Future of HR Consulting

What do two world-class executive coaches, HR's most influential thought leader, and a 3X CHRO & Board Director, all have in common? They dropped game-changing insights on Future of HR Podcast this March. If you missed any of our powerful conversations, here's your quick guide to the big takeaways: Episode 130: "You're the Boss" with Sabina Nawaz ? It's not power that makes leaders behave poorly—it's pressure. Sabina shared practical techniques for managing this pressure effectively. ?? ? The "shut up exercise" helps leaders listen more and talk less, leading to dramatically better team outcomes and deeper trust. Episode 131: "Up Close & Personal" with Dave Ulrich ? Work is an opportunity, not a burden— Dave learned this valuable lesson from his parents and shares his personal journey in this special episode. ?? ? Embracing variance in your thinking is the true catalyst for both personal growth and HR innovation—a principle that has guided Dave's groundbreaking career. Episode 132: "How to Become a Board-Ready CHRO" with Marcia Avedon, PhD ? Great leaders spot potential in others before they see it in themselves—a powerful reminder for HR leaders developing talent. ?? ? The most successful CHROs establish credibility through relationship-building in their first 90 days, setting the foundation for strategic impact. Episode 133: "Executive Coaching: The HR Leader's Edge" with Muriel Maignan Wilkins ? Leadership presence isn't innate—it's a skill that can be deliberately cultivated through developing what Muriel calls your "signature voice." ?? ? Many highly successful executives become victims of their own past success—a blind spot that requires new approaches to leadership scaling. What was your biggest takeaway from these great conversations? To listen or learn more about the Future of HR Podcast, check out the comments and be sure to subscribe ??

If you would have told me in grad school that 20+ years later I would be presenting at SIOP with all of these I/O rock stars... Well, I wouldn't have believed you!? Dreams do come true (no judgement of my dreams, please) and I could not be more excited to be on not one, but two amazing panels!? First up, "The Power of You: Building a Personal Brand in I-O Psychology and Beyond" with these amazing power players Charles Handler, Ph.D., Cole Napper, Paula Caligiuri, PhD, Neil Morelli, PhD, and Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D. In this session, we are going to break down "personal branding" and share our secrets on becoming an author, starting (and promoting) a podcast, winning at the game of social media, and building professional communities!? Next up will be, "Bridging the Scientist-Practitioner Gap in Human Resources Practices" with a panel of superstars including, Marc Effron, Jana Fallon, Ph.D., Aaron Sorensen PhD, and Erica Young, MPS In this session, we are going to be getting real on what needs to happen to move from "academic theory" to "practical application."??We promise HR or I-O jargon will kept to a minimum! If you are going to Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) in Denver make sure to attend one or both of these sessions! ? And please be sure to say "Hi" if you see me and we have not meet before!? Last but not least a big shout out to Charles Handler and Aaron Sorensen for organizing the panels, the invitation, and making this happen!??Hats off to you both!!

What if the biggest obstacle to your career growth isn't your boss, your organization, or even market conditions—but the beliefs in your own mind? I'm thrilled to say that Muriel Maignan Wilkins will be joining us at Elevate 2025 to tackle this exact challenge in her presentation "Leadership Unblocked: How to Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential." As the CEO and Founder of Paravis Partners, Muriel has spent two decades helping C-suite executives reach their full potential. Her insights don't just come from theory—they've been battle-tested with leaders across management consulting, private equity, biotech, and more. You may already know Muriel as the host of HBR's acclaimed "Coaching Real Leaders" podcast. Now, drawing from her forthcoming book, she'll share practical strategies for: ? Identifying self-limiting beliefs that may be holding you back ?? ? Transforming internal barriers into catalysts for growth ?? ? Building leadership presence that amplifies your impact Muriel is one of the best and for HR leaders ready to level up both personally and professionally, this session promises to be a game changer! Learn more or register now at:??https://lnkd.in/g367w7DY What beliefs have held you back over your career??? I share the belief that held me back below, love to hear yours as well!???? PS - Don't miss Muriel's episode, "Executive Coaching: The HR Leader's Edge" on this week's Future of HR Podcast!

I had a important conversation with an next-gen HR leader recently that I wanted to share... When they told me 2025 was their "promotion year," I asked a simple question that left them momentarily speechless: "Have you EARNED the promotion?" The blank stare said it all. "What do you mean, earned? I've been in this role for five years with great reviews. I'm ready. I expect it." Here's what I said to the HR leader... There's a world of difference between EXPECTING a promotion and EARNING one. So I pushed: "What specific results have you achieved over the last year? "What impact demonstrates you're already performing at the next level? "What would give your leaders confidence you're ready?" This shifted everything and led to a great conversation.? The HR leader got clear that it was their tangible achievements, not there time in the role that would determine if they were promoted or not. The lesson in this conversation was not that the HR leader hadn't earned the promotion, rather it was that you can't expect or hope for a promotion.? Promotions aren't awarded for hoping, waiting, or even performing consistently in your current role. They come when you: 1. Deliver results typically seen at the next level 2. Demonstrate leadership capabilities beyond your current scope or responsibilities 3. Make your achievements and impact visible to decision-makers What other advice do you have to earn the promotion???

How can you help leaders recognize and overcome their blind spots? What is a "signature voice” and why it is important in developing executive presence? Find out this week on the Future of HR Podcast... With my guest, Muriel Maignan Wilkins, CEO Advisor & Executive Coach, Host of HBR podcast Coaching Real Leaders, Founder Paravis Partners LLC as we go deep on how HR leaders can gain an edge by becoming better coaches. During our conversation Muriel and I and discuss the following: ? The biggest challenges highly successful executives face including scaling their leadership and becoming victims of their own past success. ?? ? Why understanding both context and desired outcomes is critical when coaching leaders. ?? ? Key insights from her book "Own the Room" and how developing a "signature voice" is essential for establishing your leadership presence. ?? ? Why leadership presence isn't an innate quality as many believe, but rather a skill that can be deliberately cultivated. ?? ? Practical advice for HR leaders on building credibility and delivering tough feedback effectively to senior executives. To listen or learn more about the Future of HR Podcast, check out the comments and be sure to subscribe ?? PS - And after you check out her episode, be sure to subscribe to Muriel's LinkedIn "Coaching Real Leaders" newsletter as well!??https://lnkd.in/g_AzpyZQ

Do you want to improve the accuracy of your company's succession planning process? If so, then tell me if this sounds familiar... You have leaders who are “ready now” but when the time comes to promote them into an open role, you don’t. Instead, you start an external search to fill the role.? You have leaders who have been identified as “ready within 1-2 years” for the last 3 years with no movement.? The reality is in creating succession plans we are trying to do two things... 1) We are trying to predict someone’s readiness for a role.?? 2) We are trying to predict the likelihood that they will be successful in that role. No easy task, which is why we often get this wrong.? But if we take a different approach, we can get succession planning right more often If Finance creates a forecast for Q1 results, you can expect that they will compare their forecast to the actual results for Q1.? Why? Leaders want to know how well Finance's prediction (forecast) performed against reality.? HR and Talent leaders need to put in place a similar approach when it comes to succession planning.? Here is what I have done in the past and I recommend you try… 1. Assess the turnover for all roles captured in your succession plans over the past year. 2. Determine how many times you had the opportunity to execute your succession plan (e.g. a leader resigned and you had a “ready now” successor).?? 3. Document the number of times that the organization executed on their succession plans (e.g. a role opens and you promote the “ready now” successor). 4. Calculate the percentage of time you executed your succession plans over the past year Let's say you had 6 leaders leave the organization and you promoted 3 leaders that were "ready now."??In this example, you had a 50% “success rate” on executing your succession plans. With this data in hand, the next step is to discuss your succession planning “success rate” with your leaders. How many times did you execute your succession plans? When did you not execute your plans? Why? The goal here is to not place blame, remember succession planning is a team sport. Rather the goal is to learn together and improve your succession planning process.? How can we be more accurate and realistic with our succession plans in the future? Did we accurately identify the “right” potential successors, to begin with? Have we identified and aligned on the key criteria for someone to be on the succession plan? Why didn’t we promote that leader who we all agreed six months ago was “ready now”? I would love to hear if you have done something similar.??What other questions you might ask in this meeting?? What other best practices can you share on succession planning? PS - If succession is a hot topic for you, check out my "Succession Planning Playbook" to learn more on what “great” succession planning looks like!????

Ever wondered what your CEO is really thinking about your HR initiatives? Jay Parker knows exactly what goes through a CEO's mind when evaluating HR's strategic impact - because he's been there, leading multi-billion dollar divisions at Fortune 100 companies, including serving as President of Dell's $50B+ Personal Computing Group. At Elevate 2025, Jay will pull back the curtain and share the unfiltered truth about what CEOs actually expect from their HR leaders. In Jay's session you will learn: ? Practical approaches to elevate your business acumen and strategic thinking ? Techniques to expand your influence and business impact ? Strategies to become the trusted advisor your business leader genuinely values And as with all Elevate sessions, you will have 30 minutes of Q&A to get your specific questions and challenges addressed in real time.? Jay now leads Mentorforce, an innovative platform for mentoring and developing the next generation of business leaders - and his session promises to be one of our most insightful at Elevate. Don't miss this rare opportunity to gain insider perspective on what separates high-impact HR leaders from the rest. Learn more or register at: https://lnkd.in/g367w7DY

Is "Digital Fluency" going to be one of the biggest HR buzzwords in 2025? If my recent client conversations are any indication, developing HR leaders who are digitally fluent is definitely going to be a hot topic in 2025 and beyond. The concept of digital fluency isn't new, but it's making a significant comeback thanks to... You guessed it: our friend Generative AI. What is digital fluency and how does it differ from digital literacy? Digital literacy is understanding how to use the tools. Digital fluency is the ability to create something new with those tools. Think of it this way: - Digital literacy is knowing where to find the ingredients in your kitchen - Digital fluency is creating a gourmet meal without a recipe using those ingredients In the past, as an HR leader, you only needed to know how to use the technology. Now, you need to know how to use technology to solve business problems, adapt to new challenges, and create new value. So, what does it take to become a digitally fluent HR leader? Here are my foundational capabilities for building digital fluency for HR leaders: ? Go beyond knowing your business fundamentals—understand revenue streams, profit centers, and the value chain that drives daily operations ?? ? Expand your HR technology knowledge—particularly AI applications reshaping the HR landscape ?? ? Build analytics capabilities—use analytics tools to identify trends, predict talent needs, and measure program effectiveness or ROI ?? ? Develop process and job redesign expertise—be able to reimagine roles and workflows around digital capabilities ?? ? Embrace a continuous learning mindset—stay curious about emerging technology trends and their possible workforce implications What would you add? Is your HR function focused on building "digital fluency"?

It is hard to believe, but we are only 2 months away from Elevate 2025... Only 2 months away from learning from 18 world-class HR thought leaders... Only 2 months away from taking your business acumen, strategic thinking, influence skills, and coaching capabilities to the next level... And less than 24 hours to get "super early bird" pricing and save $350! ????, ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ???? ??????????????? ? Dave Ulrich unveiling the next agenda for HR ? Muriel Wilkins showing you how to break through the beliefs that limit your potential ? Marc Effron connecting talent philosophy to business strategy ? Jeremy Kirshbaum & Lev Gorelov on AI-driven process redesign for HR leaders ? Riina Hellstr?m on how to implement Agile HR ? Vicky Zhao teaching executive communication frameworks ?? And 12 more HR thought leaders sharing actionable insights! ???????? ?????????? ?????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ?????? ????????-?????? ???? ??????????????? ? Live Q&A with every speaker to address your specific challenges ? A format designed for busy professionals (just 2 focused sessions per day) ? Complete access to session recordings to reinforce learning on your schedule ? Weekly "Action & Reflection" labs to reflect on how you can put insights learned into immediate action. This is why I believe Elevate is a one-of-a-kind, best-in-class virtual development experience for next-gen HR leaders! Don't miss this chance to develop your capabilities and accelerate your career at Elevate 2025. Register now at https://lnkd.in/g367w7DY

What separates HR leaders who secure board seats from those who don't? As a new CHRO, how can you establish credibility and build trusting relationships in your first 90 days? Find out this week on the Future of HR Podcast... With my guest Marcia Avedon, PhD, 3X CHRO, Board Director, Human Capital Expert, and Executive Coach as we get into what it means to be a "board-ready" CHRO! ? During our conversation Marcia and I and discuss the following: ? Why great leaders spot potential in others before they see it in themselves. ?? ? How the role of the CHRO has evolved to be seen as strategic business partner and valued board member. ?? ? Practical strategies for HR leaders to position themselves for board opportunities. ?? ? Why effective communication is the cornerstone of successful organizational transformation. ?? ? How new CHROs can establish credibility and build meaningful relationships in their first 90 days To listen or learn more about the Future of HR Podcast, check out the comments and be sure to subscribe ??