HR Uprising September Highlights

The High Performance Series Finale!

As September departs, so too does the High Performance HR series. Don’t worry if you’re not up to date on the whole series, you can always catch up by listening on your favourite platforms or directly on the HR Uprising website! Here’s a quick recap of the final two instalments and this month’s episodes:

Podcast Episode 268: Talent Development

In this latest episode of The HR Uprising Podcast, host Lucinda Carney, takes a closer look at one of the most pressing priorities for HR leaders today: talent retention and development. Building on previous conversations about attracting great people, Lucinda explores how organisations can go beyond recruitment to create a high-performance culture that keep employees engaged and motivated.

A central theme of this episode is the evolving definition of ‘talent’. Lucinda emphasises that talent isn’t confined to a small pool of top performers or future leaders, it’s about recognising and valuing the diverse range of skills and contributions that individuals bring to the table. From reliable experts to emerging leaders, everyone has a role to play in driving organisational success.

“People want more than a pay cheque. They want purpose, flexibility, growth, and to feel that their career is moving forward.”

While many organisations invest heavily in recruitment, fewer devote the same attention to onboarding, career development, and long-term engagement. Lucinda argues that to truly retain talent, companies must provide meaningful growth opportunities and a sense of purpose that extends beyond a pay cheque.

Whether you’re a HR professional, manager, or leader, this episode offers practical learnings into how you can build a talent strategy that’s conscious and future focused. As Lucinda reminds us, meaningful change doesn’t have to start with sweeping initiatives, even small, deliberate actions can lead to real, lasting impact.

Podcast Episode 269: Cultural Mapping and Development

In this final episode for September, Lucinda explores the pivotal role of organisational culture in shaping performance, engagement and ultimately compliance. Described simply as ‘the way we do things around here,’ culture underpins how people behave, make any decisions, and connect with their work.

Lucinda shares practical approaches you can adopt to diagnose and develop culture, including tools like Cameron’s and Quinn’s cultural diagnostic and the cultural web. She also emphasises the importance of psychological safety as a foundation for learning and enabling open feedback.

“Psychological safety was a top factor in terms of generating high performance teams.”

Leadership is another key theme of episode 259, this is because the behaviours and values modelled by leaders ultimately set the tone for the entire organisation to follow. And as Lucinda notes, compliance is increasingly a cultural issue, requiring organisations to embed ethical decision-making into everyday processes rather than treating it as a box-ticking exercise.

Plenty to Look Forward To…

While the High Performance HR series ends, do not fear our bi-weekly schedule continues!

Episodes 270 and 271 are on their way and we are joined by some amazing guests!

Coming to you on Monday 6th October, Host Lucinda is joined by allyship expert, Julie Kratz, to explore vital topics surrounding diversity and inclusivity, how we can strengthen our allyship through the creation of allyship programmes, and the improvement this can have on team dynamics.

Later in the month on Monday 20th October, you can look forward to hearing from guest Matthew Adam, with a background in systemic psychotherapy and organisational consulting, Matthew discusses how organisational systems operate, the impact of relationships within the workplace, and ultimately the 5×5 Model.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, YouTube, and Amazon Music, and don’t forget to follow so you’re first to hear these brand new episodes as soon as they drop!