How to cultivate diverse leadership in succession planning
Demonstrating a commitment to creating a diverse leadership team is paramount to attracting and retaining staff
Making life sustainable for staff: Understanding unemployment, inflation and dissatisfaction
Understanding how to manage unemployment and staff dissatisfaction is imperative in an unsettled business landscape
Don’t leave me this way: why it’s time to ditch abrupt employee exits
Is there a better way to handle employee transitions than the traditional notice period?
How to make the business case for internal mobility
Turbulent times call for greater agility.
HR and acquisitions: what role should HR be playing?
HR plays a critical role in mergers and acquisitions that often goes overlooked. Beyond financial due diligence, HR must assess cultural integration and employee engagement, as failure to plan for cultural alignment causes roughly 30% of failed acquisitions.
Recalibrating the succession plan to win and retain talent
Organizations must recalibrate succession planning to attract, retain, and develop talent across all leadership levels. Rather than focusing solely on replacing departing executives, effective succession strategies should address competency gaps throughout the organization while aligning employee aspirations with business needs.
Why every business should have home-grown leadership
Organizations should develop home-grown leaders rather than relying solely on external recruitment. By identifying high-potential employees early, offering clear career progression, and being transparent about leadership opportunities, businesses can build a resilient pipeline of future leaders while improving retention and engagement.
Fostering a leadership pipeline: a springboard for long-term success
Building a strong leadership pipeline requires a long-term hiring strategy focused on retention and development rather than quick-fix recruitment. With the UK skills gap costing £63 billion annually and replacing a manager costing 2.5 times their salary, organizations must prioritize finding adaptable talent with leadership potential over simply filling vacancies fast.
What three attributes do CEOs want from their next HR Director?
CEOs want their next HR Director to act as a strategic business partner who links people strategies to business outcomes. Research shows 81% of CEOs see HR as critical to strategy, yet only 32% plan to hire internally, seeking external talent who can improve strategic collaboration and shift focus from process to results.
Linking performance management with succession planning – how to make it happen
Link performance management with succession planning by identifying high potential employees during performance reviews and capturing their data in talent pools. This approach helps organizations develop internal leadership pipelines while distinguishing between high performers and those with leadership potential.
If you are successful, will your children be?
Research shows that successful entrepreneurs’ children are unlikely to match their parents’ achievements due to regression to the mean. While family businesses often prioritize relatives for succession, 70% fail under second-generation leadership, largely driven by overconfidence bias rather than merit-based selection.
Is the ‘Peter Principle’ on your risk register?
The Peter Principle describes how employees advance in hierarchies until reaching a level of incompetence, stalling organizational growth. This management risk can be mitigated through effective recruitment, training, appraisal systems, and clear career development pathways that match promotions with necessary support and skill development.
How to implement data-driven succession planning
Use data-driven succession planning to identify high-potential middle managers and develop targeted strategies to prepare them for senior leadership roles. This approach reveals manager capabilities, motivations, and specific development needs while improving talent retention and reducing external recruitment costs.
How can we improve the female talent pipeline?
WeAreTheCity has launched the WATC Top 50 Rising Stars Awards to address the female talent pipeline gap in UK businesses, celebrating emerging female leaders below management level. Research shows over 80% of companies lack female senior managers, with women comprising just 20% of senior roles despite making up 60% of junior management positions. Companies must identify potential talent loss points and provide targeted support to retain and develop women through career progression.
Why do we still debate the composition of boards?
Board diversity is increasingly debated in Europe due to turbulent markets requiring fresh perspectives and customer-centric strategies. Legislation mandating more women, younger executives, and diverse backgrounds—combined with evidence linking diversity to better corporate performance—is driving change, though implementation challenges remain.
One-off management training is a waste of time and money
One-off management training programs fail to produce lasting results because they ignore what research shows about learning and behavior change. Effective management development requires ongoing support, organizational context, and structured implementation—not just single training events. UK organizations spend billions on management training yearly, yet skills deficits persist due to this flawed approach.
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.
Talent mobility – understanding your talent
Talent mobility is a critical component of the talent lifecycle that encompasses acquiring, developing, and deploying talent strategically. Organizations that excel at understanding their talent—by informing employees about opportunities, equipping managers to assess capabilities, and investing resources in mobility—experience 12% higher revenue growth than their peers.
Case study: how to assess emerging talent
Discover how JT assessed 19 emerging leaders through development centers, personality assessments, and competency interviews to build a strong succession pipeline. The multi-stage evaluation process identified strengths and development needs, enabling targeted coaching and career progression opportunities.
Talent mobility – essential to organisational success
Talent mobility—the strategic movement of employees across roles, teams, and divisions—is essential for organizational success. Research shows that organizations committed to talent mobility achieve better financial results by balancing employee aspirations with business needs through integrated talent management.
