From cleaner to COO: Karen Hester of Adnams
Karen Hester rose from cleaner to Chief Operating Officer at Adnams, becoming the brewer’s first female executive director in 152 years. Her remarkable career progression reflects decades of hard work, self-belief, and commitment to understanding people in the business.
The world of work must change… but why?
The world of work faces three critical challenges: lagging productivity despite technological advances, underutilization of educated workers, and organizational inflexibility in an increasingly volatile environment. This series explores why change is essential and how organizations can build more productive, successful, and healthier workplaces.
HR, is the search for relevance and meaning doomed?
The HR profession frequently chases trendy initiatives like neuroscience without addressing actual business problems, creating a disconnect with line managers. This tendency to adopt solutions seeking problems—combined with jargon-heavy language—undermines HR’s credibility and relevance within organizations.
Connecting transformational leadership, purpose and the triple bottom line
Transformational leadership alone doesn’t guarantee employee engagement or organizational purpose. Effective culture change requires authentic informal networks, genuine camaraderie, and time—not just inspirational speeches from executives.
Your guide to ‘relationally-intelligent’ leadership
Modern leadership requires a new agreement between leaders and employees that goes beyond security and pay to include meaningful participation in decision-making. This “relational intelligence” approach unlocks engagement and sustained performance by recognizing that today’s educated workforce expects to contribute strategically, not just execute tasks.
Get help by creating a personal following
Build a strong personal following by setting SMART goals, continuously learning through podcasts and audiobooks, and demonstrating consistent value to inspire others to support you. Creating genuine influence takes time and dedication but provides significant advantages in gaining team support and guidance.
Induction: a function of HR or masterclass of leadership?
Effective employee induction is a leadership responsibility, not just an HR function. A well-designed onboarding process that balances information delivery with relationship building drives retention, engagement, and cultural alignment from day one.
Exit the leadership vortex: to whom do operational leaders ultimately owe allegiance?
Operational leaders often feel trapped in a “leadership vortex”—operating amid chaos with limited control over direction or outcomes. Effective leaders must translate strategy into clarity for their teams while resisting short-term thinking, focusing instead on sustained organizational performance over quick wins.
Let’s settle this. Is there an “I” in “team”?
Research reveals that while team-level transformational leadership improves social support and reduces conflicts, individual perceptions of receiving special attention from leaders have a stronger impact on employee wellbeing, meaningful work, and job satisfaction.
HR and the bottom line – where does the value lie?
HR directly impacts company profitability through talent management and employee engagement. Strong HR practices in attracting, developing, and retaining talent—especially leadership—drive business performance, while research shows highly engaged employees correlate with significantly higher revenue.
It’s time to stop looking in the wrong place for the wrong people
Academic research offers crucial insights on authentic and ethical leadership that HR professionals often overlook. This article explores why traditional leadership research may be measuring the wrong things and calls for more challenging, applied studies that address complex organizational challenges rather than familiar questions.
The role of transformational leaders in wellbeing
Transformational leaders promote employee wellbeing and performance by inspiring their teams, providing role clarity, fostering a positive work environment, and showing individualized consideration. Research shows that line and middle managers adopting transformational leadership practices significantly enhance both employee satisfaction and organizational competitive advantage.
Book review: Building the Pyramid by John Stein
Building the Pyramid uses a fictional narrative about an ancient Egyptian pharaoh to explore organizational change and growth. Author John Stein outlines six stages of change management, emphasizing behavioral aspects like vision-setting, employee engagement, and personal development. The book offers practical insights for HR leaders and business professionals, though its light tone may sacrifice some gravitas for accessibility.
EXCLUSIVE: HR is at a crossroads and we need to act
Only one in 10 UK organisations rate their HR performance as excellent, with 66% saying HR lacks capabilities to meet organisational change. HR risks losing boardroom influence unless it can demonstrate value and secure investment to support business priorities.
10 questions: how well do you know your workforce?
As companies expand across multiple locations, understanding your workforce becomes increasingly difficult. This self-assessment quiz with 10 key questions helps organizations evaluate how well they know their employees’ distribution, diversity, retention, and performance metrics to inform better people management strategies.
Developing your high-potentials to retain business-critical talent
Develop high-potential employees strategically to retain critical talent and build future leadership pipelines. By identifying HiPos, creating personalized career opportunities, and fostering a development culture, organizations can ensure business continuity while meeting employees’ evolving career expectations.
Minimising leadership risk – and why it matters
One of the most surprising findings of our research into FTSE 100 companies is that while many recognise the positive impact of effective leadership management on business performance, this is not supported by any notable action. 67% of companies identified people, talent and key management as a principal risk – up from 44% in 2011 […]
Is your organisation too lean?
While lean operations can improve efficiency and reduce costs, cutting too deeply into recruitment and training budgets can harm long-term performance. Progressive organizations risk losing talented employees and face higher replacement costs if they don’t invest in succession planning and staff development.
How can companies succeed in a digital economy?
Succeeding in the digital economy requires companies to adopt flexible organizational structures, align talent strategies with digital goals, and embed digital culture throughout operations. Organizations must move beyond hierarchical models toward outcome-focused teams while attracting and retaining specialized digital talent to compete effectively.
Why understanding leadership chasms will restore the reputation and value of managers
Understanding leadership chasms reveals why many managers fail to deliver value despite climbing the career ladder. These critical transition points—from worker to manager and manager to leader—frequently cause reputations and organizational impact to plummet when handled poorly, making strong support systems essential.
