In this blog, Lisa Hogan, Membership Development and Communications Manager at the CIPD in Ireland, looks at some of the most important questions organisations should be asking about performance, productivity, trust and wellbeing. She explains how the themes explored at the CIPD in Ireland Thrive Conference can help organisations build the conditions for lasting success.
How do you create a thriving organisation where people perform, productivity grows, trust strengthens and wellbeing supports lasting success? With economic uncertainty, technological disruptions, skills shortages and rising employee expectations, it’s a question many organisations are asking right now. And it’s a question at the heart of the CIPD in Ireland Thrive Conference 2026.
Designed with real-world application and development front of mind, the programme explores some of biggest questions organisations should be asking themselves today
How can you improve performance and productivity while building trust and supporting employee wellbeing?
The most successful organisations understand that sustainable performance isn't a choice between people and business outcomes. It's achieved by finding the right balance and creating the conditions where both can thrive.
How can HR help turn intention to impact to create lasting value and sustainable performance?
Understanding what drives sustainable performance means looking beyond individual programmes, at the bigger picture: work design, leadership, trust, productivity and capability. New research and practitioner insight are helping to build a clearer picture of which factors have the greatest impact on organisational outcomes. Showing, with evidence, which people practices deliver real commercial results is how you turn that insight into meaningful commercial results for the organisation.
Are your leaders creating the conditions for people to perform at their best?
With trust no longer a ‘soft’ issue, everyday manager behaviour is crucial in creating an environment where people can adapt, contribute and thrive at work. Organisations seeking sustainable success should consider not only how they develop leaders, but how they reinforce everyday behaviours that build trust, accountability and psychological safety.
How do you demonstrate that people strategy is creating real organisational value?
The strongest people strategies don't sit alongside business strategy, they help deliver it. They can improve productivity, strengthen trust, support wellbeing and deliver commercial value, and HR's role is to connect people practices to business outcomes and provide the evidence that shows what's working and why.
What do c-suite leaders expect from the people profession?
Trust, culture and workforce capability undoubtedly contribute to organisational resilience and performance, but how do c-suite leaders view their impact? As expectations of the profession evolve, the people profession has an opportunity to strengthen its influence by speaking the same language, using evidence to demonstrate impact and helping shape strategic decision-making.
How can organisations use AI to create better work, not simply faster work?
How work is organised, delivered and experienced is rapidly changing with the rise of artificial intelligence. How can the people profession support responsible AI adoption that improves job quality, supports wellbeing and creates the confidence and psychological safety people need to experiment, learn and innovate, rather than accelerating unsustainable workloads?
It’s clear from both research and practice that thriving organisations don’t view performance, productivity, trust and wellbeing as competing priorities. They understand that sustainable business success depends on creating the conditions in which people can contribute, adapt, grow and perform.
That's why Thrive has evolved from a traditional wellbeing conference into a strategic forum focused on the relationship between people and organisational performance. By bringing together new research, expert insight, organisational case studies and in-depth discussion, the conference explores not just what organisations are doing, but what’s working and why.
If these are questions you're already asking in your organisation, Thrive offers an opportunity to learn from new research, hear real stories of impact and connect with others working to create organisations where both people and performance can thrive.