On 28^th February 2025, we hosted a webinar for our Human Resources network exploring how Talent Management can create meaningful business value, in collaboration with Philips and Miro.

"Never start with the talent challenge. Always start with the business problem first."

Katie Insley, who leads our HR recruitment division in the Netherlands, was joined by Charu Mittra, who was Global Head of Talent Development at Philips at the time, and Ewa Priestley, VP of Talent and Culture at Miro.

The discussion focused on aligning Talent strategy with business goals, the impact of artificial intelligence, and practical approaches to inclusive talent development, through the lens of two very different businesses.

Aligning Talent with strategy

Both speakers emphasized that Talent Management should be rooted in business priorities. Charu spoke through Philips’ structured approach, using strategic workforce planning to align long and short-term talent needs with the organization’s objectives.

Ewa noted that strategic planning is shorter term in fast-paced environments like Miro, but stressed the need to understand business problems deeply before applying talent solutions.

Learning from failure

Charu and Ewa opened up on past initiatives that didn’t quite meet expectations. At Philips, a large-scale succession planning process became overly bureaucratic and disconnected from real promotion decisions. Charu described how Philips is now prioritizing fewer roles, while expanding broader development access.

Ewa shared an unsuccessful interview framework that lacked sufficient manager training, illustrating how even the most well-intentioned tools can fail without effective use.

The opportunity in AI

Both leaders agreed that AI is transforming the HR function, especially in Talent Acquisition and Learning & Development.

Ewa highlighted AI’s potential to remove low-value work, freeing HR to focus on strategic initiatives.

Advice for HR professionals

Charu and Ewa offered actionable advice to the attendees, with Ewa suggesting that HR professionals always begin with the business problem, not the “talent challenge”.

Charu urged simplicity in Talent strategies, and recommended empowering line managers with the tools and clarity they need to lead talent effectively.

We ended the session with an audience Q&A, covering topics from Equity, Diversity & Inclusion to measuring Talent strategy success.

Thank you to all those who attended this event. If you’re interested in joining similar sessions in the future, please get in touch with Katie Insley for more information: [email protected]