Talent Summit is back and, given the challenges facing HR and talent professionals in the workplace, not a moment too soon.
Europe’s leading human resources and leadership event takes place on Thursday, March 6th at Dublin’s RDS.
Not alone is this year’s summit bigger than ever but in an increasingly challenging HR landscape it’s more compelling too.
The event, founded by Sigmar Recruitment more than a decade ago, is the place for HR professionals and business leaders to gain insights into the very latest thinking.
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The theme of this year’s Talent Summit is Embracing Disruption. With the backdrop of economic uncertainty and geopolitical unrest, the ability to adapt has never been more important – or challenging.
To succeed in today’s landscape, nurturing an agile culture is now paramount, with HR the key driver in its implementation. This year’s Talent Summit will provide organisations with the tools to not just survive in an era of disruption but to thrive.
It means embracing resilience, cultivating robust employees who can withstand and grow from challenges.
It means embracing innovation and development, leveraging AI and HR technology to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market while at the same time empowering line managers and employees by addressing skills gaps and promoting continuous learning.
Despite narratives elsewhere, it means redefining diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and embracing inclusive leadership to ensure fairness, belonging and equity remain at the core of organisations.
It includes embracing new work models and redefining workforce composition to meet the demands of a changing world.
Learn from the best
Talent Summit brings together top national and international expert speakers to provide fresh thinking on talent attraction and retention, leadership, skills development and the future of HR.
This year’s line-up includes speakers such as Lorraine Culligan, group director of people and culture at Primark, Lee Christie, people and organisation lead at Novartis, and Jeanne McDonagh, chief executive of the Open Doors Initiative, plus many more.
Keynote speakers include consultant psychiatrist and bestselling author Professor Steve Peters, chief executive officer of Chimp Management, a training organisation which helps people to understand how the mind works.
In his keynote at Talent Summit Embracing Resilience: Fostering a Culture of Change, Peters will apply his research to organisational culture, with a particular focus on emotional management, optimising performance, change management, and wellbeing.
Award winning academic and bestselling author of Poor, Dr Katriona O’Sullivan is proof positive of the importance of DEI programmes. Having grown up in abject poverty, her work explores the difference mentors, access programmes and simple kindness can make.
At a time when DEI programmes are under threat, she highlights the importance of creating inclusive environments where everyone has the chance to succeed.
Global thought leader and author Ravin Jesuthasan is an expert in the future of work, human capital, and the impact of technology on the workforce.
His headline talk The Skills Powered Organisation, explores how organisations can best navigate the constant waves of disruption brought about by technological advancements, economic shifts, and evolving workforce dynamics by embracing skills.
Attendees will gain valuable perspectives on how to leverage disruption to drive organisational transformation, enhance employee engagement, and create sustainable competitive advantages.
Tools for tomorrow, today
Demand for tickets is greater than ever this year. “This year’s event will be our largest ever,” says Julia Purcell, founding director of Talent Summit, who says it’s because the level of disruption that organisations are facing is bigger than ever.
“There is so much going on in the working world at the moment, including the acceleration of digitisation and artificial intelligence, which is redesigning work and jobs pretty much by the minute,” she says.
“On top of that we have the rise of new ways of working, the shift to more skills-based recruitment, the cost-of-living crisis, the geopolitical crisis and shifting economic interests.”
Talk of US tariffs alone has made some organisations wary about hiring strategies, simply because they don’t know which way things are going to go, she points out.
“All this is creating a lot of anxiety and a lot of disruption. But if we can remain positive and embrace the disruption by implementing agile cultures, then we can succeed even in a difficult environment,” she says.
Doing so requires continuous learning and development so that teams can adapt. How HR leaders manage all this is critical, particularly as indicators suggest that employees are already suffering from change overload, explains Purcell.
“We can see in some organisations that employee fatigue is setting in. People are facing so much change that they’re getting fed up of it. Indeed, some organisations are seeing pushback towards change. Whether it’s a new system or tool designed to improve things, for people, it just means more change,” she says.
Deep dives
A big part of Talent Summit’s appeal for HR and business leaders each year is the fact that it delves deep into the topics it covers, including uncomfortable ones.
“We like to keep it close to the edge and are not afraid to go near difficult topics, whether it’s the psychological risks of AI or the pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion,” explains Mike McDonagh, Sigmar Recruitment’s chief operating officer. “The result is that people come out with fresh thinking and practical takeaways.”
The rolling back right now by some of the biggest brands in the USA, and by definition, the world, against DEI programmes, with the term itself becoming politicised, is a particularly hot topic. But many in the industry have responded by simply “changing the name to ‘inclusive leadership’ and pressing on,” he points out.
Talent Summit is an unparalleled opportunity to find out how HR leaders around the world are tackling such issues. Because of the calibre of the speakers and the collegiate candour of the event, they hear what worked – and what didn’t.
What’s more, the introduction of new technology this year means that delegates will come away with downloadable material for deeper consideration.
“Talent Summit is all about helping delegates to improve the working lives of their people,,” explains McDonagh, “and this is a way of giving them something practical they can walk away with,”
Another value-added element is the networking opportunities it provides. “My favourite memories are always of just seeing people bump into old friends and colleagues and taking the time to chat, catch up and reconnect,” he says. “It’s just brilliant to be able to facilitate that.”
Talent Summit takes place on Thursday, March 6th. Book tickets to Ireland’s leading HR and leadership conference at talentsummit.ie
