LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

Hard decisions need to be made by leadership teams as they seek to improve performance and productivity. The Chief People Officer is now at the heart of these dilemmas, as so many of the transformations currently underway come down to the human factor.  

 

At Criticaleye’s 2026 CPO Retreat, held in Partnership with LACE Partners and Simplyhealth, the lines of conversation were focused on the need for fundamental changes in operating models, skill sets, leadership capability and culture. Indeed, one speaker compared the current levels of intensity to the nascent days of the Covid pandemic. 
 

Steve McGuire, SVP of HR Global Commercial for GSK, described the transformation in progress at the biopharma company as a reset around focus, pace, accountability and the evolution of a “learning culture.” He explained: “We spent a lot of time on [this] ‘learning culture’ to say, ‘How do you learn from failures? How …[can you] fail fast and speed up that process of experimenting, testing, failing and adjusting?’   

 

“The second thing was psychological safety—focusing on listening to employees, encouraging them to speak up and being more agile in understanding what's working and what's not. 

 

“And then the third thing I would flag is the opportunity we have with data and the use of AI, and it's only going to become more important. How can we better leverage data to empower decision-makers? If you get the right data, then people can have more confidence to move at pace while managing risk.” 

 

Jennie Barker, CPO of London-listed Rightmove, talked about understanding the levers that can inspire high performance in the leadership team and wider organisation. “People need to know what they are expected to do. If you are going to hold someone accountable for doing something, you need to make sure that that's very clearly understood up front.  

 

“Accountability gets a really bad rap because it's generally seen in the negative, but I think it very much has to encapsulate the positive as well,” she commented. 

 

Genevieve Moat, Senior Vice President of People Global Commercial Organisation for HP, outlined how there is a strategic pivot in play at the company from selling products towards solutions and services. For Genevieve, accountability and transparent communication were also seen as crucial: “It's about being clear about what it is that you are asked and are expected to do. If you don't have clarity, then you're not going to be able to find the right outcomes,” she said. 
 

 

Influencing at the Top Table 

 

An effective CPO will register the need to engage with the leadership team, mindful that in times of strategic change there is also the reality of maintaining short-term performance. “Most of the time, if you want to drive transformation, you need to do it through the leaders,” Genevieve continued. 

 

“So, you do need to go out and have a conversation to create the right focus and that attention. It's also about understanding the business’ priorities, pressures and balancing what I'm trying to implement to help versus adding something else to their plate.”   

 

When collaborating with the CEO, CFO and Chair, the CPO has a unique perspective which should be deemed indispensable. Andrew Darfoor, Senior Independent Director and Vice Chair of the Post Office, said: “I don't think the CPO should only think through the lens of people and culture. It's also about ‘how do you translate that to organisational strategy and execution?’ Also, how do they partner effectively with the Chief Executive and the Chief Financial Officer? These three roles have got to work together.” 

 

It makes sense that leadership must trust one another and possess that healthy mix of support and challenge. Andrew, who is also a Board Mentor at Criticaleye, continued: “When there's alignment, there's also better long-term planning for the organisation. You're also having much more honest conversations around the future of the organisation which are baked in fact, because you've got financial clarity, you've got strategic clarity and you've got people and culture clarity all working together.  

 

“Therefore, it's very easy for the organisation to really take stock of where it wants to move together.” 

 

It’s going to take a combined effort, as no single person will have all the answers. This was abundantly clear at the CPO Retreat as speakers revealed the journeys they are embarking on with technology (we’ll look at AI in the next Leadership Insight), learning and development, business partnerships, succession and the future of HR itself.  

Matthew Blagg, CEO at Criticaleye, said: “What you do see is that the CPO is under significant pressure to perform at all levels and needs a very strong competence underneath them in order to drive changes through – it’s the key to the success of the organisation.”

 

Leadership capability across all functions will be a differentiator. Matthew added: “Across the whole business landscape globally, everything is running at a faster pace, and that is placing significant pressure on traditional structures.”

What’s evident is that leaders cannot afford to stand still and must be thinking about investment, innovation and growth against a backdrop of near-constant disruption.