The Talent Manager's guide to having career conversations that matter
If you were to walk into Unilever’s headquarters in London, you're just as likely to meet a senior executive who started out stacking shelves or someone who joined the organisation as a graduate trainee as you are to meet someone with years of corporate experience. This is because Unilever has a deep commitment to nurturing talent from within. It’s a business well known for investing heavily in learning, leadership development, and structured career progression. Over 85% of its managerial positions are filled internally demonstrating that developing their own people isn’t just Unilever’s strategy, it’s embedded in the company’s culture.
What do Unilever actually do differently?
Let’s have a look at their talent development metrics
70% of senior roles are “built” internally, with only 30% hired externally.
Unilever recruits roughly 850 graduates annually into its Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP), drawing from approximately 45 countries.
Unilever’s talent development and diversity at the senior level:
As of December 2023, 31% of Unilever’s Leadership Executive were female, and around 62% were from ethnic minorities (based on Unilever’s latest data) .
The governance and succession framework ensures opportunities are merit‑based and designed to promote diversity
Employee engagement and retention:
Unilever’s annual UniVoice survey shows 79% overall engagement, with 87% of employees proud to work for the company, and 82% reported that they can see a clear link between their work and Unilever’s strategy .
Reskilling and future‑fit workforce:
In 2022, 15% of Unilever’s employees were reskilled or upskilled with future‑focused skills, particularly digital capabilities, across factory, warehouse, and office roles .
While other companies struggle with retention and internal mobility, Unilever has established a reputation for developing people from within, recognising that the talent they need tomorrow is often sitting right in front of them today. Their approach is so effective because they have leaders who understand that every conversation, every project assignment, and every piece of feedback shapes career trajectories. They've grasped a fundamental truth that many organisations miss: you're not just managing performance, you're managing talent futures.
With September's career-focused energy in full swing and annual reviews fresh in everyone's minds, there's never been a better time to reflect on and reset your approach to talent development. It’s not a case of whether you have talent on your team, it’s whether you know how to spot it and how you nurture it.
How does Unilever build leaders from the ground up?
Why does their approach to talent development continue to deliver long-term business success?
And how can you replicate this approach through your own management conversations?
Your hidden role as Chief Talent Manager
Whether you realise it or not, you're their talent manager. You're the person who can accelerate career growth or accidentally stall progress. You can hold people back or give them a leg up and all it takes is a conversation. Every interaction is an opportunity to unlock potential, identify hidden capabilities, and create pathways for development.
But here’s what lots of managers miss; the talent you need to develop isn't just your obvious high performers. It's often the hidden talent. It’s the person who keeps everything running smoothly while others chase the spotlight, the steady performer who understands your customers better than anyone, or the quiet strategist who sees solutions others miss.
Career conversations that are going nowhere
Too many development discussions are annual reviews disguised as career planning. People leaders are dishing out generic advice that applies to everyone but helps no one. Instead of providing specific guidance, leaders often default to vague encouragement, creating development plans that gather dust rather than building capabilities.
Overlooking the talent right under your nose
When you focus only on the loudest voices in the room you risk overlooking the steady performers, the ones making silent strides. We assume career ambition looks the same for everyone, missing different types of potential and capability. The spotlight effect favors extroverted contributions, but innovation often comes from unexpected sources. Confusing confidence with competence can have far reaching consequences in an organisation. Over promotion and repeating recruitment processes has a triple negative effect; the silent performers, genuine talent - feel overlooked and unappreciated, the over promoted are under developed and under supported often experiencing a serious knock to their confidence and set back in their career and finally, the organisation loses the trust of its team, risks losing talent and suffers the financial impact of the wrong person in the wrong job at the wrong time.
The conversation skills gap
Most leaders have never learned how to discuss career development meaningfully. They copy ineffective approaches from previous managers, feel uncomfortable discussing external opportunities, and struggle to balance honesty with motivation. The result? Development dead ends and missed opportunities.
Where does the gap come from?
Honestly, it’s performance bias. We equate current performance with future potential, missing people who excel in ways that aren't immediately visible. We assume ambition looks like traditional career ladder climbing, but success means different things to different people.
The one-size-fits-all trap
Development programmes designed for generic career paths fail to recognise different motivations and definitions of success. We operate under the myth that everyone wants the same career opportunities and trajectory. They don’t. Not everyone wants to be a leader. Management responsibility isn’t the only way (or often the best way) to reward high performers.
Leadership development gaps
Leaders feel responsible for outcomes they can't control and fear discussing external opportunities. The discomfort of "what if they leave?" prevents honest conversations about growth – but people leave anyway when they don't see development possibilities.
The three biggest costs of getting it wrong
1. Talent that goes elsewhere
When high potential people feel overlooked and undervalued they vote with their feet. Steady performers leave for better development opportunities elsewhere. The cascade effect when good people start leaving is rarely just one person – it's a talent hemorrhage that competitors benefit from.
2. Missed internal capability
When you’re ignorant about what your people can do well and what they're interested in, skills and insights remain hidden and unused. As a result potential future leadership capacity goes unidentified and undeveloped. The opportunity cost of external recruitment grows when internal talent isn't properly cultivated.
3. Reduced engagement
People stop investing in their work when they don't see a future. Lower retention rates become inevitable when growth feels impossible. The team becomes a collection of people doing current jobs rather than developing future capabilities.
Four ways you can start building your talent management capability
1. Look for different types of intelligence
Identify those who understand systems, customers, or processes in unique ways. Recognise contributions that may not be immediately visible but are crucial to your team's success. Intelligence comes in many forms – analytical, emotional, creative, systemic, and each type offers development opportunities.
2. Have development conversations that count
Move beyond "where do you see yourself in five years?" Ask questions that uncover real aspirations and motivations. Understand what success means to each individual. Is it recognition, autonomy, mastery, impact, or something else entirely?
Make it a dialogue, not a monologue. Listen for the passion behind their current work. Discover what challenges genuinely interest them. Find out what they want to learn, not just what you think they need to know.
3. Create development that works
Connect current work to future skill building. Find stretch opportunities within existing constraints. Look for projects that build capabilities while delivering results. Sometimes the best development happens when you expand someone's current role rather than moving them to a new one.
4. Master the external opportunity conversation
Discuss career options honestly without creating panic. Support people's growth even when it leads elsewhere. Build your reputation as someone who develops talent – this attracts high-potential people and creates a positive cycle of development.
What changes when you become a talent manager
You build a team where everyone grows - Higher retention becomes possible when growth feels supported. Better performance emerges when people connect current work to future goals. Hidden talent gets developed instead of remaining dormant.
You build organisational capacity - You create a stronger pipeline of developed internal talent. Reduced reliance on external recruitment for key roles. You start developing a culture that values growth and recognises different types of contribution which becomes your competitive advantage.
Innovation comes from unexpected sources - Capabilities emerge when people feel seen and supported. Leadership potential gets identified and nurtured early. The quiet strategist becomes your next department head. The steady performer becomes your customer insight expert.
The September Opportunity
September's energy of new starts makes this the perfect time to reset your approach to talent development. Your team isn't just a collection of people doing current jobs, they're hidden talent looking for development opportunities.
The companies that thrive in the coming years will be those that unlock the potential already sitting in their teams. Like Unilever, they'll be known for developing people from within, creating career pathways that retain talent while building capability.
Your next conversation could be the one that transforms someone's career trajectory. Your next project assignment could unlock hidden potential. Your next feedback session could be the catalyst for someone's breakthrough.
Start This Week
Pick someone whose contribution you value but whose potential you haven't fully explored. Ask them what they want to learn, what challenges interest them, what success looks like from their perspective. Then create one specific opportunity to help them grow.
That conversation could be the beginning of your reputation as a leader who develops talent. It could be the first step in building a team where everyone grows. It could be the moment you transform from managing performance to managing futures.
Ready to transform your approach to talent development?
The difference between good leaders and great ones isn't just in the results they achieve, it's in the talent they develop along the way. Are you ready to unlock the hidden potential in your team and build your capability as a talent manager? I’m Amanda and I support senior leaders, aspiring leaders and teams who all want the same thing - to do great work in great organisations. If you or a member of your team needs structured support developing their leadership skills or as an organisation you have challenges you’d like to discuss, get in touch and let’s talk.