A frequent challenge for organisations of any size is to identify, develop and keep the best people. Whether developing key individuals or the leadership population as a whole, the first step is to establish clear answers to the questions "what culture do we want in our business?" and "what do we need individuals to achieve in order to meet our corporate goals ?" The next step is to steer those individuals towards behaviours and performance which chime with the organisation's culture. It is rare for organisations to tackle both steps well; the first is often neglected – or forgotten once the second step is under way.

Our approach to Leadership and Talent Development therefore starts by making the organisational goals and culture clear. With these as strong reference points, activities at individual or group level can be developed which will be both relevant and impactful. In terms of scale, these can range from small/bespoke interventions through to cross-business programmes - but all with a common goal of identifying and supporting key people to make a difference in the organisation.

What is most appropriate will be specific to your current business needs but may include individual coaching, learning away from the workplace or structured opportunities for an individual to gain additional experience within the business. Coaching can be used as a follow-up to embed the learning from training or it may be provided as a stand-alone programme – for example, to support an employee moving into a new role or looking to develop personal ability in a particular area such as managing people.