Dr. Valerie Anderson, Chartered MCIPD, is Principal Lecturer in HRM at Portsmouth University Business School, UK. She gained extensive HRM and HRD management and consultancy experience in a range of different public and private sector organizations before moving to a career in higher education. Valerie's main teaching activities relate to research methods, leadership and management, and learning, training and development. Her research interests are focused on learning and development in work organizations. She was the lead researcher for two CIPD research projects: The Value of Learning (2007) and Coaching at the Sharp End (2009).