Insights
Browse our News, Events, Articles and Case Studies to learn more about the trends and opportunities in Search & Selection and Organisational Development.
News
Ziplining at Christchurch Adventure Park - Sheffield South Island
“A fast way to get out of your comfort zone” and a great day out with the team!
Huge thanks to #Christchurch Adventure Park for all you...
The Director's Dilemma
Produced by Julie Garland-McLellan, Consultant at AltoPartners Australia and non-executive director and board consultant based in Sydney, Australia.
...
Your Learning and Development Strategy: Why Context Matters
When it comes to your learning and development strategy for leaders, context plays a key role in the effectiveness of your development program.
The...
Tenth Anniversary Announcement – Louise Green
We are thrilled to be celebrating Louise Green’s “10th Work Anniversary” as a Senior Consultant for Sheffield and are so proud to ha...
The Art of Good Questioning - Creating a Culture of Curiosity
By Andrea Bankier
Yo...
Case Study - Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust
“Providing governance for such an important community service requires an effective, professional and committed team of Trustees. To find ...
Leadership and Reflection
By Mike Stenhouse
Does taking the time to reflect make you a better leader? The science says absolutely, yes it does.
Reflection involves steppi...
Re-Imagining Work Survey - A vital tool towards a successful recovery!
To say it’s been a roller coaster for all of us (both personally and professionally) over the past several months may be an understatement. It&r...
Secrets of Success for Virtual Interviews
By Andrea Bankier
Most people are less comfortable with virtual vs face-to face interviews, but given the current COVID reality, they’re incr...
Why 'likeability' gets you hired
I’ve often wondered what hidden biases we as interviewers have lurking when making that all important hiring decision; we are, after all, only h...
Farewell to a long-serving Colleague
After 44 years of loyal and committed service Linda McKinley has recently retired from Sheffield. This is an extraordinary record of employment in any...
Four ways to revamp your LinkedIn profile
Some great tips from Julie Black on the best ways to ensure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-speed and looking sharp#sheffield
If you’re lookin...
Re-Imagining Work Survey - A vital tool towards a successful recovery!
The Sheffield Re-Imagining Work Survey is a bespoke system designed to kick-start the data gathering process within your organisation. It will collect...
Are you leveraging the power of Psychometrics?
By Fleur Hellemans
Following the madness of the covid-19 many businesses have initiated a “hiring freeze”. This is to be expected durin...
How 'Future Ready' are your Leaders?
What is the ‘One Big Thing’ you need to do to ensure your leaders are prepared to lead in the post-Covid world?
Leadership today is not...
Fast Track Inclusive Mindsets in your Organisation
This complimentary toolkit will help to accelerate and recognise the power of diversity in your workforce.
In current global disruption and unrest,...
Transitioning Careers and Transferable Skills
By Andrea Bankier
How does a Principal of a school become a Chief Executive?
How does a senior manager in the banking sector end up leading a no...
How's the Market?
By Louise Green
“How’s the market?” This is a question we have been asked several times a day in recent times. It is difficult to...
The Future of Leadership Development in the Post COVID-19 Era
The pandemic has halted leadership development as we know it. But it is also an opportunity to shape the new future of leadership development.
&ldq...
Lockdown Scorecard - how well have we managed?
Over the first four weeks of the New Zealand Level 4 Lockdown, some 850 employees from a variety of organisations across New Zealand, from both public...
When the Executive Recruiter Calls ...
By Larry Small
For many executives at earlier stages in their careers they have normally been delighted to gain entry level opportunities to get es...
How's Those Stress Levels?
By Fleur Hellemans
According to the Oxford dictionary, STRESS (noun) is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or ...
The Cover Letter
By Nicholas Buck
It's is a busy time for executive search. Despite the recent COVID-19 events, senior appointments are continuing to be made. M...
Director's Dilemma #2
Being a director can raise all sorts of thorny issues, and solutions are not always so clear-cut; case and point, the current crisis we’re all f...
Six Impactful Questions - Dr Jim Mather
In this series, we ask the same set of questions to a number of leaders who are making an impact through their leadership and vision. This time w...
Investing in the Workforce
By Ian Taylor
This article was written prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. On reflection though the themes are still timely. Post this...
Reflecting on COVID-19 and the way we work
By Louise Green
COVID-19 is changing the world of work as we know it. Not one business is unaffected by the current situation to some degree. ...
Leadership and Reflection
By Mike Stenhouse
Does taking the time to reflect make you a better leader? The science says absolutely, yes it does.
Reflection involves steppi...
The Complete Guide to Psychometric Assessments
By Fleur Hellemans
As part of a sound recruitment process, it is commonplace for candidates to sit psychometric assessments, particularly for more ...
How to Make a Good First Impression
By Louise Green
Psychologists call it “thin slicing.” Within moments of meeting you, people decide all sorts of things about you, from ...
What Does Teaching People to Fish Have to Do with Taking Ownership of Learning?
We all know that time is not our friend; it’s a scarce commodity. Leaders have 480 minutes in their workday, and it’s always difficult to ...
10 Hot Leadership Topics for 2020
As we kick off 2020, we want to introduce you to our first blog of the season which brings a series of insightful trends and hot leadership topics as ...
The Best Leadership Development Initiative? Mentoring!
By Andrea Bankier
One of the more interesting findings from the latest Sheffield Leadership Survey of South Island leaders was that of preparing pe...
Auckland Arts Festival 2020
Sheffield is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the 2020 Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland Arts Festival (AAF2020). “Sheffield is p...
Do you know how to be inspiring?
By Louise Green
When employees aren’t just engaged, but are inspired, that’s when organisations see real breakthroughs, as inspired emp...
Talent Attraction and your Employer Brand
By Andrea Bankier
One of the biggest challenges businesses face today remains attracting people to their organisation.
According to a study cond...
The state of Leadership in the South Island
Sheffield has once again carried out a survey looking at the state of Leadership in the South Island.
For the third year now, we spoke to Leaders i...
Do you have a high-performing organisational culture? Take our Cultural Health Check
Is your organisation poised for high-performance? Our brief Cultural Health Check Diagnostic will allow you to gain critical insight into the key comp...
Director's Dilemma #1
Are you a director in a predicament? Being a director can raise all sorts of thorny issues, and solutions are not always so clear-cut. Enter AltoPartn...
Meet Dr Petar Milojev
Meet the newest addition to the Organisation Development team at Sheffield, Dr Petar Milojev. Petar is a leader in the field of personality assessment...
Ascertaining a company's culture - as a candidate
By Nicholas Buck
An appointment process should essentially be a conversation. There are two parties – candidate and hirer – and it&rsqu...
DDI Conference Report
This past October, 175+ HR professionals convened in Clearwater Beach, Florida for DDI’s LeaderCon, to share best practices, networking, and to ...
Six Impactful Leadership Questions - Eru Lyndon
In this series, we ask the same set of questions to a number of leaders who are making an impact through their leadership and vision. This time w...
The Strategic Pillars of High-Performance Organisational Culture
Over the past two editions of the DDI Global Leadership Forecast (2014/15 and 2017/18), the key emergent themes in terms of the capabilities that orga...
Leading the Leaders
By Mike Stenhouse
When it comes to leading people who are already at the top of their field, it requires a different set of skills than what s...
3 Easy Ways to Get Noticed on LinkedIn
By Tania Macdonald
As a researcher for an executive search firm, I am frequently reviewing profiles on LinkedIn to find suitable candidates for execu...
SOLGM 2019
Sheffield were once again delighted to be sponsors of the SOLGM Annual Summit. The SOLGM (Society Of Local Government Managers) Summit 2019 was help i...
Why "Likeability" Gets You Hired
By Louise Green
I’ve often wondered what hidden biases we as interviewers have lurking when making that all important hiring decision; we are, ...
Culture and Leadership Key to Sport and Business Success
By Ian Taylor
Kiwis love sport. It’s in our DNA. So these past few weeks have been extraordinarily exciting, with many high-profile sport...
Facing the Changing Challenges for Sports Organisations
By Ian Taylor
What might sports organisations do so that they are well prepared to face the unknown challenges that are posed by changing societal pr...
Taking Care of References
By Nicholas Buck
References are an integral part of good candidate assessment. While interviews, psychometrics and other evaluati...
Global Organisational Development Expertise
Meet the latest addition to the Sheffield team, Kari Naimon. Kari is a Global Coach, HR and Organisational Development expert. Her extensive internati...
Local Expertise Driving Global Excellence
The 13th Annual AltoPartners Global Conference took place in Venice, Italy. Delegates from across our global alliance met to work together t...
Six Impactful Leadership Questions - Peter Miskimmin
In this series, we ask the same set of questions to a number of leaders who are making an impact through their leadership and vision. Next in the seri...
Interview Preparation
By Nick Gee
Carrying out the right preparation prior to going into that job interview is critical. If your application is successful and you&rsq...
Diversity - it's bigger than gender
By Andrea Bankier
Diversity means many things to different organisations. Talk to the average firm today about diversity and they’ll more ...
Becoming a Purposeful Board
by Dale Jones, President and CEO of Diversified Search and Global AltoPartners Operating Committee Member
Improving the world impr...
Recruitment Expert Joins Sheffield
Larry Small has recently joined Sheffield as Associate Director with 39 years in the human resource consulting sector. Larry brings a wealth of experi...
“Be Prepared” for the shortlist interview
By Nicholas Buck
Most executive search processes are lengthy - unavoidably so. In any given instance the list of to-dos includes: client briefing, ma...
Six Impactful Leadership Questions - Dr David Gaimster
In this series, we ask the same set of questions to a number of leaders who are making an impact through their leadership and vision. Next in the seri...
Take your team to the opera: how the Arts can positively shape us
By Ian Taylor
Arts and culture; the celebration of creativity, intellect, history and different societal perspectives, are an integral part of a ...
Regional Diversity & Inclusion Survey
Sheffield are proud to be Gold Sponsors of the first Regional Diversity and Inclusion Survey (RDIS).
The RDIS was undertaken to benchmark diversity a...
Building a Coaching Culture
By Louise Green
In order to be an effective leader in today’s world, one needs support and development.
Six impactful leadership questions - Dr Marilyn Waring
In this series, we ask the same set of questions to a number of leaders who are making an impact through their leadership and vision. Fourth in the se...
Recharging: the employee mindset over the summer break
By Nicholas Buck
Without a doubt, New Zealanders know how to do Christmas. From mid-December on - just as the sun is really starting to shine - we ca...
The "push-pull" of HR innovation.
By Ian Taylor and Nicholas Buck
We all know that HR has fundamentally been about helping enable culture and driving performance. But in order to do t...
What it means to be a leader today
Associate Director Alia Bojilova recently spoke at the PwC Herald Talks on the subject of The Transformation of Leadership.
Prior to going on stage, ...
PwC Herald Talks - The Transformation of Leadership (2018)
Associate Director, Alia Bojilova was Keynote Speaker at the PWC Herald Talks - The Transformation of Leadership. Attendee's heard from some of NZ&rsq...
Supporting experienced directors
Sheffield recently hosted an invitation only lunch for leading directors in Canterbury. This annual event for Canterbury's most experienced pract...
The rise and rise of the gig economy
By Ian Taylor
It’s taking the market by storm. But what does Gig Economy even mean?
The Gig Economy owes its name to performance and music cul...
Six impactful leadership questions - Heather Shotter
Peter Drucker once said that “the questions don’t change as often as the answers do”. So in this series, we ask the same set of ques...
Demystifying the CV
By Nicholas Buck
Whenever I say to a potential candidate, “do you have an up-to-date CV you can send through?”, I’m often greeted w...
Realising Strategy: a checklist for executives & directors
By Louise Green
“Developing and activating strategy” skills are critical according to the Sheffield Leadership Survey 2018.
Can EQ be developed?
By Louise Green
According to the Sheffield Leadership Survey 2018, 37% of young leaders said that people skills and relationships were a key iss...
Do you know what good leadership looks like?
By Louise Green
Most executives would tend to agree that good leaders are hard to find. This notion is reinforced in the 2016/17 Sheffield Leade...
Young leaders are worried about their performance
A survey of young South Island leaders reveals they are worried about their performance and their people. That’s the overwhelming message coming...
What do Baby-Boomers have in common with Millennials?
By Ian Taylor
Understanding the аttіtudеѕ аnd bеhаvіоurаl habits оf the various gеnеrаtіоns in today’s workplace is vital for business. On the ...
Six impactful leadership questions - Nick Hill
Peter Drucker once said that “the questions don’t change as often as the answers do”. In this series, we ask the same set of questio...
The Pros of Job Market Ambiguity
By Nicholas Buck
Planning your career can be tricky. The rapid changes in job markets (and the creation of new ones) make any prediction about the fu...
Local Government Expertise
Sheffield are delighted to welcome Associate Director David Hammond into the team. David joins us from a career spanning some 25 years in local govern...
EQ vs IQ
By Louise Green
We all know what IQ is. EQ on the other hand, is a measure of a person's level of emotional intelligence. This refers to the personal...
Our Assessment Service
By Fleur Hellemans
For most clients, in terms of recruitment, we offer a complete end-to-end service. Depending on the client, part of our process wi...
Are you on board with onboarding?
By Gretchen McFadden
We know that it can take new hires a long time to get up to speed. According to The Sheffield Leadership Survey, most organ...
The DDI 2018 Global Leadership Forecast
By Christien Winter
A focus on Digital-era Leadership
Global leadership has been under the spotlight lately as the findings of an extensive global s...
Six Impactful Leadership Questions - Sina Wendt-Moore
This is the first in a series of questions with leaders who are making an impact. Peter Drucker once said that “the questions don’t change...
Global Trends and the Outlook for 2018
By Ian Taylor
With technology moving so fast, the gap has virtually closed between the promise of change and the change itself. If the media is talki...
Tricks for the "active-passive" candidate
By Nicholas Buck
To some extent recruitment and search is a seasonal business. While we at Sheffield have a constant level of year-round activity, we...
It's best to grow from within
By Andrea Bankier
If you want the best Leadership talent working for your organisation, you’re better off developing them internally, rath...
Resilience in Leadership
By Nicholas Buck
Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend a short seminar on the topic of resilience. This was brilliantly facilitated by my c...
Leadership in a fast-changing future
By Ian Taylor & Christien Winter
Technology has radicalised almost every workplace. This reality has changed the required skill sets needed by mo...
Surviving the Panel Interview
By Louise Green
Going for a job interview is stressful enough, but how are you supposed to deal with a group of people probing you? Panel interviews ...
Where is your career heading?
By Andrea Bankier
How much effort have you put into planning your career? Have you set goals? Defined who you are and made a plan? If no...
Are your HR Consultants/Advisers Performance Consultants?
In today’s fast paced and complex organisational world, HR needs to be actively supporting leaders as they strive to deliver high performance an...
Sponsoring excellence in business
Sheffield are pleased to confirm their sponsorship of the 2017 Visionary Leader award for the prestigious Deloitte Top 200 Ceremony. “The invita...
Pipped at the post
By Nicholas Buck
One of the tougher parts of my job is giving bad news to the ‘almost’ candidate. You may have been one yourself: you&rsq...
A new GM for the North Island
Sheffield is pleased to announce the recent hire of Katy Anquetil, who will join the North Island team, working as General Manager in the Wellington o...
What keeps South Island chief executives awake at night?
Sheffield South Island recently carried out a survey looking at the state of Leadership in the South Island.
It looked at the issues and challenges ...
The truth about the 360
By Louise Green
At some stage in your professional career you’ve probably come across the 360 (three-sixty) review.
Does tenure as a manager make you a better leader?
By Andrea Bankier
You spend time working and then you start rising up the ranks. This is generally the course of most leader’s paths. Naturally...
Measuring EQ
By Fleur Hellemans
It is generally accepted that EQ (Emotional Quotient) is a measure of success when it comes to leaders and leadership.
How Much Change Can Your Organisation Handle?
By Ian Taylor
When it comes to organisational change, how do you make sure all the many variables for success are aligned?
Four ways to revamp your LinkedIn profile
By Julie Black
Are you a LinkedIn all-star? If you’re looking to make a career adjustment or seeking a new job then make sure your LinkedIn pro...
Which skills affect the bottom line?
Having the right leaders in an organisation obviously makes positive difference. But did you know that having leaders with the right competencies can ...
Have you any questions for us?
By Julie Black.
Towards the end of a job interview you’ll usually get a chance to ask questions. It’s important to be prepared ...
Global Leadership Forecast 2017/2018
Global Leadership Forecast Survey by DDI
February sees the launch of the 8th Global Leadership Forecast survey, a large and globally recognised...
Leadership Potential vs Readiness
The latest issue of Human Resources Magazine contains a fascinating article on Leadership Potential, written by Organisational Development consultants...
Where next for John Key?
Immediately following the resignation of Prime Minister John Key, Sheffield Auckland's Executive Director Ian Taylor was asked for comment by the NZ H...
How to avoid hiring toxic people
By Louise Green
The world is full of honest, kindhearted, well-adjusted people. Well, mostly. The bad news is that there are also plenty of people wh...
How CEOs are wired
By Fleur Hellemans
Becoming a CEO is one of the biggest transitions an executive can make in his or her career ...
What sort of CV do you have?
By Andrea Bankier
A common question we get asked at Sheffield is “What sort of format should I present my CV in?”
Governance as a career. Is it worth it?
Sheffield executive director Ian Taylor says governance is increasingly seen as a viable alternative career path, allowing people to have strateg...
The Human Touch
By Ian Taylor
It’s remarkable to think that in a few short years we have come so far, technically speaking.
How to answer "what's your biggest weakness?"
By Louise Green
This is an age-old question that is a favourite of interviewers. When they ask “what is your biggest weakness?” the inter...
Leadership Week 2016
Last week Sheffield teamed up with Simpson Grierson to celebrate Leadership Week.
Working with The Sir Peter Blake Trust we held an event entit...
Contracting & Short-term Assignments on the Rise
By Melissa Keane
I live in Auckland, a city seemingly bursting at the seams (for New Zealanders). Things have changed rapidly in the unofficial capit...
How to ace your Skype interview
By Mike Stenhouse
Skype interviews are now, more than ever, becoming increasingly common for executive level job interviews, at least at the initial ...
Get Certified in Facilitation
Sheffield is delighted to be running further workshops on Facilitation Certification.
This three-day Facilitation Certification Process Worksho...
What to do about "gaps" in your employment history
By Julie Black
For one reason or another you may have a “gap” in your employment history and therefore your CV. Most gaps are expla...
Managing the CEO
By Louise Green
It’s tough at the top. And failure is more prevalent than you think. According to Harvard Business Review, two out of five new ...
Using assessments in development
By Fleur Hellemans
Using assessments for recruitment and selection is extremely useful. But assessments aren’t only restricted ...
So you want to be a director ...
By Mike Stenhouse
Much has been written on the importance of strong governance and over recent times, we have seen a marked increase in the num...
Insights from a CV reviewer
By Julie Black
After you’ve applied for that job, chances are your CV will land with me or one of my colleagues, for review...
Looking to recruit? Then look to assess.
By Fleur Hellemans
If you’re looking to hire someone, psychometric assessments can help paint a more detailed picture into the personality and ...
DDI - Recognised again as a world class organisation
Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, one of the top analyst firms in the world (covering IT, Digital, Financial Services, HR, and other key are...
Online vacancies up 1.4%
The total number of online vacancies rose by 1.4% in December according to the Jobs Online report for December 2015. The monthly report is published b...
Wellington gets a promotion
It is with great pleasure that Sheffield would like to announce the promotion of Nicholas Buck to the position of Senior Consultant.
Nick has built...
Vacancies rise 1.8%
The number of overall jobs advertised online for skilled workers increased by 1.8% according to the Jobs Online report for October. The monthly report...
Ready. Set. Assess!
By Fleur Hellemans
When you apply for a job these days, it’s not uncommon to go through some sort of psychometric assessment. Given the relativ...
How Competent is your Company?
By Louise Green
A recent survey by Human Resource Executive found that two of the top five challenges facing organisations today are:
aligning...
Recruitment: DIY vs Using a Professional
By Nick Gee
In this age of everything DIY (DIY websites, DIY accounting software, DIY marketing etc.) one might ask: why outsource anything? ...
How important is a degree?
Our Auckland executive director Ian Taylor recently published an article with the NZ Herald on the importance of obtaining a degree and possessing the...
Identifying Leadership Potential
By Andy Clayton
With many organisations citing leadership as their number one talent issue (Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2014), talen...
Leadership Transitions
How do leaders feel when transitioning from one role to the next?
According to this article from DDI, when it comes to that big promotio...
Continued Demand for Skilled Workers - Labour Market Update
The number of jobs advertised online for Chief Executives and Managing Directors has increased 36% since this time last year. The Jobs Online monthly ...
Competencies That Work for Business
Keeping competency / leadership frameworks simple and focused is critical to making them effective and easy to use by leaders at all levels. The...
Celebrating Leadership Week
As part of leadership week Sheffield was delighted to host a lunch with the Sir Peter Blake Trust in Christchurch.
Te Wananga O Aotearoa
Possessing an understanding of the unique cultural dynamics enabled Sheffield to assist Te Wananga O Aotearoa in the appointment of a new executive te...
Ready Now Leaders: Meeting tomorrow's business challenges
Ready Now Leaders: Meeting tomorrow's business challenges
With more than 14,000 respondents worldwide, the 2014 DDI Global Leadership Forecast provid...
People on the Move
As New Zealand’s leading provider of Executive Search and Selection Services, we pride ourselves on matching the right candidate into the right ...