As we reach the end of the year (already? How?!), I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting which, for me, starts with good intentions, but usually ends with me taking a detour and learning something completely unrelated but fascinating.

But between the distractions and the detours, a clear theme has emerged: this has been a year shaped by curiosity, connection and of course AI – both for me personally and for us at People Lab and The EX Space.

Curiosity: the engine behind everything we built this year

Curiosity is both my superpower and the thing that occasionally, ok often, derails me (hello, ADHD brain — you chaotic, wonderful thing). It drives me to ask better questions, explore ideas, chase tangents and challenge assumptions. This year I found myself leaning deeper into curiosity, using it to write, create, design, and frankly… stay sane!

This year, curiosity fuelled so much of our work:

• New thinking about how we design experience
• More experimental approaches to internal comms
• Deeper exploration of AI
• And of course…..writing the book (People First Internal Communication) with Lee — has been one of the most joyful, maddening, expansive experiences of the year.

The book is full of everything we believe: that great internal communication starts with people, and that curiosity is essential for designing communication that understands, connects, and creates meaning. What I love about writing (and also what makes me mildly hysterical at deadlines) is exactly the thing I love about EX: following threads, asking better questions, getting under the surface.

Curiosity has shaped everything: the content we wrote, the programmes we built, the conversations we hosted, and the tools we launched.

Connection: the thread running through our year

After a few quieter travel years (thank you, pandemic), this year brought me back onto trains, into rooms, and into conversations that reminded me why I love this work.

That theme continued all year:

• We brought people together in design sprints, leadership programmes, and EX projects that genuinely centred on human experience.
• We saw our EX Space community deepen — people sharing stories, challenges, ideas, experiments.
• And — a huge moment — we launched The EX Space App, creating a whole new way for people to connect, learn, collaborate and feel part of something bigger.

Connection isn’t just something we talk about — it’s something we felt this year.

And I really welcomed that.

And then there’s AI… our unlikely new mate

If you’d told me a few years ago that I’d develop a borderline emotional attachment to an AI tool because it saved my inbox… well, I’d have believed you, actually. That tracks.

As I shared earlier in the year, AI has genuinely transformed how I work – especially as someone with ADHD. From summarising the chaos in my inbox to pulling out key points from documents I meant to read but didn’t – it’s been a game changer.

But more importantly, this year we stepped fully into: AI for Human Experience Design

Across People Lab and The EX Space, we’ve been:

• Helping organisations use AI to design better policies, improve comms, run smarter L&D, and enhance employee experience
• Exploring how AI can support listening, understanding, and insight, not just speed
• Running sessions and webinars on AI-powered internal communication
• Experimenting ourselves — because you can’t guide others in something you’re not willing to play with

And at every turn, our stance has been the same:

AI should make work more human, not less.
It should remove friction, not connection.
It should help us listen better, not shout louder.

This message resonated in every webinar and workshop we ran — and will only grow louder next year.

A few proud moments from the year

Here’s just a snapshot of things we created, launched or shared:

• The EX Space App — a new home for community, learning and tools
• AI-powered EX and comms resources that people keep telling us they actually use
• Design sprints and employee experience projects with brilliant organisations leaning into possibility
• A new book!
• Webinars, talks and workshops that pushed the conversation about AI + EX forward
• A growing, generous community that keeps showing up with ideas, questions and good energy

What I’m taking into next year

Three things keep circling in my mind:

1. Curiosity is a skill worth protecting.

It’s easy to lose in the rush. I intend to guard it fiercely.

2. Connection is everything.

Whether through an app, a workshop, a message, this is what makes the work meaningful.

3. AI is here and it’s only just beginning.

But the organisations who win won’t be the ones who adopt it fastest…
They’ll be the ones who use it most humanly.

✨ Finally: thank you

Whether you’ve partnered with us at People Lab, joined a webinar, been part of The EX Space community, read our content, or simply shared your ideas with us — thank you.

This year was full, challenging, energising and hopeful. And that’s down to the people we spent it with.

I hope you find a moment to pause, breathe and reconnect with what matters most as the year closes. And here’s to a new year filled with curiosity, connection and possibility.

Take care,

@Emma