organisations approaching this?
Organisations repeatedly face similar challenges. Yet there are relatively few places where practitioners can openly compare what they tried, what worked, what didn’t and what they would do differently.
Peer discussion can introduce another way of working. It can equally confirm that the current approach is sound.
- leadership
- culture
- performance
- technology
- communication
- change
- helping people thrive
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Conversations deepen understanding. Reflection creates learning. Learning enables improvement.
Events begin conversations. Corners keep them going.
01
Conversations
Short contributions introduce an issue, idea or challenge.
02
Reflection
People doing the work compare experiences, question assumptions and explore different perspectives.
03
Learning
Useful insight emerges from experience, reflection and research.
04
Corners
Small peer groups continue conversations worth continuing between events.
Next conversation
London · 29 September 2026
Programme
An ongoing programme, not a one-off event.
29 Sep 2026
London
What if we're wrong about performance?
Booking nowRead more & book →
24 Nov 2026
London
Are we measuring AI adoption, or whether work has actually got better?
Tickets coming soonNotify me when places open →
26 Jan 2027
London
Are we getting better at change, or just doing more of it?
Tickets coming soonNotify me when places open →
26 Jan 2027
Manchester
Are we getting better at change, or just doing more of it?
Tickets coming soonNotify me when places open →
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Worth Your Time
A few things worth exploring this month
Things we've read, watched or listened to that made us think. No sponsors. No affiliate links. Just things we think are worth sharing.
Read
2026 Global Human Capital Trends
Deloitte · 30 April 2026
Only 8% of respondents described their traditional change management and learning efforts as highly effective in helping their workforce remain relevant.
Why we picked it
This feels particularly relevant to our September conversation. Organisations invest heavily in programmes designed to change skills and behaviour. But the uncomfortable question is whether the programme itself is always the right intervention. The finding doesn't tell us to stop investing in learning. It gives us a good reason to question how quickly we reach for a programme as the solution.
Related to the 29 September 2026 conversation.
Read
Key UK findings from the 2026 Deloitte Human Capital Trends report
Deloitte UK · 8 June 2026
Only 18% of UK respondents think organisations manage change effectively.
Why we picked it
There is an interesting contradiction here. Organisations need to adapt faster, yet people may already be exhausted by constant change. Perhaps the challenge isn't simply getting people to change more quickly. It may also be getting better at deciding what actually needs to change, what doesn't, and how much change an organisation can absorb.
Read
Skills for AI: What Works for AI Upskilling in the UK
Department for Work and Pensions / Skills England · 10 June 2026 · Updated 27 July 2026
The report moves beyond simply identifying an AI skills gap and considers how organisations can actually develop AI capability effectively.
Why we picked it
There's no shortage of people telling organisations that everyone needs AI training. We're more interested in the next question: what actually works? This is useful because it moves the conversation away from AI anxiety and towards evidence about implementation and organisational practice.
Founder
Why I started Four Corners
James Pearson
I've spent nearly twenty years working in and leading learning and education organisations. I kept seeing organisations wrestle with remarkably similar challenges.
The question that repeatedly came up was simple: how are other organisations approaching this?
Some of the most useful learning came not from another presentation or programme, but from honest conversations with people who had already faced the same problem. That idea became the starting point for Four Corners.