Everything you need to know, and nothing more!

Have you ever put off having an important conversation with one of your staff because you fear what could go wrong? You work through all the scenarios in your mind and convince yourself that you’re going to make things worse if you speak to them about an issue. And it keeps you stuck. And frustrated. […]

This is the story of how an empowered leader changed the direction of the business whilst his predecessor was still navigating from the back seat. Carl was the Managing Director in a food production business. The previous MD was the Chairman and still very much involved in day-to-day operations. The workforce of 750 people was […]

Employee engagement is a hot topic in HR learning and development so you’ll find lots of great tools and resources that will help you identify how engaged your workforce are and what to do if they are not.  But what about you, the business owner? Are you ‘engaged’? I acknowledge the struggle of hard-working leaders […]

You’re in the battlefield with a member of staff. You don’t how it escalated so quickly or what to do next to avoid making matters worse. They call in sick and you breathe a sigh of relief that you don’t have to face them at work for a while. But the issue doesn’t go away. […]

Being an employer is a huge responsibility. You are expected to know what you’re doing, even though your employees are unique and don’t come with their own manuals on how to manage them effectively. If you keep ‘winging’ people management, you’ll get away with that strategy some of the time, but when it fails you, […]

I was recently delivering a people manager training session on how to give feedback. We were specifically talking about giving constructive feedback, and I asked the group why some of us struggle as managers to have those trickier conversations with our teams. The responses varied from ‘…because I don’t like being negative towards anyone, especially […]

With advancements in technology and the world seeming a smaller, more accessible place, I’ve fallen into the habit of being available all the time, night or day, 7 days a week.  I have management responsibilities and feel like I can’t ignore calls and emails as my team know that I carry my mobile phone with […]

This is the story of the past 7 years of my working life. The time feels right to share it and draw a line in the sand. It’s a 5-10 minute read so feel free to scroll on, but if you are interested, grab a brew and your favourite treat and read on my friends. […]

You may already have a HR business partner or employment lawyer on speed dial, but are there gaps in their knowledge, advice and experience that mean you need the next level of support? Do you have an unmanageable employee relations issue that looks like it is going to blow? Are your internal resources too bogged […]

We’re often asked for our best advice to people managers and it’s quite simple really; prepare notes of key conversations with staff. It doesn’t have to be a laborious task and can be a quick aide memoire for you to refer to later if required. For example, if you have an employee who is persistently […]