Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #295

Redesigning work in the context of AI, realigning performance objectives, leadership behaviors that support business strategy, future of work reports, and talent reviews.

Author

Brian Heger
May 04, 2025

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Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

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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.

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

Let’s dive in! ⬇️

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

AI AND WORK DESIGN

A new article by Ravin Jesuthasan outlines how organizations can unlock AI-driven productivity by deconstructing work tasks and redeploying them across humans and machines. I share my bonus template.

As organizations seek to unlock productivity gains through AI, it will take more than simply layering new technologies onto existing work models. Instead, it requires an intentional evaluation of the work tasks that need to be performed, redeploying those tasks across humans and machines based on capability, and reconstructing entirely new ways of working. In this new article, Ravin Jesuthasan outlines five actions for doing so: 1) Start with the work itself—not the technology—by identifying which tasks can be substituted, augmented, or transformed; 2) Use AI as a force multiplier across the tech stack rather than a standalone solution; 3) Look beyond AI to holistically redesign work structures; 4) Plan ahead for how freed-up capacity will be used to create value; and 5) Make work design a core capability across leadership teams. A case study highlights how a global financial services firm overhauled its customer order process using this approach, resulting in a 59% workload reduction and 40% cost savings. To help teams begin this process, I’m resharing my one-page template that prompts users to identify critical tasks, how those tasks are currently performed, how AI might execute them in the future, and the level of change expected. While a simple tool like this isn’t scalable, it’s a powerful way to jumpstart meaningful conversations about how AI could transform task execution, reshape roles, and influence broader workforce strategies.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

My one-page infographic with practical actions to help leaders, managers, and employees realign their goals for the next few months of the performance year.

One-third of 2025 is behind us—but that means two-thirds of the year still lies ahead, presenting a significant opportunity to accelerate progress and drive meaningful performance outcomes. This is a pivotal moment to pause, realign, and accelerate progress toward performance goals. With intentional focus, leaders, managers, and employees can maximize the impact of their energy, time, and resources by: 1) revisiting and realigning key goals and priorities, 2) ensuring everyone is clear on what matters most, and 3) channeling efforts into the highest-impact activities. To support this effort, my one-page infographic outlines practical actions for leaders, managers, and employees to help realign and accelerate progress on 2025 goals. For instance, leaders can conduct a quick review of current resource allocation—including time, budget, and talent—and redirect them to areas that will deliver the greatest impact. Managers can use one-on-one meetings with direct reports to focus on key actions and priorities. Employees can push back on tasks, requests, or distractions that don’t align with what matters most. As organizations look to refresh their mid-year performance efforts, feel free to use this infographic if it aligns with your goals.

FUTURE OF WORK

Includes 5 reports from Deloitte, World Economic Forum, LinkedIn, and Oliver Wyman Forum on different aspects of the workplace, ranging from the future of recruiting to skills-based frameworks.

I’ve continued receiving requests for recent reports on the future of work, so I’ve curated five that I’ve shared since the start of the year—each with practical insights for HR practitioners and business leaders. 1) 2025 Global Human Capital Trends Report (Deloitte) – This report highlights key workforce trends; one topic I found particularly helpful is how organizations can free up worker capacity to boost productivity. 2) The Future of Recruiting 2025 (LinkedIn) – Explores how AI is reshaping talent acquisition, with trends such as skills-based hiring, quality of hire, the evolving recruiter role, and responsible AI adoption. 3) Future of Jobs Report 2025 (World Economic Forum) – A 290-page report on shifts in job roles and skills, offering data and forecasts that help guide workforce strategy. 4) Workforce Transformation in the AI Era (Oliver Wyman Forum) – Includes an insightful article (p. 34) on the evolving workplace and AI’s impact. 5) Global Skills Taxonomy Adoption Toolkit (World Economic Forum) – A 47-page guide for implementing a shared skills language to support skills-based practices. Whether you're seeing one of these for the first time or want a refresher on a previous read, hopefully, this list provides easy access to the resource you find most helpful.

LEADERSHIP AND CULTURE

Highlights how the LEGO Group launched a grassroots effort to redefine its leadership culture in support of a new strategy.

Identifying leadership behaviors that help an organization execute its business strategy is a critical yet often overlooked driver of performance. That’s one reason I wrote my 2016 article, Identifying Leadership Capabilities that Drive Business Performance. A recent article highlights how the LEGO Group launched a grassroots effort to redefine its leadership culture in support of a new strategy. Chief People Officer Loren Shuster helped create the “leadership playground”—a simple, unifying model built around three core behaviors: being brave, focused, and curious. These traits mirrored how children explore in safe, experimental environments and supported bold moves such as targeting adult consumers. Shuster shares lessons for embedding leadership behaviors at scale, including: 1) bottom-up creation—a diverse, cross-functional employee team defined the principles to ensure authenticity and buy-in; 2) simple rules, not rigid models—guidelines aligned with LEGO’s mission and were designed to be enduring and inspirational; 3) volunteer-driven implementation—1,200+ “playground builders” were trained to facilitate leadership conversations across teams; and 4) non-mechanistic evaluation of leadership—contextual discussions replaced checklists in performance reviews. This approach helped reignite business growth and embed a meaningful leadership culture. Hear more on this approach from Loren on the CultureX podcast.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

A one-page worksheet to help practitioners evaluate opportunities to improve the impact of talent reviews.

As organizations prepare for talent reviews, I’ve created this editable worksheet to assist practitioners in identifying opportunities to enhance the impact of their talent review practices. The first column includes a few considerations for practitioners to assess aspects of their talent review, such as defining the purpose of the review, establishing criteria for measuring potential, and ensuring managerial accountability. Subsequent columns allow practitioners to gauge the ‘gap’ between current and desired states, with color-coded checkboxes indicating areas for improvement (clicking the box applies a color code automatically). The final column can be used for documenting possible actions for addressing the areas with the greatest opportunity for improvement. I encourage practitioners to tailor the example statements in column 1 to fit their talent review’s purpose (the first statement in the column). This resource aims to foster discussions that generate actionable insights for improving talent review practices. And in case you missed it last month, here is my infographic, Talent Reviews: Eight Example Questions and Why They Matter. 

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Please note that this is a paid community. Already a member? Login here

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

CRITICAL ROLES

Summarizes how firms identify and manage critical roles, highlighting opportunities for improving these practices to achieve greater impact.

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.

Partial view of tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

  • Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA). The video game publisher has laid off between 300 and 400 employees as part of a strategic restructuring.

  • Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL). The US-based luxury beauty and skincare company announced it is laying off 2,600 employees as part of a broader plan to cut 7,000 jobs amid declining sales.

  • UPS (NYSE: UPS). The parcel delivery giant announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs, impacting just over 4% of its workforce, as part of a major cost-cutting and network reconfiguration strategy.

 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:

  • Grainger (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) [NYSE: GWW]— the leading broad line distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products serving businesses and institutions—announced that Melanie Tinto has been appointed as SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer, effective April 28. She joins Grainger from WEX, a financial technology solutions provider, where she served as CHRO for the past seven years. ​​

Melanie Tinto

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

Catch up on what you may have missed from me on LinkedIn:

✂️ ‘Read Online’  if email cuts off

THE BEST OF APRIL 2025

Did you miss the “Best of April ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #294, which includes 15 of the most popular resources from the month.

Thank you to our sponsor, Draup, who sponsored the Best of April.

Download Draup’s report, AI-Driven Skills-Based Talent Architecture, and learn how organizations are unlocking the potential of their skills-based practices. 

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💡 WANT TO GO DEEPER?

Want to explore talent management practices in-depth with me and other internal HR practitioners? Learn about my new Talent Edge Circle community! Please note that this is a paid community. Already a member? Login here 

Talent Edge Weekly is written by Brian Heger, a human resources practitioner. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin, X, and brianheger.com