Executive Skills Gap Analysis

Many aspiring senior L&D leaders focus on building deeper expertise in learning. But their biggest competency gaps often have little to do with learning itself. In Training Industry, Inc.’s research on senior L&D leadership competencies, we asked participants where they felt least confident. The top responses were: • Financial management: 54% • Executive influence: 51% • Technology and resource management: 36% • Strategic alignment: 33% By comparison, relatively few identified gaps in: • Learning function oversight: 18% • Team leadership: 15% The pattern is telling. The biggest confidence gaps weren’t related to managing a learning function or leading a team. They were related to operating as a business leader. So, if your goal is to move into a more senior L&D role, where should you start? 1. Assess your readiness. • Identify where you are already strong and where you need to grow. • Review the competencies required at the executive level. Training Industry’s Senior L&D Leader Competency Model outlines the skills and behaviors associated with senior L&D leadership. I’ve shared it and a readiess quiz that can use to assess your own readiness in the comments. 2. Create a focused development plan. • Choose 1-2 priority areas and define specific actions, timelines and evidence of progress. • Seek out experiential learning. • Look for stretch assignments, volunteer leadership roles, cross-functional projects or programs that give you practice influencing stakeholders, managing resources and making strategic decisions. Technical expertise may help you move into leadership. But business leadership is what helps you advance beyond it. Which of these areas would you prioritize first?

The work you're doing is already L7. The way you're talking about it is keeping you at L6. 🤔 If you're stuck at L6, the issue is rarely technical skill. You proved that getting here. Most L6 professionals think "strategic thinking" means better planning — longer roadmaps, more detailed breakdowns, tighter risk analysis. That's not what your skip-level is evaluating. Strategic thinking at L7 means deciding what NOT to build based on business priorities. It means aligning product and engineering on scope trade-offs before disagreement becomes a blocker. It means showing high judgement and influencing decisions across teams you don't own. Here's the clearest example I can give you: Your skip-level asks: "What are you working on?" You say: "We're on track for the Q3 launch — here's the timeline and deliverables." → That's execution mindset. That's L6. You say: "I deprioritized Feature X because customer adoption data showed Feature Y would accelerate revenue by two quarters — so we moved fast on Y and deferred X." → That's strategic mindset. That's L7. Same decisions. Completely different signal. By the time you're a high performing L6, you're already making L7 calls every week. The gap isn't capability — it's translation. You're still narrating your work like an IC in rooms where leadership is deciding if you think like a director. Here's what that translation looks like in practice: Execution → Business impact L6: "I shipped three features this quarter." L7: "I prioritized the two features that unblocked our enterprise pipeline and deferred the ones that didn't move revenue." Dependencies → Strategic leverage L6: "I navigated cross-team dependencies." L7: "I built relationships across three orgs that now give my team faster unblocking and earlier roadmap visibility." Output → Org impact L6: "My team delivered on time." L7: "I aligned engineering and product on timeline trade-offs that got us to market ahead of two competitors." The work is already there. The language is what's keeping you stuck. Comment "TRANSFORM" if you're operating above your level but leadership still sees you as a strong executor. I read every one.

Something that I live by is, what got you here won’t get you to executive leadership. One of the biggest gaps I see for HR leaders stepping into executive roles has nothing to do with HR. It’s the skills they were never taught. Most of us were trained to be strong in: Employee relations. Compliance. Policies. Processes. All important. But not enough for executive leadership. The shift requires a different set of skills. Business acumen. Understanding how the organization makes money. How decisions impact cost. How growth, risk, and operations are connected. Strategic thinking. Not just solving problems in front of you, but anticipating what’s coming and aligning people strategy to where the business is going. Executive communication. Translating people insights into language that resonates with leaders making business decisions. And one that often gets overlooked… Comfort with ambiguity. At the executive level, not everything is clear. Not everything is fully defined. Leaders are expected to make decisions with incomplete information and move forward with confidence. These are not skills most HR leaders are formally taught. They are developed intentionally. Through exposure. Through observation. Through stepping into conversations before you feel fully ready. This is the shift I’ve been leaning into and encouraging with my team. Because the goal isn’t just to be strong in HR. It’s to be a strong leader who uses HR as a lens to drive the business forward. I’m curious, which of these has been the biggest stretch for you? People strategy is business strategy.

To the CHRO: Why Your Best HR People Can't Influence Executives Your best HR people know their stuff. But executives still ignore their recommendations. This is the influence gap that's costing you credibility. What's missing? Executive influence capabilities. The six capabilities that separate influencers from experts: 1. Trusted Advisor Status Gap: Executives see them as service providers, not strategic partners Red flag: They're called in after decisions are made, not before Assessment: When executives have tough organizational issues, who do they call first? 2. Courageous Advocacy Gap: They fold when executives push back instead of advocating with facts Red flag: They say "whatever you think is best" when challenged Assessment: Will they respectfully disagree with executives when data supports it? 3. Talent Authority Gap: They know processes but not people at strategic levels Red flag: They can't discuss the top 100 leaders' strengths, development needs, and next moves Assessment: Do they know your key talent as well as they know your policies? 4. Strategic Translation Gap: They can't connect business strategy to people strategy Red flag: Their initiatives exist in isolation from business goals Assessment: Can they explain how their work directly enables the business strategy? 5. Social Architecture Gap: They recommend changes but can't drive organizational adoption Red flag: Their great ideas die in committee or implementation Assessment: Can they architect and drive lasting organizational change? The influence test: Can your team members change an executive's mind on difficult topics through deep business understanding and command of relevant facts? Ready to build executive influence in your team? ✅ Let's Connect!! #HRLeadership #CHRO #ExecutiveSearch #TalentStrategy #Leadership

>>HR Leaders: The gap between your strategic mandate and HR's capacity to deliver has never been wider.   Heidrick & Struggles interviewed 50+ Chief People Officers (CPOs) at Fortune 500 and FTSE 350 companies to understand how the role is evolving. The findings reveal a function with high expectations from the C-suite but limited capabilities and tools to deliver.   →If you're an #HRTech CEO or consulting firm leader, this article maps your clients' strategic priorities and the capabilities gaps they need to close.   Five challenges reshaping the CPO role:   1. Building strategic capability while running operations: Many organizations expect CPOs to enable enterprise transformation when needed, a broader mandate of shaping top-line growth, not just managing costs. This requires CPOs who are "systems thinkers" and relationship builders.   2. Managing the leadership pipeline as a strategic asset: Only 4% of CPOs say their executive succession planning works. The problem isn't effort, it's fragmentation. Attraction, development, and succession run in silos when they should form one integrated system tied to business strategy.   3. Driving transformation under cost constraints: CPOs are asked to do more with less. You're guiding the workforce through constant change, AI adoption, org redesign, skill shifts, while preventing burnout and building resilience. New HR operating models and practices are needed.   4. Responding to workforce shifts: Gen Z's focus on purpose over stability is reshaping how organizations engage and retain talent. Fractional and contract workers offer strategic flexibility, but their hiring remains fragmented across procurement and business units, disconnected from integrated workforce planning. Only 30% of organizations link their skills data to workforce planning.   5. Mastering AI and emerging technologies: 54% of HR leaders say they're not adopting AI fast enough. Top barrier: finding the talent expertise. Work and job design now require deep AI understanding. AI and data literacy programs are essential for HR leaders.   What top-performing CPOs are doing differently:   → Taking a holistic approach to leadership: Connecting attraction, development, and succession planning; extending succession planning deeper; using assessment data across all talent decisions   → Building leadership liquidity: Developing agile leaders through cross-functional rotations; using interim executives to pilot roles; creating dynamic teams, not static org charts   → Using AI to gain strategic capacity: Automating routine work to free up strategic thinking; becoming AI-literate enough to advise other functions; experimenting within HR first   → Fostering resilience through inclusion: Enabling dialogue across workforce divides; focusing on transparency about opportunities; serving as executive team "glue"   What's your biggest constraint: capability, capacity, or executive alignment?   #CHRO #TalentStrategy #HRTransformation #LeadershipDevelopment