How Equity Trustees Made Skills the Backbone of Succession Planning

Why succession planning mattered at EQT

I recently spoke with Equity Trustees (EQT) about why succession had become non-negotiable, and three reasons stood out: strategic alignment and stability, preserving deep domain expertise, and developing and retaining talent in a tight skills market.

Operating in a highly regulated, knowledge-intensive trustee business, EQT knew that having the right people with the right capabilities ready for change was essential to protect continuity and performance. They also needed a clear pipeline to step into business-critical roles, and a way to transfer specialized knowledge from one generation to the next without losing momentum. The last challenge they were focused on overcoming was creating visible development pathways that connect learning to meaningful career outcomes-a key lever for engagement and retention.​

How EQT made skills the foundation

EQT had attempted succession planning before, but it was fragmented and subjective, so the team wanted a more strategic, objective approach with skills as the foundation to align talent with real operating priorities so that they were well-placed to take the business forward.

Firstly, EQT needed to define what success looked like, identifying business critical roles and the capabilities required for each of those roles, including key stakeholders in the process to ground decisions in context. By adopting SHL’s Universal Competency Framework (UCF) across the organization, everyone had a validated language to enable consistent conversations as success was explicitly defined in competencies and skills, not tenure or instinct.

With SHL’s OPQ and 360 assessments, EQT could identify skills, development gaps and future potential with real-time access to reusable people data. This could provide the business and individuals direction of what was expected, and anchor development initiatives to those competencies and skill areas that would have an impact.

Assessment to action

With development and feedback reports that SHL’s assessments provided, EQT could improve their workforce planning and empower individuals to drive their own professional development with growth plans linked to learning resources.

Previous engagement surveys showed a gap. People had access to learning, but it wasn’t translating into career progression or linked to future capabilities that would lead to future success. With the skills-based approach, EQT could reframe career paths so they weren’t just about promotion, but highlighted development opportunities and knowledge on how to build relevant skills, opening up internal opportunities while keeping employees engaged until roles open.

“Development alone is not enough. Now we underpin our development with career growth and empower employees to take charge of their own career development, ensuring things like mentoring and employee-led conversations form a key part of our overall L&D program.”

Andrea Robotham, Head of People Experience & Capability Manager, Equity Trustees 

Overcoming challenges with transparency and timing

Timing mattered: after a multiyear transformation, only some units had the headspace for meaningful talent conversations, so EQT sequenced adoption, tackling business units where readiness was highest.

EQT ensured they approached change management in a transparent way, partnering with their internal marketing team to help engage leaders and employees in language that resonated. By communicating what a skills approach meant for the organization, the benefits it would bring, and the mobility pathways that would be created, it accelerated uptake, buy-in and adoption from leaders and employees.

“Sharing the development insights from SHL’s assessments means that now everybody who wants to develop themselves, can, and we can be transparent with our employees by telling them that although we may not be able to tell you the exact role that you will be doing in a few years’ time, we can show you the skills that will help you be part of our long-term future.”

Andrea Robotham, Head of People Experience & Capability Manager, Equity Trustees 

Consistency leads to results

Regular executive and leadership talent discussions, fueled by assessment insights, are already resulting in promotions and new role movements, even as the broader program continues to scale.

With a data-driven approach EQT have a framework in place to embed a learning culture and upskill employees to succeed in their current role, and the future needs of the business. Leaders across the business are having more consistent conversations, setting clearer expectations and creating targeted learning pathways to create a future-ready team.

Going forward EQT are already looking to reuse the growing assessment dataset to spot high potential talent earlier, building a stronger, more diverse leadership pipeline.

“We’re already seeing positive results and are confident that we’re equipping our workforce with the knowledge, resources and development insights to retain, grow and identify those with the highest potential to be future leaders and drivers of growth.”

Andrea Robotham, Head of People Experience & Capability Manager, Equity Trustees 

EQT’s experience shows that when succession is data-driven, phased, and rooted in a common skills language, it becomes a practical engine for continuity, engagement, and performance.​

Watch the full webinar replay to see Equity Trustees Journey to future-proofing their organization.

Want to build skills-first, succession engine like EQT’s? Explore SHL’s Succession Planning solution to learn more.