Career Management

Closing Summer Strong: 8 Talent & Leadership Considerations

August 27th, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

Wow – two-thirds of the year is over. It is a great time to pause, evaluate and potentially, re-align. 2025 market uncertainty, fear of inflation and high interest rates has slowed hiring as well as investments in leadership development and other strategic HR initiatives. We are anticipating this fog lifting with 2026 being clear sailing. The time is now to make sure you are hitting your stride going into the new year. Here are eight considerations to strengthen your organization heading into 2026:

1️. Mid-Year Talent Review

Why it matters: Your people are your engine. High-performing teams can drift if priorities or development paths change.
Actions:

Identify high performers and emerging leaders—are they in the right roles?
Flag underperformers and create improvement or realignment plans.
Reassess team capacity to meet year-end goals.

2️. Succession Planning

Why it matters: Critical roles without prepared successors create risk—especially in family businesses.
Actions:

Confirm key positions have identified successors.
Verify successors are gaining needed experience.
Adjust development plans to close skill gaps.

3️. Leadership Development Programs

Why it matters: Programs launched in Q1 may no longer reflect evolving business needs.
Actions:

Review program effectiveness: are participants applying learnings?
Refresh curriculum to close skill gaps.
Encourage mentorship and cross-functional exposure.

4️. Retention Strategies

Why it matters: Losing top talent is costly and often occurs mid-year.
Actions:

Assess engagement through surveys or direct feedback.
Ensure career growth, recognition, and development paths are clear.
Review compensation and benefits to mitigate attrition risk.
Conduct retention interviews with current employees.

5️. Culture Alignment

Why it matters: Misaligned culture slows execution and innovation.
Actions:

Conduct a “culture check” to ensure values and behaviors support business goals.
Identify gaps or friction points and plan interventions.
Reinforce desired behaviors through recognition and leadership examples.

6️. HR Data & Analytics

Why it matters: Metrics turn intuition into actionable insight.
Actions:

Review turnover, performance ratings, engagement, and workforce demographics.
Identify trends or hotspots that need intervention.
Use data to make evidence-based decisions for talent and leadership.

7️. Organizational Growth & Change

Why it matters: Growth initiatives fail when talent and leadership aren’t aligned.
Actions:

Evaluate whether current teams can support planned expansions or initiatives.
Identify leadership gaps or skill shortages.
Develop recruitment, training, or support strategies to close gaps.

8️. Strategic Planning for 2026

Why it matters: Early planning reduces surprises and ensures a strong January start.
Actions:

Map talent, leadership, and succession priorities for next year.
Identify high-impact initiatives and required resources.
Align budgets, development plans, and KPIs for a seamless start.

The close of summer is a natural pause for reflection—and a strategic opportunity to align your organization’s people and leadership with your vision. Addressing these eight areas now positions your company for a strong finish to 2025 and sets the stage for a thriving 2026. WilliamCharles Search Group partners with organizations to identify, develop, and retain the right leaders for long-term success. Let’s explore how we can help you strengthen your leadership pipeline and talent strategy.

Navigate Your Promotion Successfully

July 21st, 2025 by Amy Suitter

By Bill Benson and Jeff McGraw

Congrats, you have been promoted from a functional leader to a broader, more strategic role with a seat at the executive table! This article explores key areas you can evolve to make the transition as successful as possible. Additionally, we think this is a great roadmap for CEO’s and leaders who are helping an employee navigate this transition.

Transitions are a part of life, and success often depends on how well we adapt to them. Whether it’s moving from high school to college, single life to marriage and eventually parenthood, or frontline worker to manager, each step requires transformation. But perhaps one of the most overlooked transitions in the professional world is the move from functional manager to executive leader.

In large corporate environments, this jump often comes with a new title and a completely different role. But in mid-market companies, it’s more likely that a strong department manager is promoted to a broader role, taking on additional functional areas and stepping into the senior leadership team. The challenge? What got you there might not be enough to help you succeed at the next level.

This new role will require what you’ve already been doing well, but it is also critical to intentionally evolve. In many companies, structured development programs may be limited, so driving further growth, with coaching and feedback from others becomes essential.

As Melodie Wilding put it in her recent Harvard Business Review article,

“While a senior role comes with nice rewards, the transition itself can be disorienting. Leading leaders isn’t ‘more of the same’ — just with bigger teams and budgets. In reality, you have to fundamentally shift how you think about your role, how you spend your time, and how you measure success.”
Navigating the Jump from Manager to Executive – HBR

Below are some insights and pointers to help you navigate this shift successfully:

What to Keep Doing and Keep Building

People Management – Coaching, mentoring, and team development still matter, but now it’s about leading leaders. The job is to build systems and a culture that help others lead effectively.

Execution and Follow-Through – Results are still the bottom line, but leaders must do it through others, not by owning every task. They must empower teams while staying focused on outcomes.

Communication – Clarity, consistency, and diplomacy remain vital. But now they must also inspire and align broader audiences, both internally and externally.

Problem Solving – Still important, but now the problems span functions, departments, and even the market. The lens must shift to bigger-picture, more strategic issues.

Skills That Must Evolve

Hands-On Control – Managers often succeed by being close to the action. Executives must step back, delegate, and build trust. Micromanagement doesn’t scale.

Functional Focus – Managers often have risen through deep expertise in one area. Now they must take a holistic view of the business by integrating strategy, financials, talent, and market dynamics.

Quick Decision-Making – Managers often shine through rapid decisions and short-term wins. Executives must weigh long-term implications and broader stakeholder interests even when decisions are still needed quickly.

Approval Seeking – It’s natural for managers to seek guidance from above. But executives must own decisions, trust their instincts, and lead confidently in ambiguity. Regular “check-ins” with the CEO or peers are helpful, not for approval, but to ensure alignment.

The Intangibles That Define Executive Leadership

Enterprise Mindset – Think beyond your team. What’s best for the whole company?

Strategic Orientation – Connect the dots. Anticipate change and position teams accordingly.

Influence Without Authority – It is rare to have formal control over everything. Success depends on persuasion, alignment, and coalition-building.

Comfort with Ambiguity – Frequently, decisions must be made with incomplete data, evolving priorities, and competing interests.

Emotional Intelligence – Self-awareness, empathy, and grace under pressure are now leadership essentials.

Scalable Systems Thinking – One can’t touch everything directly anymore. Instead, provide strategic direction, clear guidelines, and systems for accountability.

One suggestion from the HBR article:
“Asynchronous systems also give you visibility without creating more overhead. You might ask for biweekly or monthly written updates highlighting key metrics, wins, challenges, and upcoming priorities from each manager. Or you can have each team create a dashboard that tracks critical data points so you can check status at a glance rather than schedule multiple meetings.”

Resilience and Accountability – The “buck stops with you.” Executives must absorb pressure, own outcomes, and remain composed during turbulence.

Curiosity and Learning Agility – Executive leaders are constantly learning about their teams, industry trends, strategy, and self. It’s no surprise that many great CEOs are voracious readers and lifelong learners.

Final Thought: It’s Not Just a Promotion — It’s a Transformation

This shift is not about leveling up the past role. It’s about becoming a new kind of leader, one who shapes the organization, influences outcomes beyond their direct span of control, and creates the conditions for others to succeed.

You are not just leading a team. You’re shaping a company.

The Dream Job. Are You Ready if it Knocks on Your Door?

September 7th, 2018 by Amy Suitter

You are content in your job. But let’s face it. It’s a job. A means to an end. But what if your dream job was right around the corner. What if an employer was proactively seeking their next superstar and that star was YOU? Would you be ready?

Here are some ideas on how to prepare yourself, fine-tune your personal brand and be job ready when your dream position comes knocking:

First things first – the resume. If you’re content in your current position (or even if you’re not), it’s likely you haven’t touched your resume in a while. But it’s time to blow the dust off and spruce it up. The resume oftentimes is your only chance to get your foot in the door. What does it say about you? Is it job current? Are your most up-to-date volunteer and board positions represented? What about ongoing education, certifications or additional training? Take some time with this one. Ensure the resume reflects you and your experience accurately.
Social media can make or break you. Gone are the days of separating your social and professional world. Employers are actively reviewing social media tools their candidates are using. A recent CareerBuilder survey stated that nearly 40% of all hiring managers are screening candidates based on their online personas – and nearly 70% of those candidates were ruled out due to questionable personal content online. Review your social profiles and delete any inappropriate photos, vulgar language or complaints about your current job or employer. Are your accounts representing a well rounded, polished professional with strong communication skills? Now is the time to manage your virtual reputation.
Stay connected. Your references should be your biggest fans. You’ve probably provided their contact information over the course of your career, but when is the last time you had a conversation with them? Are they aware of your current employment situation? If it’s been awhile, it might be time to reevaluate who you are providing as a reference. Are there more current or relevant contacts that can speak on your behalf?

Update your list. Give them a call. Make sure they are ready and able discuss your background and experience.

Be prepared to discuss your individual or team accomplishments. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day to day of doing your job, but when is the last time you reflected on your successes. Could you name a few if you were asked? It’s time to take stock of the individual positive contributions you’ve made in your roles. Make a list. Identify the outcomes. Have you led successful teams? The same is true of this scenario. Can you speak to successful team outcomes? Be prepared to do so. Future employers want to know that you’ve demonstrated successes throughout your career.
Strengths vs. Weaknesses (or Opportunities for Improvement). Everyone’s got them. Not unlike identifying accomplishments, being asked to articulate strengths and weaknesses is common in the interview process. Yet many interviewees have a difficult time pinpointing these areas. Be prepared to discuss them. In addition, have examples ready. Interviewers want proof. Can you validate these areas? How have you utilized your strengths or overcome your weaknesses? How do you, in fact, know these are true areas to highlight? While it’s not easy to expose some of these vulnerabilities, most employers value this level of transparency and self-awareness.
Continuous Improvement. It’s not just a cliché. What are you doing to ‘improve’ yourself, meaning, what is your professional development plan? How are you expanding your skillsets? Too many candidates rely on their employers to provide and resource their professional growth. For many organizations, this simply isn’t a focus. Or they are cutting or shrinking these budgets. It’s time to recognize that gone are the days of employer-funded or directed growth and development. Be intentional. Own your career path and growth plan. You are in charge of your development, not your employer.
Be proactive. You probably have a job description. Do you follow it closely? Do you draw a hardline on tasks outside of your job? Or are you open to expand your skills outside of your defined role? An individual who is willing to take on additional responsibilities becomes a more desirable candidate every time. Not only does this approach highlight someone who is a team player, it also illustrates someone who is proactive, seeking to better themselves and their organization.
When opportunity knocks, open the door. You may have few chances in your life to change your trajectory. Don’t miss them.