Talent & Workforce Strategy Consultancy
What talent do you need to deliver your business plan, and how do you get it?
Let’s Talk Talent builds people strategies and workforce plans that connect directly to your business plan. In 8 to 12 weeks, we work with your HR and leadership team to set out the skills, roles, succession, and structure you need over the next one to three years. Every priority comes with a measure your board will recognise.
Most organisations don’t lack ambition for their people. They lack a written plan that links that ambition to the numbers. We build that plan with your team, not for them, so the people who deliver it own it from day one.
Questions we help you answer
- How do I write a people strategy linked to our business plan?
- How do I plan the skills we need for the future?
- Who should replace our senior leaders?
- Will the plan I’ve created achieve the strategic ambitions of the business?
- Who can I trust to review my approach and give me honest feedback?
What you get
- A people strategy tied to your business plan. Clear, practical, and short enough that your leaders remember it.
- Your workforce plan. The skills, roles and investment you need over one to three years, built on a skills gap analysis.
- Succession for critical roles. A view of who is ready now, who is ready next and where you’re exposed. See our succession planning consultancy.
- Organisation design. The structure and roles that will deliver the plan, including restructures.
- Priorities for the next 12 months. A short list of what to do first, each with a measure your board will recognise.
- A critical friend. Senior, independent challenge on your approach, so the strategy drives real change rather than sitting in a drawer.
How we work
A full strategy typically takes 8 to 12 weeks. We build it with your HR and leadership team rather than handing it over at the end.
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Weeks 1 to 3
Discover
Interviews with your executive team and HR leaders, a review of your people data, and a deep dive into your business strategy and objectives.
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Weeks 4 to 8
Co-create
Working sessions with your wider HR team (talent acquisition, L&D, reward and HR business partners) and your leaders to test and shape priorities.
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Weeks 9 to 12
Plan and build
A board-ready strategy, workforce plan and measures, built with your team so they own delivery.
Who’s involved: your CEO and executive sponsor, your HR director and HR team, finance (for workforce investment) and the managers who run the work day to day. Involving managers means the plan reflects what your customers experience.
Why Let’s Talk Talent
100+ people and workforce strategies built for clients.
- Strategies delivered across technology, insurance, financial services, retail, media, higher education, sport and charity.
- Named HR Consultancy of the Year 2025 at the Personnel Today Awards.
- Trusted by Pentland Brands, Oxford Saïd Business School, Jisc, Metlen, Busy Bees and City Football Group.
- See how we built the foundations for growth at a specialist underwriter and designed a future-ready operating model for the UK’s largest health research organisation.
Our Clients
Let’s Talk Talent has supported change and transformation for organisations including Hearst, Warner Bros., King’s Fund, Vodafone, Nokia, ForGood Tech, Lifearc and King’s College London, across restructures, operating model redesigns, culture programmes and post-acquisition integration.
Talent and workforce strategy FAQs
How do I write a people strategy linked to our business plan?
Start with the business plan, not with HR. Pick the three to five business goals that depend most on people, then set out the talent, skills, structure, and culture each goal needs. Keep it short enough to remember, and measure every priority.
How do I plan the skills we need for the future?
Work back from your business plan. Map the roles and skills each goal needs in one to three years and compare that with the skills you have today. Then decide how to close each gap: develop your people, hire, bring in contractors, or change the work itself. Review the plan every year as the business changes.
Who should replace our senior leaders?
Succession planning answers this. Identify the roles the business can’t run without, assess possible successors against what those roles will need in the future, and give each successor a development plan. Our coaching and assessment team uses psychometric tools and 360-degree feedback to make those calls objective.
Will my people strategy achieve the business’s strategic ambitions?
Test it against three questions. Does every priority link to a business goal? Is it funded? Does it have a measure the board already tracks? If any answer is no, the plan is at risk. We review existing strategies and write new ones.
Who can give me honest feedback on my people strategy?
Someone independent who has built strategies in other organisations and has no stake in your internal politics. That’s the critical friend role we play, either as a one-off review or alongside your team while you deliver.
How long does a talent and workforce strategy take?
A full people strategy and workforce plan typically takes 8 to 12 weeks.
Do you offer ongoing HR support rather than a project?
Yes. If you need senior HR leadership on an ongoing basis rather than a fixed project, see our fractional HR consultancy.
Ready to build a people strategy your board will back?
Tell us where your business is heading, and we’ll show you how we’d build the people plan to get there.
Related Services
- Culture & Employee Experience: make the values and ways of working in your strategy real.
- Performance Management: turn strategic priorities into goals and regular conversations.
- Careers & Capability: career and capability frameworks that close the skills gaps your workforce plan finds.