Breaking Barriers Podcast

Talent accelerators are one of the biggest investments HR and Talent leaders make in building future capability.

But how often can you clearly demonstrate a measurable, defensible return?

For many organisations, the answer is uncomfortable: programmes run and participants are positive, but the impact on performance, progression and retention is often far harder to evidence than the original business case suggested.

Join us for a session designed for HR and Talent leaders who need to prove the value of their talent acceleration investment.

Hosted by Rachel Schofield, this conversation will feature Professor Rebecca Jones, Shape Talent’s Managing Consultant, alongside Adnan Ahmetovic, Henkel’s Director HR Transformation & Strategy.

We’ll explore:

🔹 How to ensure ROI on your talent acceleration investment The practical levers that determine whether a programme pays back, and how to build them in from the outset.

🔹 The pitfalls that quietly erode impact, and how to avoid them From over-engineered designs and weak post-programme reinforcement to measurement that stops at participant feedback. The common traps that turn high-potential investment into a missed opportunity.

🔹 What drives measurable impact: lessons from real programmes

The design choices, measurement approaches and organisational conditions that consistently deliver return, - drawn from Shape Talent’s research and recent client experience, including the impact data Henkel, a world-leading consumer brand organisation, is seeing from its own acceleration efforts.

If you’re an HR or Talent leader responsible for leadership pipelines, succession or high-potential development, this session is for you.

Two years after the EU AI Act, HR's AI compliance obligations are almost here!

On 2nd August 2026, the Act's high-risk obligations are due to come into force. Among the systems classified as high-risk: AI tools used in hiring, performance management and promotion decisions. Although a proposed deadline extension is under negotiation, organisations should be preparing now regardless.

Many HR teams have adopted AI-powered talent tools at pace. Far fewer have stress-tested those tools against the Act's requirements around bias testing, data governance, transparency and human oversight - or fully considered what this could mean for gender equity, risk and accountability at scale.

Hosted by Rachel Schofield, this conversation features Sharon Peake, CPsychol Shape Talent’s Founder & CEO, and Dr Priscila Pereira Law PhD FCIPD, Shape Talent’s Director of Research & Innovation.

We explore:

🔹 Why talent AI is now a regulated space, and what that means for HR leaders: The EU AI Act places hiring, performance and promotion tools in its highest risk category. Understand the obligations, risks and timelines you’re already working against.

🔹 The gender equity implications your AI vendors may not have flagged: What the Act’s requirements around bias testing, data governance and transparency reveal about the tools that many organisations are already using.

🔹 Turning compliance into competitive advantage: How forward-thinking organisations can use the Act’s framework not just to manage risk, but to accelerate fairer and more consistent talent decisions at scale.

If you’re an EDI, HR, or People leader using, or planning to use, AI in talent decisions: this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Let’s take a look at what your talent strategy needs to flex and adapt to: economic volatility; AI disruption; political uncertainty; and a workforce rethinking what loyalty really means.

As organisations prepare for IWD 2026, many senior HR leaders are asking tougher questions:

Group coaching is increasingly being adopted by HR, L&D and EDI leaders as a scalable, inclusive development solution - but many still question what makes it truly effective.

Why are women still underrepresented in leadership despite decades of progress? Because of the systemic barriers that continue to hold them back.

Join Rachel Schofield in conversation with Sharon Peake, CPsychol (Founder & CEO, Shape Talent) and Dr Priscila Pereira Law PhD FCIPD (Director of Research & Innovation, Shape Talent) for the launch of the 3rd Edition of the landmark Three Barriers® Report.

Drawing on 7,500+ voices, 95+ references, and fresh global data, this new edition explores:

🔹 The Three Barriers® to women’s career progression

🔹 Sub-barriers like stereotypes, sponsorship gaps, and the likeability penalty.

🔹 Why personal barriers aren’t about women “lacking confidence,” but about workplaces penalising ambition.

🔹 What good looks like when organisations dismantle barriers systemically.

Hear from leaders at Beiersdorf and Shape Talent as they share:

This is a must-attend for HR leaders, DEI professionals, and anyone shaping workplace wellbeing.

Are women’s development programmes a thing of the past – or ripe for reinvention?

Coaching is everywhere – but what actually has real career impact?

Inclusion doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of intentional, well-designed systems. As many organisations struggle to maintain momentum on EDI, talent strategy can be a powerful lever to protect progress, embed equity into decision-making, and ensure that inclusion is built in, not bolted on.

In this session, we explore how to: