The Big Career Conversation – building capability for a new future

Shape the future of work and careers

Tuesday 18 May 15:30-16:30 BST MS TEAMS FULLY BOOKED

In the opening session of our Big Career Conversation week, our panel shares perspectives on the trends impacting the world of work over the next 5-10 years. We’ll highlight the key challenges and opportunities that continual fast-paced and disruptive change will create for all stakeholders.

You will:

• Reflect on the responsibility of organisations to provide productive and meaningful work for their employees
• Explore the future role of people in a digital workplace
• Identify the implications for our approach to people management
• Consider your own contribution in this context: what are you most passionate about? How can you become positive influencers and change agents?

Our provocateurs:

Ross Smith, Engineering Manager, Modern Workplace Supportability, Microsoft; doctoral research on AI and worker displacement

Wilson Wong, Head of Insights & Futures at CIPD, expert on human capital metrics; Visiting Professor at Nottingham Business School.

Marjoleine Hulshof, People & Organisation Lead for Investec Bank; OD expert; mentor and coach; ocean activist

Hosted by: Jonathan Winter and David North, The Career Innovation Company

Make career development truly strategic

Wednesday 19 May 15:30-16:30 BST MS TEAMS FULLY BOOKED

Despite the best of intentions, career interventions are often ad-hoc initiatives. The effort needed to achieve lasting changes in mindset, behaviour and culture is seldom sustained. This session will discuss a more holistic approach based upon a model of career strategy and support.

You’ll learn:

• The importance of aligning career strategy with future capability requirements
• The significance of crafting a career proposition and supporting narrative that match the organisation’s values and needs with evolving employee expectations
• How other organisations have developed a tech-enabled framework of career tools, processes and development resources

Our provocateur: Sarah Burns, People & Organisation Development Director, BBC

Hosted by: Rosemary McLean, Laura Walker and David North, The Career Innovation Company

Facilitate internal mobility – what works?  

Thursday 20 May 15:30-16:30 BST MS TEAMS FULLY BOOKED

Faced with highly competitive markets for sought-after skills, many organisations have committed themselves to ‘build not buy’ talent strategies. In addition, we’ve seen a shift towards more internal gig working, where project teams are created by pooling the required skill sets, rather than via job titles and descriptions. In this context, it’s important to promote the value of lateral career development, and to facilitate seamless internal talent mobility. Our panel will argue that this requires sharing better information about potential career journeys, more reliable data on individual’s skills and interests, and a slick tech-enabled way of matching people and opportunities.

You’ll learn how to:

• Tackle cultural barriers to talent mobility
• Meet employees’ desire for career pathways
• Get the most from your investment in technology platforms
• Build trust in AI supported opportunity marketplaces

Our provocateurs:

Diane Tomlinson, The Career Innovation Company

Patrick Whelan, CEO, Paddle HR

Hosted by: Jonathan Winter and David North, The Career Innovation Company

How to instil career resilience

Friday 21 May 15:30-16:30 BST MS TEAMS

Some people are motivated and equipped to exercise personal agency in pursuit of a satisfying career. Others are stuck in jobs that provide little sense of purpose and scant reward – and don’t know how to change things. As disruption to traditional work patterns spreads across economic sectors, how can we ignite a passion in people to futureproof their careers? Our expert contributors will consider the scale, complexity and urgency of this challenge, and share views on why we’ve struggled to help people develop greater learning agility and career resilience.

You’ll learn how:

• To surface the real underlying issues and encourage experimentation in response
• Other organisations offer a context-specific approach that meets the needs of different employee segments

Our Provocateur: Ishha Nagrath, Coach, Learning and Development Manager, BCG

Hosted by: Valerie Rowles, Rosemary McLean and David North, The Career Innovation Company.