HR Coffee Time

Build your confidence and knowledge about strategy with this episode of HR Coffee Time. Fay talks you through the key takeaways from Richard Rumelt’s modern business classic, “Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters.”

Not only will this help you create more powerful People and HR strategies, but it will also help you understand how to craft and contribute to the overarching strategy for the whole organisation you work in.

This episode will be helpful for you, no matter which role you’re ultimately aiming for, but it will be especially useful if you’d like to move into a Board-level role (or are already in one).

Ideas shared in the episode, include:

The kernel of good strategy is made up of:

• A diagnosis that defines or explains the nature of the challenge
• A guiding policy for dealing with the challenge
• A set of coherent actions designed to carry out the guiding policy

9 sources of power:

1. Leverage
2. Proximate objectives
3. Chain-link systems
4. Using design
5. Focus
6. Growth
7. Using advantage
8. Using dynamics
9. Inertia and entropy

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching

Buy the Book Recommendation

(Disclosure: the book link is an affiliate link which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it)

• Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters, by Richard Rumelt

Other Relevant HR Coffee Time Episodes

• Episode 26: How to be strategic in your new HR leadership role
• Episode 61: The 4 pillars that will help you be strategic in your HR role
• Episode 77: How to create an effective DEI strategy, with Metra Rowe
• Episode 98: HR insider insights: how to create a powerful people strategy for an SME, with Kelly Vincent

Looking For the Transcript?

You can find transcripts for all episodes on the HR Coffee Time section of the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected].

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to receive the free weekly HR Coffee Time email.

Mentioned in this episode:

Book A Virtual Coffee Chat With Penfold

To learn more about Penfold and see if they’re the right pension solution for your organisation, just go to https://getpenfold.com/hrcoffeetime to book a virtual coffee chat with them. And as you’re an HR Coffee Time listener, they’ll send you a free voucher for a coffee, so you can sip a delicious coffee while talking to them.

Although pensions can feel like a boring or complicated topic (especially if you’re not a Reward specialist), HR Coffee Time guest Pete Hykin shows this doesn’t have to be the case. In this episode he helps strip away any worries you might have about choosing a pension provider or talking about pensions at work. He also shares some great tips on how to get everyone engaged with their pensions and focused on their financial wellbeing.

Listen to the episode to learn:

• Why it’s important to prioritise getting pensions right, even though you have other projects and issues competing for your time and attention.
• You can draw a direct line from employee productivity to employee wellbeing and financial wellbeing.
• Aside from their house, their pension is the largest financial asset your employees will have in their lives.
• Pensions are a major part of financial wellbeing.
• The importance of educating people about pensions.
• Help bring the amount of money in peoples’ pensions to life.
• You can use tools like salary sacrifice to put more money in your employees’ pockets.
• Create a culture and environment where people can talk about money and their financial wellbeing.
• Inclusion and pensions.
• Tips on choosing a new pension provider – consult with your employees to find out what’s important to them.

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Book a virtual chat with Penfold

Buy the Book Recommendation

(Disclosure: the book link is an affiliate link which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it)

Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Other HR Coffee Times Mentioned in This Episode

Episode 48: How to support your colleagues with bereavement at work, with Michelle Smith

Looking For the Transcript?

You can find transcripts for all episodes on the HR Coffee Time section of the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected].

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to receive the free weekly HR Coffee Time email.

Mentioned in this episode:

Book A Virtual Coffee Chat With Penfold

To learn more about Penfold and see if they’re the right pension solution for your organisation, just go to https://getpenfold.com/hrcoffeetime to book a virtual coffee chat with them. And as you’re an HR Coffee Time listener, they’ll send you a free voucher for a coffee, so you can sip a delicious coffee while talking to them.

For this special milestone episode of HR Coffee Time, Fay shares three of the lessons she has learnt from creating 100 episodes of the podcast. They’re lessons that can apply to everyone, no matter what point they are at in their career and no matter what job they do:

1. You can make time for what matters, even if you think you can’t.
2. Aim for progress over perfection.
3. People are wonderful and happy to help.

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Download the free pdf version of the HR Planner

Other HR Coffee Time Episodes Mentioned

• Episode 90: How a ‘Personal Board’ can help solve your challenges at work
• Episode 29: Making a success of your promotion to a leadership role, with Jacqui Jagger
• Episode 89: How to reach your HR career goals by understanding your tendency
• Episode 92: Time Management tips to stay on top of your busy day, with Louisa van Vessem
• Episode 67: How to get on top of email overwhelm when you’re in a busy HR role
• Episode 45: 6 ways to stop procrastinating & find time for important projects at work
• Episode 07: What to do when there aren’t enough hours in the day
• Episode 80: How quarterly reviews can help you thrive in your HR career
• Episode 85: 6 questions to prioritise what matters for your HR/People career
• Episode 43: The one thing that will boost your resilience throughout your HR career, with Tom Cleary
• Episode 32: How to write work emails that get results, with Kim Arnold
• Episode 37: The ‘first 100 days’ plan to succeed in your new HR leadership role, with Niamh O’Keeffe
• Episode 11: Networking – the 3 most important networks for your career
• Episode 15: How networking can help your career
• Episode 16: How to become more confident about networking

Looking For the Transcript?

You can find transcripts for all episodes from episodes 66 onwards on the HR Coffee Time section of the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected].

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be...

Conflict is something you’ll often be asked to help with in your role as a People professional. So, mediation skills are a useful conflict resolution tool to have in your toolbox, ready to put into action when you need them.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, Pete Colby, Director and lead Mediator at Pragmatism joins host, Fay Wallis, to talk through how mediation skills can help you resolve conflict at work. Some of the many things he covers include:

• Exactly what mediation is and what mediation skills are.
• Why grievances don’t solve workplace issues, but mediations do.
• How mediation skills can be used to nip problems in the bud before they escalate.
• Why mediation skills can have huge benefits for People teams and organizations as a whole.
• What makes a great mediator.

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Connect with Pete Colby on LinkedIn
• Pete’s website: Pragmatism
• Pete’s blog post: Would I make a good mediator?

Other Relevant HR Coffee Time Episodes

• Episode 22: How to handle conflict at work, with Ginny Radmall
• Episode 56: How to do a great job with collective consultations for redundancies, with Pete Colby
• Episode 83: Destructive team dynamics – how to spot them & get things back on track, with Gabriella Braun
• Episode 03: Building relationships with difficult people at work

Looking For the Transcript?

You can find transcripts for all episodes from episodes 66 onwards on the HR Coffee Time section of the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected].

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to receive the free weekly HR Coffee Time email.

Strategy is a topic we’ve explored before on HR Coffee Time (and we’ll look at again in the future) because it’s an important aspect of HR leadership. Whether you’re a seasoned strategist, or you feel uncomfortable and worried when it comes to strategy, this episode is here to help you build your skills and confidence.

Strategy expert and author of the award-winning book, “The Strategy Book: How to think and act strategically to deliver outstanding results”, Dr Max Mckeown shares:

• What strategy is & what it isn’t
• How you’re already a strategist (even if you don’t realise it)
• Why people doubt themselves when it comes to being strategic
• The three parts of being strategic – timescale, scope, & sequence
• An example of strategy done badly
• An example of a good strategy (McDonalds)
• Strategy is simple but simple is complex
• Max’s strategy tool, Speed Strategy – where are we now, where do we want to go, what do we need to do to get there, how do we need to do it, what do we need to measure along the route, what is pushing us, what might stop us?

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Free Speed Strategy template
• Max’s website
• Connect with Max on LinkedIn

Buy the Book Recommendation

(Disclosure: the book links are affiliate links which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through them)

• The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence, by Baltasar Gracián
• The Strategy Book: How to think and act strategically to deliver outstanding results, by Max Mckeown
• The Innovation Book: How to manage ideas and execution for outstanding results, by Max Mckeown
• Adaptability: The art of winning in an age of uncertainty, by Max Mckeown

Other Relevant HR Coffee Time Episodes

• Episode 102: Boosting your strategic knowledge to step up in your HR role
• Episode 98: HR insider insights: how to create a powerful People Strategy for an SME, with Kelly Vincent
• Episode 93: Creating a more inclusive work culture: how to make an impact, with Toby Mildon
• Episode 77: How to create an effective DEI strategy, with Metra Rowe
• Episode 61: The 4 pillars that will help you be strategic in your HR role
• Episode 26: How to be strategic in your new HR leadership role

Looking For the Transcript?

You can find the transcript on this page of the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected].

Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!

Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to r...