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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• 3 Steps to Initiate a Strategic Workforce Plan | Gartner | Provides a framework for organizing workforce planning efforts and includes case examples of how organizations are implementing it to drive impact. I share my template on scenario planning in the context of SWP.

• Manager Talent Hoarding Diagnostic | Brian Heger | My new one-page diagnostic to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

• Unleashing The Power of Assessments for Leaders and their Organizations | Workforce Solutions Review | Shares three main reasons why standard "out of the box" leadership assessment approaches often fall short and provides tactics for overcoming these challenges.

• Three Areas Where Boards Spend Their Time But Don’t See Results | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance | Explores how boards can enhance their impact on critical areas such as succession planning and corporate culture.

• 4 Styles of Coaching—and When to Use Them | Harvard Business Review | Shares four distinct coaching styles based on “push” and “pull” concepts borrowed from sports and help managers determine the style that works best for a given situation.

📉 Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

WORKFORCE PLANNING

3 Steps to Initiate a Strategic Workforce Plan | Gartner

Provides a framework for organizing workforce planning efforts and includes case examples of how organizations are implementing it to drive impact. I share my template on scenario planning in the context of SWP.

Strategic workforce planning (SWP) remains a top priority for many organizations, yet annual surveys and research consistently reveal SWP capability gaps across industries. HR practitioners and stakeholders often struggle with where to begin or how to prioritize SWP actions, making simple frameworks useful for organizing efforts and gaining momentum. This article outlines a three-step framework to initiate a workforce plan: 1) Enhance collaboration by defining roles and responsibilities across stakeholder groups, 2) Narrow scope to reduce complexity, and 3) Promote flexibility by ensuring plans remain adaptable. While all three steps offer valuable insights, narrowing the scope (step 2) is particularly critical, as SWP often fails due to overly broad objectives. To address this, the article emphasizes prioritizing business problems that a workforce plan can effectively solve rather than attempting to tackle too many issues at once. Merck KGaA exemplifies this approach by requiring business unit leaders to submit problem statements filtered against criteria such as strategic relevance and data availability. This method enables the company to focus on high-impact SWP efforts and move swiftly into action. Additional insights and resources are provided, including a roles and responsibilities matrix for workforce planning. As a bonus, here is my one-page worksheet on scenario planning in the context of SWP.

Read article

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Manager Talent Hoarding Diagnostic | Brian Heger

My new one-page diagnostic to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

Internal mobility—the movement of employees across different roles and opportunities within an organization—is essential for employee development and organizational effectiveness. However, some managers engage in "talent hoarding," restricting the internal movement of high-performing employees on their teams. Managers typically hoard talent for understandable reasons: they rely on top performers to meet team goals, they've invested time in developing these employees, they fear productivity drops if key talent leaves, and they're often evaluated on team performance rather than talent development. Some managers may also have genuine concerns about whether other parts of the organization will properly utilize their team members' skills. To help address this, I’m sharing my new one-page diagnostic to help managers identify unintentional talent hoarding behaviors that may impact both career progression and organizational effectiveness. It includes 10 statements for managers to reflect on so that they can increase self-awareness around talent sharing and promote healthier talent management practices. By recognizing and addressing potential talent hoarding tendencies, managers can develop strategies that balance team performance with broader organizational talent needs. If you find value in my templates and worksheets, you will want to get on the waiting list for my new Talent Edge Circle private community, where 90% of my templates are now exclusively shared with our current members!

Access diagnostic

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Unleashing The Power of Assessments for Leaders and Their Organizations | Workforce Solutions Review

Shares three main reasons why standard "out of the box" leadership assessment approaches often fall short and provides tactics for overcoming these challenges.

Few would dispute that an organization’s ability to identify and develop future leaders better and faster than its competitors provides a competitive advantage. Just as speed-to-market with a product helps a company stay ahead, a strong leadership pipeline ensures readiness for future challenges and opportunities. Despite significant investments in leadership assessments and development programs, doubts persist about their return on investment. In this article, Allan Church, James Scrivani, and Markus Graf highlight three key reasons why standard “out-of-the-box” leadership assessment approaches often fall short: 1) Lack of Future Focus and Cultural Relevance – Generic leadership models fail to build the specific capabilities needed for an organization’s future success; 2) Over-Reliance on Specific Methods or Tools – Using a single method or tool limits the depth and applicability of insights; and 3) Under-Leveraging Assessment Data – Organizations often fail to maximize the value of the data collected. The article also shares tactics for overcoming these challenges. To address the first challenge—identifying leadership capabilities beyond generic models—I am resharing my article, Identifying Leadership Capabilities that Drive Business Performance, which helps organizations define leadership capabilities aligned with their strategy and culture.

Read article

BOARDS AND TALENT

Three Areas Where Boards Spend Their Time But Don’t See Results | Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Explores how boards can enhance their impact on critical areas such as succession planning and corporate culture.

As Chief HR Officers continue engaging with boards on critical issues such as succession and culture, it is essential to recognize where board efforts in these areas may fall. According to Russell Reynolds Associates’ 2025 Board Culture and Director Behaviors survey—which gathered insights from over 1,000 board directors across 45 countries—43% report that their company lacks a formal CEO succession plan, despite this being a top priority. While best practices suggest boards should begin succession planning at least five years, only 29% have a plan covering the next three to five years, and just 8% extend beyond that timeframe. Similarly, while 51% of boards now discuss corporate culture in at least half of their meetings (up from 37% three years ago), only 53% feel they have access to meaningful data to assess it. To bridge this gap, this article suggests that boards can engage more directly with employees through initiatives like employee resource groups, community partnerships, and structured feedback mechanisms. Leveraging data from exit surveys, external reviews, and workforce insights can help boards make more informed decisions and strengthen organizational culture. This article provides actionable recommendations for how boards can enhance their impact on critical talent and culture issues. As a bonus, I am resharing E&Y’s and Corporate Board Member’s paper on how boards can champion an organization’s talent strategy.

Read article

MANAGER EFFECTIVENESS

4 Styles of Coaching—and When to Use Them | Harvard Business Review

Shares four distinct coaching styles based on “push” and “pull” concepts borrowed from sports and help managers determine the style that works best for a given situation.

Despite ranking consistently as a top leadership quality, true coaching remains elusive for many managers who mistake giving directions for coaching. Ruchira Chaudhary's research reveals a practical framework built on "push" and "pull" concepts borrowed from sports coaching. The framework identifies four distinct coaching styles: 1) Telling (high push, low pull) works best for standardized tasks or urgent situations but risks micromanagement; 2) Hands-off (low push, low pull) suits experienced team members who thrive with autonomy; 3) Asking/listening (high pull, low push) develops critical thinking through thoughtful questions; and 4) Collaborating (high push, high pull) represents the ideal balance of guidance and empowerment. Studies show well-coached employees tackle challenges more assertively, solve problems creatively, recognize their strengths, enjoy improved morale, and achieve goals more effectively. The key insight? Exceptional coaching isn't about having all the answers but helping others discover solutions themselves. Leaders must discern when to provide direct instruction versus when to step back and let employees own decisions—a skill that, like any muscle, strengthens with deliberate practice. Other ideas are discussed.

Read article

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

EMPLOYEE RETENTION

Employee Retention: 3 Resources on Different Aspects of Employee Turnover | Curated by Brian Heger

My cheat sheet consolidates three resources on employee retention into a one-page snapshot, serving as a useful reference for managing employee retention.

Access cheat sheet

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few job cuts announced this past week:

• Audi (OTCMKTS: VWAGY). Volkswagen’s Audi luxury brand has announced it plans to cut up to 7,500 jobs in Germany by 2029, primarily in administration and development areas, as part of cost-saving measures aimed at generating 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in annual savings.

• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). The Wall Street giant plans to cut approximately 2,000 jobs later this month, representing 2-3% of its 80,000-person workforce, but excluding financial advisers. The layoffs are reportedly tied to employee performance reviews and changes in worker locations.

• Novartis (NYSE: NVS). The Swiss pharmaceutical giant announced plans to lay off 427 employees at its U.S. headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey, with layoffs scheduled between June 13 and October 24, 2025. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring initiative to optimize the company's cardiovascular commercialization model in preparation for the July 2025 patent expiration of its heart failure medication Entresto.

 Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 10 new Chief HR Officer announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Microsoft Corporation (REDMOND, WASHINGTON) [NASDAQ: MSFT]—a global technology leader—announced that company veteran Amy Coleman will become its new EVP and Chief People Officer, succeeding Kathleen Hogan, who has held the position for the past decade. Coleman has worked at Microsoft for more than 25 years over two stints, having first joined as a compensation manager in 1996. Most recently, she served as Microsoft's corporate vice president for human resources and corporate functions, where she was responsible for 200 HR workers and led the development of the company's hybrid work approach. Hogan will remain an EVP in a newly established Office of Strategy and Transformation, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella. ​​

CHROs on the Go has over 4,000 archived announcements in its database, with new announcements added daily!

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF FEBRUARY 2025

Did you miss the “Best of February” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #286, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from the month.

Read the Best of February

Thank you to SelectSoftware Reviews (SSR) for sponsoring the Best Of February issue of Talent Edge Weekly. Let SSR’s HR software experts provide you with tailored HR software recommendations from 1,000+ vendors across HRIS, ATS, Payroll, and HCM. Best part: Their service is 100% free and is rated 4.9/5 by HR teams.

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RESOURCE LINEUP

​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,500 curated articles, research reports, podcasts, and more that help practitioners drive better business results through strategic human resources and talent management.

CHROS on the Go is a subscription that provides the easiest and most convenient way to stay informed about Chief Human Resources Officer hires, promotions, and resignations in organizations of all sizes and industries.

​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6 PM EST.

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