Disruption does not destabilize organizations on its own. Uncertainty becomes dangerous when talent loses visibility into its future. In this HSIQ Insight Labs analysis, Richard Stein – CEO of HSiQ – examines why development and talent intelligence have become decisive stabilizers during periods of transformation – and how leading organizations convert workforce anxiety into execution advantage.
Periods of disruption – acquisitions, restructurings, recapitalizations, or strategic pivots – expose a hard truth about organizations: transformation rarely fails because of flawed strategy. It fails because talent confidence erodes at precisely the moment alignment matters most.
KPMG research cited by the Harvard Business Review shows attrition can double following an acquisition announcement, exactly when companies need their most capable leaders and operators to remain engaged. In these moments, leadership development ceases to be a cultural benefit. It becomes structural risk management.
When uncertainty rises, employees are not simply asking whether change is coming. They are asking where they fit, how they can grow, and whether leadership has a credible path forward for them.
Organizations that fail to answer those questions quickly experience disengagement long before departures appear in quarterly metrics.
Confidence Is the Real Retention Strategy
Gallup’s data reinforces this dynamic: employees with access to development opportunities are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged. Engagement, in this context, is not about morale. It is about belief – belief that skills remain relevant, that growth remains possible, and that leadership is investing intentionally.
“In periods of disruption, talent doesn’t leave because change is happening,” says Richard Stein, CEO HSiQ, the talent intelligence advisory unit of Hunt Scanlon. “Talent leaves because they can’t see themselves succeeding on the other side of it.”
“In periods of disruption, talent doesn’t leave because change is happening.”
Talent intelligence addresses that visibility gap. By mapping skills, identifying adjacencies, and connecting development pathways to real internal opportunities, organizations convert ambiguity into structured movement. Instead of asking employees to wait and see, they show them where they can go.
Development Must Be Embedded in the Operating Model
The Frontier Communications “Frontier Forward” initiative, profiled by Harvard Business Review, offers a practical illustration. By aligning leadership development, professional learning, internal mobility, and communication into a single operating system, Frontier reduced attrition risk while simultaneously lowering vendor costs and improving cross-functional execution.
The lesson is not about training budgets. It is about integration. Development works when it is tied directly to operating priorities and visible movement across the organization.
Across the market, the same pattern holds. Organizations that link development to real work and internal mobility build resilience during disruption. Those that rely on reactive incentives or retention bonuses often delay exits—but do not prevent them.
“The most resilient organizations don’t debate whether they can afford to invest in talent during transformation.”
Critically, these strategies scale only when leadership accountability is explicit. Data alone does not stabilize organizations. Narrative does. Talent intelligence provides evidence, but leadership behavior determines whether that evidence translates into trust.
“The most resilient organizations don’t debate whether they can afford to invest in talent during transformation,” says Scott A. Scanlon, co-founder of HSiQ and CEO of Hunt Scanlon. “They recognize that talent is the transformation.”
From Uncertainty to Execution Advantage
“HSIQ operates at this inflection point – translating workforce data into insight leaders can operationalize in real time,” notes Mr. Stein. “By surfacing succession risk, skill fragility, and leadership misalignment early, organizations can intervene before disengagement becomes attrition.”
Retention, in this framework, is not about keeping people still. It is about helping them move forward with confidence.
“In volatile environments, visibility is the stabilizer,” Mr. Stein notes. “When employees understand how they grow through change – not around it – organizations gain execution leverage instead of losing talent.”
In an era defined by volatility, development anchored in talent intelligence is no longer discretionary. It is the mechanism that converts uncertainty into advantage and ensures organizations emerge from disruption stronger than they entered it.
HSiQ Insights Lab was created to examine exactly this intersection – where data, technology, and human potential converge. As the workforce contracts, advantage will not come from doing more with less. It will come from seeing more of what already exists – and using it intelligently.
For more information on how HSiQ can help your business succeed, please contact us today.
Article By
Richard Stein
Richard Stein is CEO of HSIQ. He has a distinguished career supporting the C-suite of many of the world’s top corporations and financial services organizations in all aspects of talent acquisition, development and retention. Richard is one of the industry’s top advisors with experience across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
