HR Coffee Time

Getting feedback and putting it into action is a powerful way of making progress with your HR/People career. So, it can feel frustrating when you don't have any, or if the feedback you are given is vague.

Without clear feedback you can be left questioning yourself, wondering whether you're focusing on the right things and doing a good enough job. All of this can then start to chip away at your confidence.

So, in this episode of HR Coffee Time, Career Coach Fay Wallis shares 5 tips to get useful feedback at work to help your HR/People career, including:

• The three different types of feedback
• Getting clear on the type of feedback you need
• How to help the feedback giver help you
• Example questions to ask that result in useful feedback
• An overlooked way feedback can help you succeed at work

• HR Coffee Time Episode 57: Using the Johari Window to develop and grow in your HR career
• Book: 'Thanks for the feedback: the science and art of receiving feedback well', by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen (Disclosure: the book link is an affiliate link which means Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it).

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please can you rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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, they can help you through:

• 1:1 coaching to overcome your career challenges
• Group coaching – build your confidence, credibility & influence in 6 weeks through Fay’s signature programme, Inspiring HR
• Interview coaching to succeed in your next interview
• Career change coaching to find a new, more fulfilling career
• The ‘Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile’ online course, to create a powerful LinkedIn profile and build your confidence at using LinkedIn to get your next role.
• The Essential HR Planner

Creating any strategy as part of your HR or People responsibilities can feel daunting; but it can feel especially daunting when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Because DEI is important, it covers so many different aspects and it involves delving into sensitive issues. Making progress can mean sparking huge cultural change which can be messy and takes time.

Strategy and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion topics have been covered on HR Coffee Time before, but this episode is the first one that takes a deep dive into how to create an effective DEI strategy.

No matter where you are on your DEI journey in your organisation at the moment – whether you have a robust plan that you’re living and breathing and putting into action; or you have no experience in this area at all; or you are taking action but you’re not confident that what you’re doing is as good as it could be, this episode is here to help.

Metra Rowe (Founder of Starling Business Solutions) joins host and HR Career Coach, Fay Wallis to generously share some of her key insights into how to create an effective DEI strategy.

• The DEI Playbook
• Starling Business Solutions’ DEI Masterclass
• Special offer for HR Ninjas to attend the DEI Masterclass (which includes a copy of the DEI Playbook worth £97 and a 1 hour DEI Consulting/Coaching session with Metra worth £250)
• ISO 30415:2021 Human Resource Management – Diversity and Inclusion

Links to DEI Facebook groups:

• Diversity and Inclusion for beginners
• Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace
• Diversity and Inclusion leaders

• Connect with Metra on LinkedIn
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Metra’s website: Starling Business Solutions
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky Career Coaching

Book Recommendations

(Disclosure: these book links are affiliate links, which means Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it).

Metra’s book recommendation in the episode:

• Diversity Beyond Lip Service: A Coaching Guide for Challenging Bias, by La’Wana Harris

Metra’s recommended reading list:

• The Leaders Guide to Unconscious Bias, by Pamela Fuller & Mark Murphy
• Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify and Stop Microaggressions, by Tiffany Jana and Michael Baran
• Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace, by Daisy Auger-Domínguez
• Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say and How to Be an Ally, by Emily Ladau
• The Wake Up – Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change, by Michelle Mijung Kim
• How to Talk To Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down, by Y-Vonne Hutchinson
• We Can’t Talk About That at Work! A Guide for Bold, Inclusive Conversations: How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics, by Mary-Frances Winters

• Episode 70: Supporting yourself, or your colleagues at work with Tourette Syndrome, with Devon Lovell
• Episode 68: Real life insights into understanding & supporting autism in the workplace, with Cybill Watkins
• Episode 65: Practical strategies that empower women to succeed in leadership roles, with Carla Miller
• Episode 61: The 4 pillars that will help you be more strategic in your HR role
• Episode 58: How to feel more confident using data & analytics in your HR role
• Episode 59: ADHD – a personal story of the strengths, struggles & strategies that help, with Julie White
• Episode 42: Diversity & Inclusion at work – 7 mistakes to avoid (& what to do instead), with Dr Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey
• Episode 26: How to be strategic in your new HR role
• Episode 24: Understanding & supporting neurodiversity at work, with Melanie Francis
• Episode 14: Understanding & fixing your organisations gender pay gap, with Melissa Blissett
• Episode 12: Supporting women returning to work after a career break, with Sally Dhillon

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

If you’ve been enjoying the podcast & would like some support from Fay or her colleagues at Bright Sky, they can help you through:

• 1:1 coaching to overcome your career challenges
• Group coaching – build your confidence, credibility & influence in 6 weeks through Fay’s signature programme, Inspiring HR
• Interview coaching to succeed in your next interview
• Career change coaching to find a new, more fulfilling career
• The ‘Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile’ online course, to create a powerful LinkedIn profile and build your confidence at using LinkedIn to get your next role.
• The Essential HR Planner

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.

Getting remote working right can feel like a real challenge. Whether your organisation is fully remote, or has a hybrid working arrangement, it’s easy for people to start to feel disconnected and unhappy with work.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, Head of People at YuLife, Claire Cathcart shares some brilliant initiatives to help. Listen to her chat with Career Coach, Fay Wallis, where she talks through:

• The LinkedIn post she shared about a remote working initiative that went viral, with nearly 3,000 reposts
• How to make your onboarding process as good as possible for remote workers
• How to help managers do a great job at managing remotely
• Great ways to encourage collaboration & connection throughout your remote workforce

• Claire’s LinkedIn post about the ‘not feeling 100%’ Slack status that went viral
• Claire’ book recommendation: “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi (Disclosure: the book links are affiliate links which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through either of them)

• Connect with Claire on LinkedIn
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• Fay’s website: Bright Sky HR

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please can you rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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.

Psychometrics can be used in a huge range of ways to help you achieve your HR and People goals at work. They’re incredibly popular as part of the recruitment process for hiring new talent at all levels. And some of the many other things they’re used for include leadership development programmes; team building activities and conflict resolution.

Whether you’ve been using psychometric assessments for years and know quite a lot about them, or you’ve never used them at all, or you sit somewhere in the middle and have used a couple of them and know a bit about them but would like to know more – this episode is here to help.

Business Psychologist Sue Colton explains what psychometric assessments are, how you can use them & why they’re so helpful.

• Hogan Assessments
• SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ)
• Myers-Briggs (MBTI)
• DiSC
• Sue’s first book recommendation: “The Chimp Paradox” by Professor Steve Peters
• Sue’s second book recommendation: “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain (Disclosure: the book links are affiliate links which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through either of them)

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

• 003: Building relationships with difficult people at work (Fay explains DiSC in detail in this episode)

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please can you rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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, they can help you through:

• 1:1 coaching to overcome your career challenges
• Group coaching – build your confidence, credibility & influence in 6 weeks through Fay’s signature programme, Inspiring HR
• Interview coaching to succeed in your next interview
• Career change coaching to find a new, more fulfilling career
• The ‘Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile’ online course, to create a powerful LinkedIn profile and build your confidence at using LinkedIn to get your next role.
• The Essential HR Planner

Whether you feel nervous about presenting, or are just on the lookout for tips on how to get better at it, this episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Career Coach, Fay Wallis, shares 7 key tips to improve your presentation skills and feel more confident.

[01:10] Fay explains that last week’s episode focused on overcoming the physical response you may get to feeling nervous about public speaking - episode 73: 5 ways to feel more confident in your next interview, meeting, or presentation

[02:45] The first tip – remember that it is normal to feel nervous

[04:04] The second tip – to feel more confident and overcome nerves is to practise

[06:11] Alternative ways to improve how you deliver presentations - Toastmasters

[07:05] Fay recommends reading Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint by Russell Davies to help plan your presentation

(Disclosure: this book link is an affiliate link which means Fay will earn a small commission from Amazon if you choose to purchase the book using it)

[09:39] The third tip – planning your presentation using rectangles in a notebook

[10:17] The fourth tip – the importance of explaining any data and diagrams within your

presentation

[14:30] The fifth tip – Making your presentation accessible

• How to use Microsoft accessibility training when working on your presentation

[17:33] The sixth tip – Ensuring your timings are accurate

[18:41] The seventh tip - how using props can make things more interesting and impactful

[19:53] Fay recommends reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

(Disclosure: this book link is an affiliate link which means Fay will earn a small

commission from Amazon if you choose to purchase the book using it)

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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 your confidence seems to disappear whenever you have an interview, a meeting, or a presentation coming up, you are not alone. It’s something that most of us struggle with at some point or other during our careers. The good news is that however this lack of confidence, or nervousness shows up for you, there are things you can do to help.

In this episode of HR Coffee Time, Career Coach Fay Wallis shares five main ways a lack of confidence or feelings or nervousness can show up and what to do about them.

[01:32] Fay explains she’s going to talk through the five main ways a lack of confidence or nerves can show up and what to do about them

[01:53] The fight or flight response is often triggered by the stress of the situation

[02:58] If you get a dry mouth when you’re nervous take a bottle of water with you

[05:13] If you get the shakes when you’re nervous, do something physical to release the adrenaline in your body

[06:09] Matt Abraham’s tip is from his book, ‘Speaking Up without Freaking Out’ (this is an affiliate link, so Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you purchase the book through it)– hold a cold bottle of water in your hands if your lack of confidence or nervousness shows up as blushing, sweating, or getting hot

[07:43] Tackle voice changes by warming up and relaxing your vocal cords

• Jackie Gartner-Schmidt’s TEDX Talk: Your Voice Says A Lot About You

[10:57] Keep racing thoughts at bay by doing PQ reps

[10:57] Fay wraps up the episode

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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 want to change career to work in HR, this episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Learn from 3 HR professionals who all made the switch from different careers into the world of HR. Charlotte Treverton-Jones, Daniel Moczynski, Natalie Saunders and Rachel White, share their experience and tips for making a successful change. They also talk about the plus points and challenges they’ve encountered since settling into their HR careers.

[02:01] HR Business Partner, Charlotte Treverton-Jones explains how she changed career to work in HR

[05:39] Charlotte shares the positive aspects of working within HR as well as the challenges she has faced

[07:58] Charlotte’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

[09:22] Employee Engagement Advisor, Daniel Moczynski shares his career change story

[12:50] How networking has helped Daniel with his HR career

• How to use LinkedIn effectively: Power up your LinkedIn profile – Fay’s online course

[14:43] Daniel’s opinion on the positives and challenges of a career in HR

[16:37] Daniel’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

[24:20] Creator of HR consultancy firm ‘Morpho Advisory’, Natalie Saunders shares her career change story

[20:58] Natalie shares how she made the leap from employment law to HR

[31:12] Natalie’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

[24:20] HR Advisor, Rachel White shares her career change story

[35:14] Rachel’s opinion on the positives and challenges of a career in HR

[39:52] Rachel’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

• Episode 71: Changing career to work in HR – how to do it & what it’s like (part 1)
• Power up your LinkedIn profile – Fay’s online course
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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 want to change career to work in HR, this episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Learn from 3 HR professionals who all made the switch from different careers into the world of HR. Ruby Harrison, Josh Halstead-McGlashon and Maxine Blake share their experience and tips for making a successful change. They also talk about the plus points and challenges they’ve encountered since settling into their HR careers.

[02:32] HR Advisor, Ruby Harrison explains how she changed career to work in HR

[05:38] Ruby explains the NHS graduate scheme

[09:16] Ruby shares the positive aspects of working within HR as well as the challenges she has faced

[11:36] Ruby’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

• Look into the different areas of HR/specialisms of HR available (The CIPD Profession Map can help with this)

[13:58] HR Business Partner, Josh Halstead-McGlashon shares his career change story

[17:05] How internal mentors and peer mentors have helped Josh with his HR career

[19:22] Josh’s opinion on the positives and challenges of a career in HR

[22:42] Josh’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

[24:20] HR Business Partner & Talent Acquisition Lead, Maxine Blake shares her career change story

[28:24] What Maxine enjoys most about working in HR as well as the challenges that she has faced

[32:34] Other episodes focused on influencing skills:

• Episode 34: Influencing – how to get buy-in for your ideas at work
• Episode 44: Succeeding as an HR professional – how to influence at a senior level

[33:28] Maxine’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to work in HR

• The CIPD Profession Map
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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.

Career coach Fay Wallis is joined by HR Consultant Devon Lovell, who shares his personal experience of being diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. Devon talks through his journey to diagnosis, the strengths and struggles his neurodiversity brings and gives advice to anyone who thinks they may be neurodiverse, or who wants to support their neurodiverse colleagues.

[00:03] Fay thanks a listener for sharing an episode on LinkedIn during the week: Episode 67: How to get on top of email overwhelm when you’re in a busy HR role

[00:48] This is the fourth episode of HR Coffee Time that focuses on neurodiversity. The first three are:

• Episode 24: Understanding & supporting neurodiversity at work, with Melanie Francis
• Episode 59: ADHD– a personal story of the strengths, struggles & strategies that help, with Julie White
• Episode 68: Real life insights into understanding & supporting autism in the workplace, with Cybill Watkins

[03:18] An introduction to Devon

[03:39] Devon shares his journey of getting a Tourette Syndrome diagnosis

[06:04] There’s an 85% chance you will also receive a diagnosis for OCD or ASD if you have Tourette Syndrome

[08:31] There doesn’t seem to be the same level of awareness and information available about Tourette Syndrome as other neurodiverse conditions

[10:31] Devon explains the different ways that Tourette’s can manifest

[12:13] Devon shares his strengths his neurodiversity brings, including resilience, being observant, hyper-focused and good at planning ahead

[16:05] The emotional and physical struggles that Tourette Syndrome brings for Devon

[19:01] Struggles and strategies that help at work

[21:28] Devon explains the many ways his employer has been supportive

[24:58] Devon’s advice to anyone working in HR who is wondering if they are neurodiverse

[25:58] Devon’s advice to anyone working in HR who wants to be supporting anyone in the workplace who is neurodiverse

[31:09] Devon shares his book recommendation: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

(Disclosure: this book link is an affiliate link which means Fay will earn a small commission from Amazon if you choose to purchase the book using it)

• Tourette’s Action
• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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.

Simple techniques can often have a big impact on our careers. If you want to progress in your HR career, a monthly review is a great way to stay on track with your goals. In this episode of HR Coffee Time, career coach Fay Wallis talks you through an 'end-of-month reflection' activity available for free in the pdf version of her HR Planner. Listen to learn why it works and what the key questions are to ask yourself at the end of each month.

[00:23] Fay takes a moment to say thank you for helping HR Coffee Time reach number 5 in the Apple Podcast UK Careers Chart

[01:35] Fay explains how to order The Essential HR Planner

[03:22] The first question in your planner's ‘end of month reflection’ section is: What progress did you make towards your career goals this month?

[06:25] The second question – What went well this month?

[08:03] The third question – What new things did you learn?

• How body doubling/co-working can keep you on track with your goals

[11:03] Fay refers to episode 29: Making a success of your promotion to a leadership role, with Jacqui Jagger

[12:55] The fourth question - Who did you help at work this month?

[13:25] The fifth question - What have you done for your own well-being this month?

• Fay refers to episode 66: Reflecting on 2022 – looking back to look forward

[14:23] Question six - What did you find challenging this month?

[15:00] The seventh & eighth questions - How can you overcome the challenge you've mentioned before? / Are your goals still relevant? Or do you need to adjust them or create new ones?

[16:00] The ninth question - What would you like to make a priority for next month?

• Fay shares her priority to design and test an HR strategy day and how you could help

• Connect with Fay on LinkedIn
• The Bright Sky Career Coaching website
• Video: how to rate & review HR Coffee Time on Apple Podcasts
• The Essential HR Planner

If you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do 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