HR Coffee Time

If you’re wrestling with the challenge of crafting an effective People Strategy, this episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Kelly Vincent, Head of People & Culture at a thriving edtech company, shares her insights into building a powerful People Strategy from the ground up.

Kelly’s key insights, tips and learnings from the experience of creating a powerful People Strategy for an SME include:

• Get buy-in from the CEO and senior leadership team.
• Spend time getting to understand the business and the people within it.
• Align the People Strategy with the business strategy.
• Review what is already in place.
• Get all your ideas out of your head and onto paper, so you can focus.
• Prioritise because you’ll have more ideas than you can implement in one year.
• Identify what the outputs will be from your strategy.
• Assess how long it will take you to achieve the goals you’ve set in the People Strategy.
• Identify whether your plans need to involve other departments and find out if they have time to support you.
• Your strategy will be shaped by how much time your ideas will take to implement and the resources that you’ll need.
• Keep a record of you ‘spilled over ideas’ that didn’t make it into this year’s strategy, so you can consider them again in the future.
• Chose KPIs and measures that are suitable for your strategy.
• Carve out dedicated time to work on your strategy – giving yourself regular time slots, instead of trying to write the whole thing in one day can be helpful.
• Kelly chose to have 3 pillars in her People Strategy because this aligned with the overall business strategy that also used 3 pillars.

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

(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)

• ‘Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work’, by Deborah Liu

• Episode 58: How to feel more confident using data & analytics in your HR role, with Angela Moyle
• 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

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].

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.

If you’d like to build your confidence, influence, impact and credibility at work, then the group programme, Inspiring HR, might be just what you’re looking for. In this episode of HR Coffee Time, Fay talks through the purpose behind creating Inspiring HR and what to expect if you join.

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Inspiring HR: further information & sign-up details

(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)

• Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint, by Russell Davies
• The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, by Priya Parker

• Episode 96: Finding the perfect HR role: is a standalone position right for you?
• Episode 94: Summer reads: 3 great books to help your HR career
• Episode 76: HR insider tips on how to create an amazing remote working culture, with Claire Cathcart
• Episode 3: Building relationships with difficult people at work
• Episode 75: What psychometrics are, how you can use them & why they’re so helpful, with Sue Colton
• Episode 74: How to get better at presenting and feel more confident about it

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Standalone roles are typically found in start-ups and smaller organizations where the People team consists of only one member – you! It's a challenging yet rewarding role. In this episode of HR Coffee Time, guests Nicola Head and Georgina Wright talk through the positives and challenges they've encountered in their experience of standalone HR/People roles, along with valuable advice on how to thrive in such a position.

If you're considering a standalone role for the first time this episode aims to demystify the role and help you determine if it might be the perfect fit for you.

Some of the many things covered include:

• The autonomy and freedom a standalone role can bring.
• The importance of prioritisation.
• The challenges of the role, including a lack of peers to sense check or run ideas past.
• How to set yourself up for success by building a strong support network, investing in automation and systems, and keeping your employment law knowledge up to date.

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

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

As remote and hybrid working have become the new norm, it can be a real challenge to build trust and connections amongst our colleagues. Email has become more critical than ever before, now there aren’t the same opportunities for sharing communication in-person.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, Kim Arnold returns for her second appearance on the show. She shares invaluable on writing impactful emails, to create stronger bonds and trust throughout your organisation. And just as importantly, she explains when not to use email (and what to do instead), so people don’t feel bombarded or overwhelmed.

Whether you have an internal comms team, or you handle all the People communications yourself, Kim’s brilliant email practices will empower you to make a positive impact in your role as a People Professional.

Some of the many things Kim covers in the episode are:

· We’re being judged far more on the content of our email now that we have fewer physical interactions with our colleagues.

· Putting some of our personality into our emails can create much stronger bonds.

· Common email mistakes to avoid, so you don’t erode trust.

· Leveraging copywriting tips, including Andy Maslen’s ‘KFC’ framework.

· How to overcome writer's block and tackle the blank page in front of you.

· Tackling email overwhelm for yourself and your organisation.

· The benefits of creating an ‘email playbook’.

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

(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)

• Kim’s book: ‘Email Attraction: Get what you want every time you hit send’
• Kim’s book recommendation: ‘Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if your life depended on it’ by Chris Voss
• Kim’s book recommendation from when she was last on the show: ‘Can I Change Your Mind?: The Craft & Art of Persuasive Writing’ by Lindsay Camp

• Episode 32: How to write work emails that get results, with Kim Arnold
• Episode 67: How to get on top of email overwhelm when you’re in a busy HR role
• Episode 76: HR insider tips on how to create an amazing remote working culture

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

Make the most of the summer by dipping into these 3 fantastic books to help your HR Career. In this episode, Fay shares a book that will help you get the most out of your time; one will empower you to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace; and the other one will improve your ability to create powerful group experiences.

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

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

• ‘The Art of Gathering: How We Meet & Why It Matters’ by Priya Parker
• ‘Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos & Make Time for What Matters’ by Laura Vanderkam
• ‘Inclusive Growth: Future-proof your business by creating a diverse workplace’, by Toby Mildon
• Dr Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey’s ‘Book Insights’ - you receive a detailed book breakdown of a book within the Diversity & Inclusion space every two weeks

• Episode 93: Creating a more inclusive work culture: how to make an impact, with Toby Mildon
• Episode 46: My 3 favourite books to help your career that I've read this year
• Episode 42: Diversity & Inclusion at work - 7 mistakes to avoid (& what to do instead), with Dr Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey

Laura Vanderkam: How to gain control of your free time

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

If you’re passionate about inclusion at work and you want to know how to make an impact to create a more inclusive work culture, this episode is packed full of advice to help. And the advice can be put into action whatever the size of the organisation you’re working in – no matter how big or small it is.

Host Fay Wallis is joined by Toby Mildon, the Inclusive Culture Strategist & author of “Inclusion Matters: Future-proof your business by creating a diverse workplace.”

Some of the many helpful concepts Toby shares that can be applied to organisations of all sizes (no matter how big or small) include:

• Moving from an environment of exclusion to inclusion
• The different types of connections leaders have to inclusion – rational, emotional, and personal
• Demonstrating allyship through the use of visual aids
• Overcoming fear of talking about diversity and inclusion
• The ART of Allyship: Awareness, Respect, Trust
• Using the GC Index to understand the impact you (and others) make at work

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Connect with Toby Mildon on LinkedIn
• Toby’s website: Mildon.co.uk

(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)

• ‘Inclusion Matters: Future-proof your business by creating a diverse workplace’ by Toby Mildon
• ‘The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World’ by Alan Downs

About Diversity & Inclusion:

• Episode 42: Diversity & Inclusion at work – 7 mistakes to avoid (& what to do instead), with Dr Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey
• Episode 77: How to create an effective DEI strategy, with Metra Rowe

About behavioural and psychometric profiling tools:

• Episode 3: Building relationships with difficult people at work (an overview of the behavioural preferences profiling tool: DISC)
• Episode 75: What psychometrics are, how you can use them & why they’re so helpful, with Sue Colton

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

When work and life feel busy, it can feel hard to stay on top of everything. But taking a step back and identifying helpful time management techniques can make a big difference. In this episode of HR Coffee Time, career & executive coach, Fay Wallis chats with Louisa van Vessem about a range of time management tips to help you stay on top of your busy day.

Some of the ideas they talk through include:

• Virtual co-working
• Scheduling/calendar tools (e.g. Calendly)
• Time blocking
• Buffer time
• The Pomodoro technique
• Time tracking
• Setting clear goals
• Shiny object syndrome
• The HR Planner
• Mind mapping
• A, B and C priorities
• ‘To don’t’ lists
• Eat that frog
• Rewards
• Understanding your personal blockers
• People pleasing
• Accountability and The Four Tendencies
• Boundaries & perfectionism

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Connect with Louisa on LinkedIn
• Louisa van Vessem’s website
• The Essential HR Planner
• The LinkedIn Live this episode is extracted from

• Episode 7: What to do when you don’t have enough hours in the day
• Episode 45: 6 ways to stop procrastinating & find time for important projects at work
• Episode 89: How to reach your HR career goals by understanding your ‘tendency’

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].

If you feel like you should be more assertive at work, or you've had other people around you recommend that you start being more assertive, it can be hard to know what to do about it. After all, what does 'being assertive' actually mean and how can you be assertive if it isn't something that feels like it comes naturally to you?

This episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Professional communication coach Trisha Lewis joins career coach, Fay Wallis, to share her fresh approach to being more assertive.

Trisha talks through a whole range of ideas including:

• The aggressive/assertive continuum
• Self-squashing and unsquashing
• The female 'double-bind'
• The warmth/strength quadrant
• Being assertive in a way that feels authentic for you
• How feedback and role play can help

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• Connect with Trisha on LinkedIn
• Trisha Lewis’ website
• Trisha’s TedX talk: The Self-Squashing Prophecy
• The 7 Best TED Talks for Career Success (includes Amy Cuddy’s talk about body language)

(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)

• Trisha’s book: ‘The Mystery of the Squashed Self: How to stop self-sabotaging and make your business thrive’ by Trisha Lewis
• Trisha’s book recommendation: ‘Compelling People: the hidden qualities that make us influential’ by John Neffinger & Matthew Kohut

• Episode 78: 5 tips to get useful feedback at work to help your HR/People career
• Episode 57: Using the Johari Window to develop & grow in your HR career (a great feedback tool)

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

If you have a challenge or obstacle at work that you just can’t seem to solve, your Personal Board may be able to swoop to your rescue.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, career and executive coach, Fay Wallis, shares how she used Emma Maslen’s ideas for creating a Personal Board to solve a challenge with a podcast. She encourages you to try the idea for yourself, to help you solve one of your challenges at work.

Useful Links

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• (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)
• Book: ‘Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals’ by Oliver Burkeman
• Book: ‘The Personal Board of You Inc.’ by Emma Maslen

Other Relevant HR Coffee Time Episodes

• Episode 21: The 8 people who will set you up for career success, with Sharon Peake
• Episode 15: How networking can help your career
• Episode 16: How to become more confident about networking

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.

It’s no good just keeping a career goal in your head or written down on a piece of paper. To reach that goal, you need to take action. But it can feel hard to stay on track with what’s needed when you’re so busy at work. That’s where The Four Tendencies framework can come in handy. By understanding your ‘tendency’ you’ll be able to identify and test out different strategies that will be effective in keeping you on track to reach those goals.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, career & executive coach Fay Wallis explains what The Four Tendencies are and how understanding your tendency can help you to reach your goals.

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching
• The Four Tendencies Free Quiz
• Gretchen Rubin’s website
• Book: ‘The Four Tendencies’, by Gretchen Rubin (Disclosure: this book link is an affiliate link which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it)

• Episode 82: 3 tips to tackle a challenge at work when you aren’t feeling confident
• Episode 63: How to progress your career by measuring your impact at work
• Episode 67: How to get on top of email overwhelm when you’re in a busy HR role
• Episode 39: Lost your direction & motivation at work? This one thing might help
• Episode 07: What to do when there aren’t enough hours in the day

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].

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.

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, take a look at all their services detailed on the Bright Sky Career Coaching website.