Shifting priorities, sharper impact: Phil Jefferis’s midyear insights

What’s been the biggest client challenge you've helped solve in H1?

We’ve continued to deliver robust succession data to support clients’ leadership pipeline management, in particular, working with a key client to define, in more precise terms, the attributes needed at the country-CEO level. This work brought the challenge of establishing a consistent global set of leadership qualities while still allowing local cultural and behavioural norms to be recognised and integrated.

How is Morgan Philips helping leaders explore the alignment between their values, vision and habits, and why does it matter?

At Morgan Philips UK, we focus on purpose-led leadership, delivered at individual and team levels. When values, vision, and habits align, a clear and shared sense of purpose emerges. This clarity helps individuals become more self-directed, self-managed, and focused on achieving meaningful goals.

At the team level, all members understand the broad direction of travel, where they can best contribute individually to support it, and the ‘rules of engagement’ for how they work together. This alignment leads to team members holding each other to account for what needs to happen and how best to execute it.

Where do you see the greatest opportunity for client transformation in H2?

High-Impact Leadership Development: Where to Focus in H2 2025

As many are facing tough economic challenges, talent development activity needs to be leaner than ever and more targeted to achieve a demonstrable business ROI.

Twelve- to eighteen-month leadership development programmes are becoming less popular than individual leadership development and, in particular, leadership coaching and mentoring that focuses on just two or three key areas, offering a tailored approach. At Morgan Philips, we can gather rapid feedback on specific leadership areas and use it to sharpen coaching conversations and define the behavioural changes needed to deliver real business impact.

What’s one piece of advice you find yourself giving to clients right now?

Expert Advice for Leaders in 2025: AI, Succession, and Readiness

With AI, focus your attention through the end of the year on productivity and efficiency gains, rather than using it for assessment evaluation or judgements. Review the situation in the early part of 2026 to see where the industry has shifted.

From a succession perspective, ensure external neutral bodies have a voice in your internal nomination processes. Assessment and development centres can be a significant investment, and ensuring that participants are ready for the challenge is crucial to leveraging the benefits, for all concerned. We’ve seen too many examples of participants who were not prepared for the demands at the next level, leading to a different set of challenges for the individual and the organisation

Looking ahead, how will your approach to client partnerships evolve in the next six months?

Building Stronger Talent Partnerships: Strategy for H2 and Beyond

Understanding the business context of our clients remains central to building trust and credibility. The deeper our understanding of the business, the stronger we become in advising on their talent strategy and talent management processes. In practical terms, this means attending industry events and gaining exposure to company activities not directly related to talent consulting. Doing so moves us from talent advisors serving only HR and talent teams, to broader trusted advisors for the whole business. This enables us to better deploy the services at our disposal in the most effective way. Equally, it helps us stay aligned with shifts in clients’ organisational strategies and respond in an agile way as the people agenda evolves to support them.

Purpose-led partnerships for a changing market

Phil’s insights reinforce the need for tailored, agile support. Whether it's redefining leadership expectations, embedding behavioural change, or aligning people strategy with business goals, Morgan Philips remains focused on delivering measurable outcomes. As organisations seek sharper, leaner development strategies, partnership and precision will be more important than ever.