Investing in our people: The HLB approach to empowerment and growth

Our HLB Strategy "Innovative people, brighter futures" will enable the HLB network and its member firms to anticipate change, transform and innovate their infrastructure and in turn grow at an unprecedented rate. Our vision is to be a challenger brand among mid-tier networks, driven by people-powered innovation. We have purposely integrated our people and talent strategy into our overall strategy so it’s not a separate 'nice to have' and fully supports our objectives and aspirations. Our growth driver is our people. 

We recognise that doing nothing is effectively moving backwards, as we navigate unprecedented economic and geopolitical uncertainty, a fundamental shift in working practices as a result of the pandemic and the evolving needs of an intergenerational workforce; all this alongside the opportunity to embrace emerging technology, including AI. 

In response, we have clearly defined our critical capabilities for the future success of HLB, and our approach of maintaining our competitive success is through our people. We are focusing on skills for the future rather than job titles (or traditional rank-based learning). 

We will achieve this through an evolving learning ecosystem to meet our global firm member needs, underpinned by strategic partnerships. 

Including:

1. Coursera: Providing world class content, professional accreditation, certification and badges from leading academic institutions, and leveraging technology for personalised learning experiences - we have built learning pathways for our critical skills (as identified in our strategy), alongside a blended learning approach in the form of on-demand/multi-lingual video content, guided courses and quizzes, that is flexible and in line with our inclusion aspirations.

2. Busuu business language skills: As a global network we recognise that language skills are crucial for developing international talent and supporting their career aspirations.

3. Advisory fundamentals with Mindshop: In line with our advisory growth aspirations, we are building critical capabilities - skills and mindset. Delivering immersive learning through our conferences, webinars and bespoke interventions.

4. Levering leading practice and network technical capability, for example HLB HAMT Academy and Eide Bailly International Tax, and partnering with bodies such as the CPA.

A key tenet is developing future-ready leaders, which we will achieve through our bespoke programmes including our Brighter Futures Executive Leadership course with Cambridge Judge Business School. We recognise that what made leaders successful in the past won’t work in the future. So, our programme looks across the breadth of leadership capabilities, including strategic thinking and the future of professional services; innovation; technology and human centred leadership. It is really important to us that our cohorts are diverse and representative of the clients and communities we serve.

We have established a new group, the HLB Brighter Futures Community. This was formed to champion emerging leaders within the HLB network and facilitate the dissemination and implementation of the HLB strategy across our operational framework. The community comprises of a leadership team with a representation from each market and includes members who have completed either the HLB Building the Future Programme or HLB Engage. They act as our champions, reinforcing our message to the wider community, and of course, driving innovation along the way for our future success.

Our human centred approach supports our broader DEI/ESG aspirations and unpacks the necessity for purpose, value and the link to our sustainability agenda. 

We balance the needs of technical specialisation with broader business acumen. We take a blended learning approach through immersive/in person events, including our Advisory-Tax-Audit conference and Global Summit, with the addition of webinars and online learning events. These are supported by specific technical content provided by market leaders, for example Audit through Mercia.

To support this we also provide mentorship and coaching. We also provide mentorship and coaching through our global relationship with Coach Coegi, from which we have seen measurable performance improvement and uplift.

We use data to measure and track skills building and global uptake; this enables us to track progress and identify gaps as a continuous/agile process.

This also helps us to understand learning preferences (our people like video content for its accessibility and flexibility, coaching for its person-centred approach and the immersive experience at Cambridge).

An area of focus from a strategy activation perspective is 'innovation', a word not synonymous with our profession; so, we are integrating this into our capability building through provision of a clear framework along with supporting interventions around culture, mindset and team dynamics. 

We moved into eighth position in 2024, and our goal is to maintain our global 10 ranking by building a future ready, capable workforce; this will only be achieved through continuing to prioritise people capability as a strategic imperative and key component to driving HLB success.