Bob Hughes, talent manager at Network Rail, spoke about brokering the peace in the war for talent at Tuesday evening’s Recruitment Society event.

Around 50 members heard Hughes speak about the vitally important role of leaders and how the right leadership was crucial for any organisation, especially in today’s marketplace, not only to lead but to encourage and retain key members of staff.

Managers — even good ones — should be given leadership coaching, development and mentoring, said Hughes. “If you train 10% of your best managers, you get more from them than 10% of your worst ones.”

Hughes maintained that industry should be talking about the “peace for talent” rather than the war, and encouraged members to build networks across organisations as well as within their own firms. “We should co-operate in a peaceful way to work together to make business successful.”

Steve Huxham, chairman of the Recruitment Society, reiterated Hughes’ sentiments: “Talent management is not a luxury item on the shopping list.”