Developing A Leadership Pipeline

This week I spoke with a Head of HR who has been with their company for 8+ years. They told me they’re ready for a change. I asked why, and the answer was one I hear often: “Things are smooth sailing. The department runs like a fine-tuned machine. The company has actually reduced in size since I joined. Flat out… I’m bored.” *I’m not challenged here* is one of the most common stories I hear from HR leaders with tenure at their current company. And it got me thinking... What can HR leaders do when the company isn’t growing, the department isn’t broken, and yet they want to stay engaged and add value? What does digging deeper really look like? Not every career plateau means you need to jump ship. Sometimes it’s an invitation to stretch wider and think bigger. I want to share a few ways I’ve seen HR leaders repurpose their energy and spark new impact: - Lean into HR tech and AI. Audit current tools, automate manual processes, and explore new solutions that truly move the needle. - Elevate employee development by launching new mentorship circles, leadership workshops, or cross-functional training. In a non-growing company, retention and growth of your existing people is everything. - Double down on culture and build programs that strengthen engagement, belonging, and retention even when headcount is flat. - Turn data into strategy. Analyze turnover, engagement scores, and succession gaps. - Deepen succession planning and future-proof leadership pipelines before there’s a gap. - Expand your impact by getting involved with your community. Speak at conferences, mentor rising HR pros, contribute to industry groups. The external perspective often reinvigorates the internal work. These are just a few. I’d love to hear from this community: how have you (or your HR leaders) stayed challenged in times of stability? Maybe one of these ideas is the spark another HR leader needs today! #HRLeadership #ExecutiveSearch #HumanResources #CHRO #LeadershipDevelopment

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 What worked for you in the past, may not work in the future. As problems evolve, the solutions for them have to evolve as well In my conversations with mid-management professionals, one recurring theme stands out: a reliance on what worked in the past. They often stick to familiar processes or methodologies, even when the landscape and challenges have evolved. It’s not about a lack of awareness. It’s about comfort. Familiar solutions come with predictable outcomes, and even when they fall short, people know how to manage the fallout. The truth: 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. The problems of the future demand new perspectives, new skills, and innovative solutions. As knowledge professionals, we must adopt this mindset: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.” To stay relevant: 🔹 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 — don’t let past successes define your playbook. 🔹 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 — continuously learn, adapt, and explore new methodologies. 🔹 𝐁𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 — equip yourself with skills for the problems yet to come. The world is changing fast, and so must we. Keep learning, keep growing, and stay ahead of the curve. 🚀 #Leadership #Reskilling #FutureOfWork #ContinuousLearning

At Champions of Change Coalition, we’ve set out to tackle one of the toughest challenges in corporate Australia: building CEO pipelines that reflect the full depth of talent and experience across our communities. More women are participating in the Australian workforce than ever before, and unlike previous generations, many are maintaining strong career connections through different life stages.  Despite this unprecedented participation and depth of talent, women remain significantly underrepresented in the most senior leadership roles, including women from culturally and racially marginalised backgrounds and women with disability, who face additional and compounding barriers to accessing leadership positions.  These gaps point to much deeper issues at play including a candidate selection system that is too narrow in how it defines and recognises leadership potential.    “Securing your future leader: Building diverse and inclusive CEO pipelines” is a practical guide for Boards, CEOs, People & Culture leaders and recruitment advisers to build pipelines that are transparent, fair and future-fit. It includes:  • Transparent CEO capability and selection criteria with inclusive leadership embedded across all categories. • Practical tools for Boards, CEOs, People and Culture leaders and recruiters to broaden pathways and strengthen talent development and selection systems.  • The first collection of case studies from women CEOs, capturing candid insights into barriers, enablers and advice for future leaders.  • Guidance on setting up new CEOs for success, ensuring they are supported to lead both business performance and cultural change. Leadership strength and inclusive capability are now inseparable. The organisations that get this right will be the ones that stay ahead. Organisations that fail to build gender-equal diverse and inclusive CEO pipelines will find themselves short of choice, capability, and ultimately credibility.  This work began as an initiative of our Property Champions of Change Group and grew into a Coalition-wide collaboration. It’s grounded in research and deep listening, drawing on more than 40 interviews with CEOs, Directors, recruiters, Chief People Officers, and emerging women leaders. It is an easy, practical read, full of great tools that can be adopted, adapted, or built upon to help us collectively create a new standard of leadership. We’d love to hear your reflections: Download the resource: https://lnkd.in/g696qqem My heartfelt thanks to everyone across Champions of Change Coalition who contributed to this work — to our Members, CEOs, Directors, recruiters, People and Culture leaders, and the incredible women who shared their experiences so generously. You have created something both practical and powerful: a roadmap for the next decade of leadership. #InclusiveLeadership #FutureLeadership #GenderEquality #CEOPipelines #SystemChange 

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 From ordering on Amazon to studying how Amazon actually builds people. What caught my attention wasn’t speed or scale. It was a very deliberate capability system Amazon built early on to solve a people problem most companies struggle with silently. The problem was clear. As Amazon scaled rapidly: • Managers were technically strong • Teams were growing fast • Decisions were getting delayed • Ownership was becoming uneven So Amazon didn’t launch motivational programs. They built a behavioral capability program called the Amazon Leadership Principles (LP) Mechanism, reinforced through the Bar Raiser Program. This was not a culture deck. This was a system. Here’s what Amazon actually did. Problem statement was clear - High-performing individual contributors were becoming managers, but lacked: • decision clarity • ownership mindset • strong people conversations • behavioral consistency at scale The capability program Amazon hard-wired 16 Leadership Principles into: • hiring interviews (through Bar Raisers) • promotion decisions • manager feedback loops • leadership training simulations Every manager was trained to assess behavior, not just outcomes. Examples: • “Disagree and Commit” → how decisions move without consensus paralysis • “Ownership” → how leaders respond when things break • “Dive Deep” → how conversations shift from opinion to data These were explicitly practiced, observed, and coached. What changed : Managers stopped managing outcomes alone. They started managing behavioral signals early. 📊 Impact (reported across Amazon leadership & people analytics studies): • 20–25% faster decision cycles in LP-aligned teams • ~30% reduction in first-time manager failure rates • Significant drop in escalation loops and rework • Higher internal mobility and lower cost of external hiring This wasn’t soft skills. This was behavioral capability engineering. Now here’s the important part for GCCs entering India. Most GCCs copy: • org structures • processes • tech stacks Very few copy capability mechanisms. The GCCs that scale successfully will adapt this structure by: • defining 6–8 non-negotiable leadership behaviors • embedding them into hiring, promotions, and feedback • training managers to observe and coach behavior, not just performance • tying learning ROI to decision speed, ownership, and execution quality Not more training hours. Not generic workshops. But repeatable behavioral systems. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐆𝐂𝐂 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭: • 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 • 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 • 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 • 𝐑𝐎𝐈-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Because scale without behavioral capability only creates noise. #GCCIndia #leadership

Teams don’t just listen to what leader says. They adapt to what you reward. They watch what you tolerate. And they remember how you react. That’s why one of the most damaging dynamics I see in organizations is what I call Mixed-Signal Leadership. It sounds like this: 🗣️“We value psychological safety… but we expect flawless execution.” 🗣️“Bring your ideas… but don’t challenge my decisions.” 🗣️“Be honest… but don’t show weakness.” In a result people learn that the rules of the game are different than what’s written on the walls. The fix isn’t another speech about “openness” or “trust.” The fix is behavioral alignment: 👉React to mistakes with curiosity, not punishment. 👉Treat dissent as data, not defiance. 👉Praise learning in the process, not just outcomes. In my Safe Challenger©️ Leadership Program, I help leaders close that gap. We work on building awareness of these subtle contradictions and on creating behavioral alignment, so that what leaders say, reward, and tolerate finally sends one clear message: „We don’t just work safely here; we grow boldly”

There's an old adage that says great leaders must be “player-coaches,” both doing work and coaching their teams. It sounds appealing as an executive: hands-on and guiding. A two-fer, or two-for-one in one salary. Lovely. But in reality, the dual role splits focus and dilutes impact. Do you want that of your leadership team? True leaders either coach or play. Mixing both guarantees underperformance. Executives know too well that attention is zero-sum. You're either listening to your CEO or Board with your whole self, or you're not. So when you dive into projects, you lose sight of team growth and strategy. When you coach, you can’t deliver on tasks at scale. Splitting time means neither your execution nor your mentoring or coaching, depending on the scenario, ever reaches full power. Executives can easily fix this, but I'm not sure they want to know how. The easy fix is separating roles. Create dual career tracks: one for deep experts (“players”) and one for strategic mentors (“coaches”). You can also spin up “learning labs” into structured apprenticeships run by senior ICs. Conversely, schedule dedicated “coaching sprints” so leaders focus solely on team development. Auditing your leadership model/approach, particularly given it's mid-year review time, is a great first step. Ask yourself, "Are my leaders playing more than coaching? Who is it and why?" This gives you the insight you need to reassign hands-on tasks to expert contributors and free your leaders to guide the team. This shift will multiply impact, scale talent, and cement your team’s competitive edge. Have you ever been labeled a player-coach or asked to be? How does this resonate with you? I can't stand trying to do both. I find I always have failed at one or the other when I do. #leadership #humanresources #customerexperience #futureofwork

When your people show up online, so does your brand. A few months ago, I partnered with a brilliant team. They were doing incredible work - delivering outcomes, building relationships, leading projects. But from the outside looking in, you’d never know it. 🔍 Their leaders weren’t visible. 🔍 Profiles were inconsistent or outdated. 🔍 There was no coordinated LinkedIn presence. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to show up they just didn’t have the support, structure, or confidence to do it consistently. 💡 So what did we do? We didn’t just run a LinkedIn training workshop and hope for the best. We built a clear, staged approach that empowered the team to build visibility in a way that was aligned, practical, and achievable. 🧱 Foundations First - We reviewed every profile from execs to mid-level leaders to align with company values and clearly reflect each person’s value. 🎯 Personal Brand Messaging - We created messaging frameworks. This didn't mean turning people into influencers, telling them to create videos or post daily. It was to give them the language to talk about what they do with confidence. 🗣️ Confidence to Contribute - We focused on how to contribute on LinkedIn: engaging with others, sharing updates, and amplifying company content all tailored to their roles. 🤝 Connection with Purpose - We supported the team in growing the right network helping them build meaningful relationships with clients, peers, and industry leaders. Leadership visibility set the tone for everyone else. 📊 Strategic Visibility - We reviewed their activity and refined based on what worked and seeing if they were having the right engagement with the right people - not just likes. 🌱 Embedding & Momentum - We wrapped up with 1:1 coaching and a team debrief. Questions were answered, blockers addressed, and LinkedIn became part of their workflow. And now? ✔️ The leadership team is consistently visible ✔️ The team understands how LinkedIn supports business goals ✔️ And the business is seeing real-world outcomes - visibility, stronger relationships, and commercial outcomes that we can map back to LinkedIn. 🧠 The Takeaway? Employee visibility is a competitive advantage. It builds trust. Attracts talent. Opens doors. It’s about what your people say, share, and show online. 🤔If you’re thinking: “Our leaders want to be more active, but don’t know where to start.” “Our competitors are online and we’re being left behind.” “We have incredible knowledge, but no one knows about it.” “We’re investing in culture and brand, but that story isn’t cutting through externally.” That’s exactly the time to pause and consider what’s possible. Because when visibility is supported with structure (not pressure) you create the conditions for people to genuinely show up. This team is only just getting started and I can't wait to see where they go from here! #linkedin #HR #digitialfirst

Here's a pattern I see everywhere: organizations trying to solve people management problems by implementing a new rule or policy instead of attacking the underlying leadership gaps that cause the problems in the first place. For example: ◆ Managers don't support employee growth → Required learning goals in performance reviews instead of teaching managers how to have meaningful career conversations and creating a culture where senior leaders model genuine investment in people's development. ◆ Low employee engagement → Compulsory team-building activities instead of developing managers who create psychologically safe environments and ensuring that engaging leadership behaviors are recognized and rewarded at all levels. ◆ Inconsistent performance feedback → Mandatory quarterly reviews with standardized forms instead of coaching managers on ongoing performance conversations and building systems that reinforce regular, quality feedback as a core leadership expectation. ◆ Lack of recognition and appreciation → Formal recognition programs with points systems instead of cultivating managers' ability to give meaningful acknowledgment and making authentic appreciation a visible, valued leadership competency. ◆ High turnover → Exit interview policies and retention bonuses instead of developing managers who build strong relationships, addressing systemic issues that drive turnover, and ensuring that people-focused leadership is modeled from the top down. Policies aren't inherently bad—they can provide helpful structure and clarity. But policies alone are easier to implement than culture change. They're measurable, compliance-friendly, and give us the illusion of progress while often treating symptoms rather than addressing the root cause: lack of interpersonal leadership skills. The most effective approach combines both: thoughtful policies that support and reinforce the leadership behaviors we want to see, paired with genuine investment in developing our people leaders. This means helping managers build authentic relationships with their teams while creating systems that recognize and reward those behaviors. It means senior leadership demonstrating what caring about employee growth actually looks like in practice, not just mandating it through policy. What makes this challenging is that this integrated approach is harder, takes longer, and can't be measured as easily as policy compliance alone. But when policies and behavioral change work together, that's when real transformation happens. Without the behavioral foundation, even the best policies become empty checkboxes that people work around rather than embrace. What leadership gaps have you seen organizations try to "fix" with policies instead of people development? #leadershipskills #culturechange #engagement

The best leaders don’t just delegate tasks. They delegate visibility. Some leaders believe their role requires being the face of every meeting, every announcement, every panel, every partnership. But the most impactful leaders know when to take the back seat. Because leadership isn’t proven by how often you take the mic. It’s proven by how confidently your people can speak without you. A true hallmark of leadership is this: You don’t just hold the spotlight. You help others stand in it. And when leaders don’t hoard visibility but develop and distribute it across their teams, something powerful happens: Teams strengthen. Voices diversify. Engagement increases. Innovation expands. And the organization becomes far more resilient than any single leader could ever be alone. If you’re committed to building leaders, not followers, here are a few ways to start: 1️⃣ Identify who’s ready for more visibility. Look for teammates who show initiative, emotional intelligence, and curiosity not just the loudest or the most seasoned. 2️⃣ Create safe practice environments. Internal meetings, cross-functional updates, and low-stakes presentations are perfect training grounds before the higher-stakes moments. 3️⃣ Invest in communication capability, not just competency. Provide coaching, speaker development, storytelling frameworks, and opportunities to rehearse. Confident communication is taught, not assumed. 4️⃣ Let them represent the team in real ways. Pass the mic. Share the panel. Let them give the client update, lead the town hall, or deliver the cross-department briefing. 5️⃣ Don’t just elevate talent, equip them. Visibility without preparation creates anxiety. Visibility with support creates leaders. Because the goal isn’t for you to be the only one who can communicate the mission with clarity and conviction. The goal is to build a team full of people who can. That’s leadership. That’s delegating accountability not just responsibility. That’s how we thrive together. This week inside my Let’s Thrive Together newsletter here on LinkedIn we’re spotlighting a leader that does this so well. Subscribe to join the conversation. Keep leading & keep thriving! ❤️📈 These photos are from our Career Thrivers Rise & Thrive Advancing Women Leaders Intensive, three days of equipping emerging leaders with the communication, confidence, and clarity they need to own their story, speak with influence, and navigate their careers with intention.