About this event
HR drives change by blending innovation with empathy, building trust, transparency, and people-centred strategies for lasting transformation
In today’s fast-changing workplace, HR plays a crucial role in shaping experiences that feel innovative yet grounded in trust, transparency, and humanity.
HR change in action: Balancing transformation with trust is an immersive, interactive session designed to help HR and people leaders deliver transformation that colleagues understand, embrace, and feel supported through.
Through a blend of expert insights, open discussion, and practical tools, this session focuses on delivering trust-driven transformation where people feel informed, included, and confident every step of the way.
You’ll explore how to lead meaningful organisational change by combining innovation with empathy, and how to build cultures rooted in psychological safety, transparency, and open communication. The session also equips leaders with real examples and people-centred strategies to strengthen trust throughout the transformation journey.
By the end, you’ll be better prepared to ensure new systems, structures, and ways of working land successfully—supporting wellbeing while driving sustainable progress that reflects both organisational ambition and human experience.
Agenda
09:00 – 09:30: Breakfast & networking
09:30 – 09:40: Welcome & scene‑estting
09:40 – 10:00: Ice breaker: “change in one word”
10:00 – 10:25: Keynote: the modern reality of HR‑led transformation
10:25 – 10:50: Interactive exercise: “trust builders vs. trust breakers”
10:50 – 11:00: Break
11:00 – 11:20: Case study & tools: when change lands well — and when It doesn’t
11:20 – 11:30: Action planning & close
Claudia Sumbo:
Claudia is a Chartered HR professional with a Postgraduate Diploma in HR combined with CIPD Level 7 and an influential HR Change and Continuous Improvement Lead, driving transformative change across some of the most complex operational environments. Currently at the helm of the Career Transitions strand, she plays a pivotal role in shaping how organisations adapt, evolve, and thrive.
Since 2018, Claudia has been at the forefront of major transformation programmes, from organisational redesign and workforce restructuring to high‑impact redeployment initiatives, delivering change that is both strategic and deeply people‑centric.
With a career spanning the aviation and policing sectors, Claudia brings a rare blend of operational insight, governance expertise, and a strong commitment to elevating the employee experience. Her passion lies in championing HR as a force for good: leading change that is operationally robust, ethically grounded, and genuinely supportive of the people it affects.
A Chartered Member of the CIPD and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of HR Professionals, Claudia is dedicated to advancing the HR profession. Through her work, volunteering, and civic contributions, she is helping shape the future of responsible and human‑centred organisational transformation.
Andrea Gunning:
Andrea Gunning is an experienced HR leader and change specialist with over 15 years of experience driving organisational transformation, employee relations strategy, and people management across complex, fast-paced environments. She currently serves as HR Change and Continuous Improvement Lead at the Metropolitan Police Service in London, where she leads large-scale organisational change initiatives, restructures, and continuous improvement programmes that support operational effectiveness while ensuring compliance with employment legislation.
Andrea has built a reputation for delivering complex people strategies that balance organisational performance with employee engagement. Throughout her career she has successfully led large-scale restructures, mergers, TUPE transfers, and organisational redesign programmes affecting hundreds of employees across multiple functions and geographic locations. Her work focuses on ensuring change is strategically planned, risk-assessed, and delivered with people at the centre.
Prior to joining the Metropolitan Police Service, Andrea held senior leadership roles at Entain Group, predominantly within the Global People Relations function and managed a team of advisors supporting multiple international jurisdictions including the UK, Gibraltar, Bulgaria, India, and the Philippines. In this role she was responsible for shaping HR strategy, managing complex employee relations matters, and delivering data-driven improvements to organisational policy, culture, and leadership capability alongside leading on change projects .
She holds a CIPD Level 7 Diploma in Human Resource Management and a BA (Hons) in Business Administration with Marketing from the University of Hertfordshire.
Please note:
- Reminder emails will be sent to you the day before, with a further reminder on the day of the event.
- Photography and video production may be taking place at the event, and these images may be used in the CIPD newsletters.
- By attending the event, you are giving consent for your image to be used on any CIPD promotional materials.
- As we are supplying refreshments, if you can no longer attend, please cancel your place either on Eventbrite, or by responding to the confirmation email.
- This event may include an external speaker who has prepared their own presentation. Any views or opinions expressed by the speaker are their own and do not reflect those of the CIPD.
- If you require any reasonable adjustments to enhance your experience, please get in contact with us by responding to this email and we will do our best to accommodate.
