In my last edition, I explored some of the recent shifts within the HR space from new legislation to the evolving role of AI.
This time, I’m leaning into what it means to lead through uncertainty.
In recent months, I’ve had a number of honest conversations with senior leaders. And while the contexts differ, the sentiment is strikingly similar. That leading with clarity right now is harder than it’s ever been but is also much more important.
The pace of change isn’t slowing. Policy shifts, economic pressure and rising expectations around ethics and accountability are putting every decision under a spotlight.
But for senior people leaders, this isn’t just pressure, it’s a chance to lead differently.
They’re no longer just running operations or ensuring compliance. They’re stepping up as strategic partners, conscience-keepers and catalysts for real, lasting change within their organisations.
This isn’t just about reacting anymore, it’s about how you help define what leadership looks like from here.
This edition is about the challenges we can’t delegate.
Trend watch July/August 2025
Hiring confidence has dipped to its lowest point since the pandemic, with rising payroll costs tightening budgets across the UK.
At the same time, the government’s Employment Rights Bill has put a timeline on some long-anticipated reforms and AI adoption in HR isn’t slowing down. In many cases, it's outpacing the governance needed to manage it well.
For senior HR leaders, the task is getting more specific: stay across legal changes, navigate a tougher talent market and lead AI integration in a way that’s both strategic and focussed on trust.
When DEI shifts from movement to maintenance, how do you keep it meaningful?
Almost every executive team I know now has a DEI “narrative”. Annual reports, targets and a flurry of activity.
But only 28% of UK organisations report measurable improvement in senior-level diversity, despite 71% having formal strategies (PwC, 2025).
What I’m hearing, time and again, is a mix of fatigue, discomfort and even quiet resistance as the conversation gets more challenging. When DEI is seen as an “initiative” owned by HR rather than a thread running through board decisions, momentum stalls.
What I’ve seen help at this level is:
- Executive-led sponsorship: When senior leaders personally take on DEI objectives and do not just delegate to HR or employee networks, the conversation gains credibility and urgency. One powerful shift I’ve seen is leaders showing up in employee forums not to present, but to listen. It indicates that they’re not just endorsing the strategy, they’re invested in understanding the lived experience behind it.
- Radical transparency: Being open with the data especially when it’s not where you want it to be sends a clear message. That it isn’t about ticking boxes, it’s about being accountable. In my experience, the discomfort often creates the opening for real change.
- Connecting DEI to risk and strategy:The real shift happens when DEI isn’t just a value conversation, it’s a business one. When leaders connect it to risk, reputation and access to new markets, it stops being optional and that’s when it starts to stick. How are you holding each other accountable when the initial spotlight fades and fatigue sets in?
What would it take to move the conversation forward again in your boardroom?
Rebuilding trust after organisational restructures
Redundancies and restructures used to be the exception. Now, for many of us, they’re becoming routine within organisational life.
And while the headlines often focus on numbers, the emotional impact runs deep, not just for those leaving but for the people who stay and for the leaders making the calls.
What I’ve seen is that trust doesn’t rebuild through email communication plans or carefully worded FAQs. It starts with what leaders are willing to do when the dust settles.
The most effective executive teams I’ve worked with took the harder route:
- They turned up (in person or on video) not just to explain the business case but to listen.
- They opened the floor to real questions. It’s often uncomfortable, occasionally tense but is always worth it.
- They were honest (with themselves and their people) about what they didn’t know. And they stayed present anyway.
I’ve watched the tone shift from silent tension to cautious honesty in a single conversation, just because someone at the top chose to show their humanity.
It’s rarely comfortable. But it’s almost always the best route to genuine repair.
What I believe leaders of organisations should do to get this right is:
- Make space for the hard conversations and don’t outsource empathy to HR or email.
- Debrief openly as a leadership team, not just asking what worked but what it cost, and what they’d do differently.
- Go out of your way to “re-recruit” the people who stay. Ensure teams feel seen, heard and valued in the aftermath.
I believe that the leaders who genuinely want to get this right are the ones who lean into empathy and follow the guidance of their HR teams, not just in the planning but in the repair as well.
That’s where trust starts to rebuild - one honest conversation at a time.
Anything else you would add? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you.
What does ethical leadership look like in 2025?
Ethical leadership has moved from “good practice” to an operational imperative. For those at the helm, the question is no longer whether to lead ethically but whether your organisation can survive without it.
This isn’t about carefully worded statements or well-timed CSR campaigns.
It’s about decision-making that stays visibly aligned to values even when it slows delivery, disrupts markets or challenges stakeholders.
It’s about maintaining credibility in an environment where missteps are amplified in minutes and where employees, investors and communities expect not just transparency but moral consistency.
A few years ago, we saw a strong example of this at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Back in 2022, the leadership team (with HR firmly at the strategy table) embedded environmental and social responsibility into core business priorities.
Their recognition as the UK’s most sustainable university wasn’t a brand move. It was the outcome of integrating ethics into procurement, workforce strategy and governance.
The challenges leaders are facing now are even trickier like figuring out how to use AI without losing trust, growing globally while dealing with international politics and protecting employee privacy when everything’s always online.
Ethical leadership in this context means acting with integrity under pressure and being ready to defend those actions in any forum.
At the core, this is about trust.
And for those in senior roles, every decision is a deposit or a withdrawal.
In 2025, the organisations that endure will be led by those who protect that trust as fiercely as they do their financial reserves.
Our upcoming HR Leaders' Round Table
Our upcoming HR Leaders’ round table breakfast event which is held at a Hotel in central Cardiff is at 8.30am for networking and light refreshments to start at 9am on Thursday, 2nd October.
It starts with a discussion on HR’s role in creating a sustainable pipeline of future leaders who not only have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform to a high standard but who also behave in a way aligned to organisational values.
Simon Drinkwater from The HR Partnership - Your People and AI Conscience will be joining us to explain why AI has a place in HR and why HR should be leading the charge as part of broader change, not just supporting from the sidelines.
We are in our 14th year of providing this service to the local HR Directors/Heads of HR community. All topics for discussion are submitted by members themselves and there is no charge to attend. It is our way of giving back to HR.
This edition has tackled what I believe are some of the toughest leadership challenges within HR at the moment.
These aren’t issues to observe from the sidelines. They require decisive, values-led action.
I’m really looking forward to our upcoming HR Round Table which is a chance for senior leaders to shape not just the future of AI in the workplace but the principles that will guide it.
Thank you for your support and for reading Edition 2.
I’d love to hear from you what challenges or questions you want to see tackled in future editions?
Your ideas help shape the conversations we have here.
Thanks, Liz
