Talent & Skills
What if the biggest workplace risks are hiding in plain sight?
Employee disengagement rarely happens overnight, yet organisations often miss the subtle behavioural changes that signal much trouble ahead. Laura Brennan explores why traditional performance measures fail to capture emerging problems, and how recognising withdrawal, mistrust and declining collaboration could help leaders prevent costly consequences before they become impossible to ignore. In 2024, the drop in global employee engagement cost the world economy $438 billion in lost productivity. This wasn’t through redundancy or restructure, but through the quiet, cumulative effect of…
Resistance to your capability framework is almost always rational
Ben Satchwell argues that pushback on capability frameworks is usually rational feedback, not irrational resistance. Drawing on established research, Ben shows common objections often signal solvable issues: weak co-design, unclear data use, ignored history, time burden, or a missing personal why. Instead, ask what would need to change for support. When people push back on a new capability framework, the project team tends to file it under “resistance to change”, as though resistance were an irrational reflex to be managed,…
Gen Z doesn’t want another training course
Gen Z is taking control of its professional development, but traditional training approaches risk holding young workers back. Trent Cotton explores why self-directed learning is reshaping expectations and how L&D teams can respond with personalised pathways, meaningful mentorship and opportunities that build on existing skills rather than starting from scratch. Think about an athlete who shows up to pre-season already in shape. They have done the work before competition time, studied the playbook and built their conditioning on their own…
Stop briefing managers and start developing them
Ben Satchwell argues that “manager activation” fails when treated as a communications task. Talking points distribute messages but don’t build the skill to handle sceptical, unscripted conversations. Adoption is decided in real capability-building discussions. Equip managers through working sessions so that they understand the why and can adapt and feedback. When a capability framework reaches the rollout stage, managers get a pack. Talking points, an FAQ, a slide or two to use in their next team meeting, perhaps a short…
Please send adults: Is immature leadership holding organisations back?
Pressure can make even accomplished leaders default to certainty, speed and control, shutting down the perspectives they most need. Karlee Fain reasons that mature leadership depends on awareness, curiosity and the capacity to tolerate discomfort, creating the conditions for wiser decisions, stronger trust and more sustainable organisational performance over time. We were already running behind when a fork went flying across the tour bus and shattered a television. Which, in case you’re wondering, is not typically how leadership decisions are…
Skills-based hiring is everywhere. So why aren’t we seeing results?
Look beyond job titles and credentials to understand what candidates can actually do. Rami Albatal explores why skills-based hiring often fails to deliver meaningful hiring change, how task level data can uncover overlooked talent, and why closer collaboration between recruitment and learning teams can strengthen internal mobility and hiring outcomes. Talent leaders today describe hiring differently than they did a few years ago. They talk more about skills, what people can do, rather than the credentials and previous roles they…
Lead with why, not what: The communication mistake every rollout makes
Ben Satchwell argues most capability framework rollouts fail in the first email by leading with what: structures, levels and process. People engage only once they understand why and what it changes for them. Translate organisational rationale into individual relevance, sequence communications purpose first, then mechanics, address appeal and threat honestly. The first communication about a new capability framework almost always leads with the what. Here is the structure. Here are the five capability domains. Here are the four proficiency levels…
From cost centre to growth engine: Enter the Chief Revenue Officer of Talent
Barb Hyman argues that talent acquisition and talent management must stop operating in silos and start acting as a single business engine. By connecting hiring, internal mobility and learning to commercial outcomes, organisations can reduce restructuring costs, deploy skills more effectively and make talent a genuine driver of value creation. Somewhere over the Atlantic, I keep circling back to a question I hear in boardrooms everywhere: why do we still treat talent as a cost centre, when in reality it…
From crappy tasks to the C-suite: fixing the female leadership pipeline
Women often outperform men on key leadership measures, particularly collaboration, relationships and crisis management, yet barriers still block their route to senior roles. David Buchanan and Steve Macaulay examine the evidence and set out what HR and L&D can do to strengthen the leadership pipeline and stop wasting valuable talent. Recent studies have found that women make better leaders than men. This is a compelling reason, beyond equality and diversity, for appointing women to senior management positions. In this article,…
Executive sponsorship is mostly theatre. Here’s what real looks like
Ben Satchwell argues most executive sponsorship is theatre: a budget sign-off, a launch email, a kick-off cameo. Prosci research shows active, visible sponsorship is the biggest driver of change success. Ben sets out five behaviours real sponsors demonstrate, from owning the why to spending political capital and handling resistance personally. Ask any capability framework project who the executive sponsor is and you will get a name instantly. Ask what that sponsor actually does, and the answer is usually thinner: they…
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