Future Thinking

Let’s face it, looking back at the last couple of years requires a fortitude of character and strength of mind that would test the most ardent diarist. So I thought, instead, it would be more interesting to look forwards and think about what 2022 might have in store for Oxford HR.

We’ve been doing rather a lot of executive search recently. We kicked off around 170 searches in 2021, an increase of about 130% on the same period the year before. Unsurprisingly that’s meant it’s felt a little bit crazy, but in a good way. We’ve also made a real impact with our Leadership & Change work over the past year, with a new Global Head of OE joining the team to build our leadership development work as well as our assessment work, and we are really starting to see the benefit of this service for our clients. In addition, our newly established Knowledge Festivals have been a tremendous success and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed bringing you a wealth of knowledge from all corners of the globe, on topics such as Women in Leadership, Organisational Culture, African Philanthropy, Board Diversity and others, with many more in the pipeline.

I’m hoping 2022 will be the year when Oxford HR officially launch ourselves into the USA and into Asia to enable us to bring our holistic leadership consultancy offering to both existing and new clients. With our new Associates, Evelyne Guidon and Alanna Rondi, in Canada, and Jennifer Chumacero in Bolivia, we’re already making our presence felt in the Americas.

We have plans to expand our work, reputation and presence in Africa this year too. Our Africa team have been formidably successful in opening up opportunities and our Nairobi office continues to grow from strength to strength. We’ve also had the pleasure of welcoming some new Associates in the region, so watch this space for some content from them. Our Europe team continues to be the biggest in the organisation, made even bigger through the addition of three new Associates in our Amsterdam office, and internal promotions for members of our research team to new Junior Consultants. There’s been a real push in the Europe region to develop new Industry specialisms, the most significant of which being in the area of climate and conservation. We’re really looking forward to working with many more repeat and new clients in this crucial space.

Excitingly, last year also saw the launch of a new offering, our design agency, OXygen. Our award-winning design team are now partnering with clients to offer services such as branding, websites and strategy. This work has shown that helping clients with their identity is closely linked to strategic and organisational development, and working in partnership with our Leadership & Change professionals can result in a radically improved company, and not just a new logo.

Internally, our Research and Administration team continue to find innovative ways to help streamline our search processes and create a better client experience. We’re also reviewing some of our systems, such as appraisals, to hone in on professional development and really practice what we preach when it comes to effective organisations. We’re making a big commitment to advancing our expertise on equality, diversity and inclusion over the next year, both internally and externally, with two new members of the team specialising in this specifically, aiming to bring training to the wider team.

So for me 2022 feels like the most exciting of years for Oxford HR in the short time I have known it. We have the team, the reputation and the clients already working with us to make it a year of growth and transformation – one where we take a big step towards achieving our goal of becoming a global leadership consultancy for the for-purpose sector, one where our aim is not to just search for a better world but to play an active part in shaping it too.

Happy new year!