The Talent Edge | May 2025 Edition

The Talent Edge | May 2025 Edition

What happens when AI joins the team? 

Today’s organizations are in motion. Teams are more distributed, uncertainty is the norm, and the human-only workforce is officially behind us. AI is now shaping decisions, content, and collaboration—faster than most org charts or leadership models can adapt. For HR, that means new dynamics to understand—and new systems to design. 

Inside this issue: 

  • When culture holds you back: Spot the signals stalling execution 
  • Stress-test your strategy: Find the cracks before rollout 
  • Belonging that drives results: Make it real—and make it count     


🗓️ Upcoming Event: Is your Organization Change-Ready?   


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June 4th | 12:00 PM ET | Virtual

Join BTS experts for a 45-minute session on how to build a Change-Ready™ culture. You’ll explore how to: 

  • Navigate uncertainty fatigue 
  • Break down outdated change models
  • Regain momentum through mindsets, culture, and clarity 

Featuring leaders from BTS Talent, DEI, GTM, and Change & Transformation. 

🔗 Register now 

#ChangeLeadership #CultureTransformation #HRStrategy 


Belonging by design: How organizations build thriving cultures

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As AI reshapes how work gets done—and teams stretch across time zones, tools, and priorities—something more human is quietly at risk: trust. 

And it’s not just AI. Leaders are navigating a tangle of pressure points: 

  • Fragmented teams mean fewer casual interactions and less shared context, making it harder to build connection across distance. 
  • Strategy whiplash from rapid pivots and changing priorities often lacks the “why,” leaving employees feeling confused—or expendable. 
  • Quiet cuts and blurred roles leave people doing more with less, often unsure how their work ladders up. 
  • Decentralized decisions in flatter orgs create gray zones, where ownership is unclear and hesitation takes hold. 

It’s not just the pace of change—it’s the uncertainty around where people fit in systems being redesigned for speed and efficiency.   

People are asking: Will my role still matter? Am I being replaced? What does growth look like now? 

When those questions go unanswered, connection doesn’t fade—it fractures.  The signals that once said you belong here—a coaching moment, a clear path, a sense of progress—are harder to find. Without them, people hesitate. They pull back. 

That’s why belonging matters. 

It’s the lived experience of inclusion—and the signal that says: you matter here, and you’re part of what’s next. It gives people the confidence to contribute, adapt, and grow—even when everything else is in motion. 

In a world where change is constant, belonging may be the only steady ground your culture has left

🔗 Explore more: https://bit.ly/3ZqJtJT  

#BelongingAtWork #CultureDesign #EmployeeExperience 


How to stress test your strategy | Ignacio Vaccaro

The term stress testing comes from engineering and finance—used to evaluate how structures perform under extreme pressure before they’re deployed. Whether it’s a bridge, a bank, or a new business model, the principle is the same: don’t wait for failure to find the fault lines. 

But in most organizations, strategy gets launched—not tested. 

Teams spend months building plans, aligning priorities, and crafting messaging. But there’s rarely space built into practice. To simulate real-world decisions. To test how leaders will respond under pressure—where alignment will hold, and where it will fracture. 

That’s where simulation becomes a strategic advantage.   

As BTS’s Ignacio Vaccaro explores in this short video, stress testing allows Talent and Strategy leaders to: 

  • Expose hidden disconnects across teams 
  • Pressure-test decisions in real-world conditions 
  • Build leadership confidence and execution readiness 

Because strategy doesn’t just need a plan. It needs rehearsal. 

🔗 Watch now: How to stress test your strategy 

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#HRStrategy #LeadershipAlignment #FutureReady


Can your culture do what your strategy demands?  

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Culture is the invisible code that guides how people behave, interact, and make decisions—shaping what feels normal, what gets noticed, and what goes unspoken. 

It’s how individuals know what’s expected, how teams define what’s acceptable, and how organizations reinforce what matters most. It’s not what’s written on the wall—it’s what gets lived day to day, often without being named. 

Organizations run on decisions, and culture shapes how those decisions get made—moment by moment, across every level. Decisions are the mechanism that turns strategy into motion. Whether it’s launching a product, shifting a market, or resolving a team conflict, outcomes hinge on choices people make in real time. 

That’s what makes culture an engine—not a backdrop, but a force that powers or stalls progress. 

You can think about culture through three connected layers: 

  1. Shared assumptions – The unspoken beliefs people hold about how to succeed here (“If you want to get noticed, speak up in meetings.”) 
  2. Norms and behaviors – The default patterns that shape how work gets done  (Who speaks up? Who makes the call? What’s rewarded—or avoided?) 
  3. Meaning-making systems – The stories, signals, and symbols that define value  (What leaders celebrate. What gets ignored. Who’s seen as strategic.) 

When culture stops evolving in step with the forces reshaping the business—strategy shifts, structural changes, new technologies—it creates drag: quiet resistance that slows everything down. 

People start playing by old rules in a new game. 

Even cultures that once fueled growth can become friction points. Because culture is always working—the only question is: is it working for you or against you? 

  🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4dq0uK9  

  #HRLeadership #CultureChange #StrategyExecution 


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