The Executive Team has agreed. The restructuring will go ahead. The roles will disappear. The operating model will change. The numbers have been signed off. You were part of the discussion. You challenged the assumptions. You raised the people risks. You asked whether there were other options. You talked about critical capability, succession, workload, morale…
For senior HR leaders in Financial Services, that tension is familiar. The business wants a lower cost base. AI creates expectations of greater productivity. And workforce conversations quickly turn to how many roles could go. It is a reasonable question. But the answer depends on what the organisation will still need to deliver and whether…
For years, organisations have invested enormous energy in pay for performance. Set the targets. Measure the results. Reward the outcome. On paper, it makes perfect sense. And to be clear: I believe in performance management. People should know what is expected from them. Strong contribution should be recognised. Leaders should be held accountable for results….
One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a senior leader is not receiving bad news. Not because there isn’t any, but because people have stopped telling them. I have seen this dynamic develop in organisations more than once. Rarely does it happen overnight. A CEO doesn’t announce one morning that disagreement is…
Some of the most important things I have said in my career were the things people did not particularly want to hear. Not because I enjoyed being difficult. Not because HR should automatically take the opposite position. But because there are moments when agreeing is simply the easier option and not necessarily the right one….
There is something about summer that creates perspective. Maybe it is having fewer meetings. Spending more time outside. Travelling. Sitting by the sea. Or simply being away from the routines that normally fill our days. Whatever the reason, distance often creates clarity. Suddenly, we see things that are much harder to see when we are…
When I don’t quite know what to do next, I walk. Since moving to Málaga, that often means walking along the coast. There is something about following the shoreline that helps me think. I don’t go out with a carefully formulated question or a notebook full of things I need to solve. I simply walk….
Every month, I travel from Spain to the Netherlands to spend time with my ageing parents. These visits matter enormously to me. I want to be present. I want to know how they are doing, spend time together and help where I can. But these visits also confront me with something that is not always…
Spain showed us two powerful images within the space of a few days. The first was one of joy. The Spanish Women’s National Team lifted the World Cup and the country celebrated together. For a brief moment, differences disappeared. Success has a remarkable ability to unite people. Only days later, television screens showed a very…