A Reflection of The WildHearts Talent For Good Summit

Earlier this month, we hosted The Talent for Good Summit at Linklaters Headquarters in London. The event assembled L&D and HR thought leaders from across the business landscape, to share their perspectives on current trends, challenges and the innovations influencing the profession. Our WildHearts Talent Team facilitated many inspiring conversations, leaving attendees with thought-provoking ideas to reflect on.

Key Takeaways

• Finding your WHY – A key discussion point from the event was the importance of finding your WHY. Opening the day, Dr Mick Jackson, CEO and founder of The WildHearts Group, told the inspiring founding story of WildHearts, sharing his WHY for using Business as Force for Good to create social and environmental impact. Throughout the day’s discussions, multiple panellists, and speakers were inspired to discuss insights into their own WHY, encouraging the room to reflect on their own career motivations.
• Aligning Personal & Organisational Values – The importance of employees aligning their own personal values with wider organisational values was explored during the panel discussions, with panellists sharing honest insights from their respective industries. Speakers gave examples of how they are working with partners like WildHearts Talent, to empower employees to achieve this.
• The Role of D&I in Talent Development – Diversity and inclusion was a recurring theme, with conversations reiterating diversity as a key ingredient to organisational success. Psychological safety was highlighted as an important measure to build an inclusive culture and foster diversity. Mark Coleman-Allan, Head of DE&I at Barclays, expanded on this, sharing exclusive insights and examples from Barclay’s evolving DE&I strategies.
• The L&D Challenges and Opportunities of today- The points from the panel discussions were built upon by Paul Steadman, HR Director at Nestlé UK & Ireland, when he joined Mick to close the day, sharing honest insights around the challenges faced by the HR and L&D Leaders of today. These insights enabled the audience to reflect and think of innovative ways in which these challenges can be turned into opportunities within their own organisation.

Key Announcements

Two key announcements were revealed during the event, which we are excited to share with you. During Mick Jackson’s fireside chat with Paul Steadman, both reflected on the recent successes of two pilot Nestlé cohorts who are taking part in The WildHearts Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA). The apprenticeship has now officially been opened to cohorts from other organisations from 2024.  To find out more about the WildHearts CMDA, you can attend one of our upcoming webinars.

The second announcement was made during Mick Jackson’s keynote opening talk, he announced that WildHearts have now transformed over 2 million lives. This is a huge milestone for us, and one we are extremely proud of. We are grateful for all the support from our partners and customers, as without them, this would not have been possible. Moving forward, we look forward to creating even more impact together.

Summary

Throughout the day, attendees were invited to discuss a variety of industry trends and challenges, embracing the opportunity to network with other leading HR professionals and build meaningful connections with a peer group who share common challenges and values. As well as being inspired by thought-provoking conversations and building their knowledge on key trends and techniques, the summit provided attendees with a unique opportunity for collaboration and connection with like-minded peers, including an interactive Q+A with speakers and panellists. Post-event, we have been pleased to see so many new conversations starting, networks expanding and new innovative ideas emerging.

We are grateful for everyone who came along and supported this year’s Talent for Good Summit and hope that everyone took something valuable from the day. We enjoyed meeting everyone and facilitating so many inspiring and forward-thinking conversations. You can find out more about WildHearts Talent and our programmes, here.