THE POPCORN TOP 10: OUR MOST-READ LEARNING BLOG OF THE YEAR (#1)
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New Year’s Day has a way of sharpening focus. It’s a natural moment to ask what’s worth keeping, what needs to change, and what “good” should look like going forward. As we reach the final post in our Top 10 countdown of our most-read learning blogs of the year, it points clearly to one answer: learning that exists purely to tick a box is no longer enough.
New Year’s Day questions tend to be bigger
There’s something about the first day of the year that invites a different kind of thinking.
Not resolutions that fade by February.
Not grand reinventions.
But quieter questions.
What are we proud of?
Where did we settle for “good enough”?
And where do we need to raise the bar?
It’s fitting, then, that our most-read blog of the year tackled one of the most persistent “good enough” habits in organisational learning.
#1 – Beyond the Checkbox: Elevating Compliance Training into Engaging, Impactful Learning
Why it mattered this year
This blog didn’t top the list because compliance training is exciting.
It topped the list because compliance training is unavoidable.
Almost every organisation has it.
Almost every employee experiences it.
And almost everyone has, at some point, clicked through it with minimal attention.
This post resonated because it said something many people were already thinking, but rarely articulate clearly: compliance training is not a content problem. It’s a design problem.
Why this struck a nerve
Throughout the year, we heard variations of the same quiet frustration.
“We know it’s important, but people just want to get it over with.”
“We’re doing what’s required, but it doesn’t change behaviour.”
“We don’t want to take risks, so we keep it safe.”
The blog didn’t criticise those realities. It acknowledged them. Then it asked a better question.
What if compliance training wasn’t about covering information, but about supporting judgement?
What if “meeting requirements” didn’t have to mean “switching off thinking”?
That reframing landed hard.
Compliance as a mirror
One reason this post travelled so far is that compliance training often reflects how an organisation really feels about learning.
If compliance is treated as a chore, learning becomes a chore.If compliance is designed with care, learning earns trust.
The blog argued that people don’t disengage because compliance is boring by nature. They disengage because it’s often stripped of context, relevance and realism.
When scenarios reflect real decisions.
When consequences make sense.
When learners are trusted to think.
Something changes.
And many readers recognised that immediately.
Why this matters as we start a new year
New Year’s Day is when standards quietly reset.
Budgets reopen.
Programmes get planned.
Old content gets refreshed, or quietly left alone.
The popularity of this blog suggests something important for the year ahead.
L&D teams aren’t just being asked to deliver learning.
They’re being asked to stand behind it.
To say, “Yes, this matters.”
And, “Yes, this is worth people’s time.”
If compliance training can be designed to respect attention, intelligence and real-world complexity, then almost anything can.
What this says about the year just gone
Looking back across all ten blogs, a clear through-line appears.
People want learning that:
Respects their time
Reflects their reality
Helps them make better decisions
And treats them like thinking adults
The fact that a compliance-focused blog took the top spot is revealing - it shows how ready organisations are to move beyond minimum standards and towards meaningful ones.
A quiet conclusion
So, as this countdown ends and a new year begins, it feels right to end here.
Not with predictions.
Not with trends.
But with a reminder.
Learning earns its place when it helps people do the right thing, in the moments that matter, when it’s not obvious what “right” looks like.
That idea clearly resonated this year.
And if it continues to guide decisions in the year ahead, it’s likely to resonate again.
Happy new year!
