Based on his vast experience of contributing to international board level conferences, award-winning author Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas highlights the fast-changing strategic agendas facing CEOs, many of whom experience difficulties responding to these agendas because their management skills, thinking and practice have been forged in an earlier era. He challenges HR to rise to the opportunity of providing real strategic support to boards against this volatile backdrop and to play a key role in changing thinking and practice internally to equip organisations to successfully respond to new and unfamiliar external developments.

Many organisations are experiencing the challenge of managing a multigenerational workforce for the first time. Here Claire McCartney and Dianah Worman, who are experts in diversity, challenge the myths around generational stereotypes and provide practical pointers for employers seeking to attract and retain the best workforce — of any age.

The reported high prevalence of stress in today’s workplace and growing awareness of mental health issues make this article, the first of two by Dr Ann Mahon, timely. In particular Dr Mahon examines the stressors affecting managers and leaders in the public sector, where incidences of stress appear higher than in other sectors.

In recent times, given the unpredictable nature of the business environment, it has become increasingly clear that people need to be resilient if they are to survive and thrive in today’s fast-changing organisations. Here, Doug Strycharczyk explores the notion of mental toughness, a key element of resilience, together with its links with performance and how it can be developed.

For many HR directors, going digital is one of the biggest challenges they face and the way ahead is often shrouded in mystery. Viki Holton demystifies this complex topic by outlining some of the practices of HR teams at the leading edge of digital. She also provides a handy benchmark tool that can help the reader identify and avoid some of the main stumbling blocks on the journey towards becoming digitally effective.

This briefing examines how HR makes impact, based on the views and practices of leading practitioners. Viki Holton outlines the key qualities, attributes, skills and behaviours, which help an HR director make a real difference to business success.

In this thought-provoking article, diversity and inclusion experts Claire McCartney and Dianah Worman OBE highlight the importance for employers of keeping apace with the relevant legislation and the developing terminology and policies concerning gender identity issues.

In the first article of this short series Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas looked at HR’s contribution to risk management in today’s fast-changing context. In this article, he considers how HR can help risk management professionals to expand their contribution beyond compliance to embrace approaches that can also stimulate innovation.

In this, the first of a two-article series about HR and risk management, Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas focuses on the role HR could play in assessing and addressing the wide varieties of risk that will increasingly affect organisations.

What leads to sustainable engagement and what is its link to performance? Drawing on research for their new book and highlighting some of the tensions in the literature, authors Reddington and Bakhshalian take an evidence-based approach to the theme, drawing out some of the key ingredients, including the crucial role of line managers.