Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the role of line management and learning culture in the development of professional practice for the human resource (HR) practitioner. Design/methodology/approach: Three-year longitudinal, matched-pair study involving five participants and their line managers. Findings: Two of the five participants experienced greater career growth and professional development, due to various factors; the roles of line management and learning culture. Research limitations/implications: Limitations are the nature of the research and small numbers in the study. This paper considers only two of the five categories that emerged and does not include the quantitative data findings. Practical implications: Greater attention needs to be given to informal learning processes and knowledge-sharing activities in organisations. Originality/value: Due to a number of constraints, the longitudinal method used in this research is rare. There are significant benefits to gathering data over a period of time to capture different perspectives of practice and provide deeper understanding. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)