The Louise Kennedy Podcast

How can we tackle unconscious bias in the workplace?

In this episode of Real World HR, host Louise Kennedy is joined by Kelly Charles-Collins – all the way from sunny Florida!

Keynote speaker and author Kelly is passionate about revolutionising the way leaders and employees address the issues of justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.

Within this, Kelly advocates building conversational workplace cultures, which she unpacks on the podcast. Kelly shares how to develop the skills and empathy to have challenging conversations, the importance of acknowledging that biases exist and understanding how they impact people, and how to create a working environment where people feel comfortable to make their voice heard and know that they matter.

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Connect with Kelly: https://kellycharlescollins.com/

More about Oculus HR: https://oculus-hr.co.uk/

Have you ever considered the impact mindset has on your workplace culture and business growth?

On this episode of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by transformational life and business coach Julie Turnbull. Julie is passionate about empowering teams and leaders and creating a high-energy culture to drive performance.

As the co-founder at Activated Mindset, Julie supports businesses through radical transformational growth and is an accredited coach of the Unbreakable Mindset Framework.

Listen to hear Louise and Julie discuss why businesses should invest in their people to fuel growth; the role of mindset in driving performance and creating a positive culture; how emotional intelligence is key for leaders to get the best from their teams; and steps to take to develop a growth mindset.

Connect with Julie: www.linkedin.com/in/julie-turnbull-smaccph-8a496b8/

More about Oculus HR: https://oculus-hr.co.uk/

In this special episode of Real World HR, we're celebrating Oculus HR's 10th birthday! Founder Louise Kennedy is interviewed by Sophie Milliken MBE, looking back on the past decade and reflecting on her business journey.

Louise shares the story behind founding Oculus HR, what makes the business so special and has given it longevity, looks at their growth over the past decade, and then shares plans for the future.

Find out more about Oculus HR: https://oculus-hr.co.uk/

Connect with Louise: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisekennedyfcipd/

To kick off season two of Real World HR, Team Oculus HR is back to discuss on-trend HR topics, along with what’s been going on in our world since we last recorded a podcast together.

Our discussions include: a recent rise in cases of grievances and dismissals and how HR support in this area; getting your policies and procedures in place and aligning these with your culture; supporting employees’ mental health and well-being; the introduction of menstrual leave in Spain and what this means for HR in the future; how performance management supports employee satisfaction and retention; our thoughts on the four-day working week.

Ready to step into the Real World of HR?

Find out more about Oculus HR: https://oculus-hr.co.uk/

Connect with Louise: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisekennedyfcipd/

In this episode of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by culture change, behavioural and people expert Sarah Callender, to dive into the leadership debate.

Sarah is COO at Duo Global Consulting, where she works with growth-focused businesses to lead and navigate strategic change. As part of this, Sarah is passionate about effective leadership and runs initiatives to support ambitious leaders to make a positive impact.

The discussions in this episode include the qualities of effective leaders; performance management and planning techniques; and how to encourage continuous development.

Ready to step into the real world of HR?

Duo Global Consulting: duoglobalconsulting.com | instagram.com/weareduoglobal

The Elevator: theelevatorbyduo.com | instagram.com/theelevatorbyduo

Follow Sarah on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahcallender

Developing a culture that works for your business and its people is not as easy as it seems. So much hinges on company culture – including employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity.

In episode five of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by the founder and creative director at Rowen Homes, Alice Hall. Alice exited her first business, Pink Boutique, after scaling it to £25 million turnover, and has carried lessons from this business into building the rapidly growing Rowen Homes.

When building her businesses, Alice has prioritised people. She feels passionately that companies should invest in creating an excellent culture. After all, we spend so much of our lives at work.

In this episode, Alice shares her business journey and lessons learnt, along with tips for businesses to implement to develop a collaborative, creative, and engaging culture.

Ready to step into the real world of HR?

Follow Alice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-rowen-hall/

Check out Rowen Homes’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rowenhomes/

One of the most vital wheels in the cog for business growth is an effective recruitment strategy. This doesn't just include getting talent into your business but retaining it too.

Episode four of the Real World HR podcast features talent acquisition expert Sam Spoors. Sam is an award-winning entrepreneur. With her business Talentheads, she provides specialist support on talent and recruitment.

In a competitive market, with businesses already facing the ‘not enough hours in the day’ problem, Sam is a big advocate of correctly positioning your employer brand and having an ingrained talent strategy in your business – so you get the right hire every time and build a team that is just as invested in your business as you are.

This episode features Sam's expert advice on what businesses can do to stand out, attract the right candidates, and enhance their talent acquisition strategy.

Ready to step into the real world of HR?

Learn more about Talentheads: talentheads.co.uk/

Follow Talentheads on:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/talentheads/

Twitter: twitter.com/Talentheads1

Facebook: facebook.com/Talentheads

Instagram: instagram.com/talentheads

TikTok: tiktok.com/@talentheads11

Connect with Sam: linkedin.com/in/wallsam/

Get in touch: [email protected]

On episode three of the Real World HR podcast, we’re joined by Occupational Health expert John Devitt to discuss these pertinent issues of mental health and substance misuse in the workplace. In his role as CEO at Recovery4Life, John specialises in offering support with sensitive, complex health and wellbeing issues such as drugs and alcohol.

John believes in the importance of personal enterprise in recovery and advocates reducing the stigma associated with substance misuse and mental wellbeing in the workplace.

We open up the discussion in this episode, with John sharing invaluable advice for businesses and individuals to find and offer support.

Ready to step into the real world of HR?

Find out more about Recovery4Life: https://www.recovery4life.co.uk/

Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdevitt/

Content warning: the discussions in this episode mention alcohol dependency, drugs, mental health, suicide, and addiction.

Menopause affects 100% of people. That’s right – it’s the least exclusive club on the planet. With this being the case, why is menopause still not part a concrete feature of the wellbeing at work agenda?

Join us for episode two of the Real World HR podcast, where we investigate this and more with menopause educator Sharon MacArthur. Sharon’s own lived experiences of menopause ultimately ended up with her suffering from symptoms that could have killed her.

With her business Miss Menopause, Sharon is on a mission to educate HR professionals, managers, and working women to change this.

We discuss why menopause is something to be managed, not just endured, and how we can all do more to break the taboo around menopause in the workplace.

Ready to step into the real world of HR?

Find out more about Sharon and Miss Menopause: https://www.missmenopause.co.uk/

Connect with Sharon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonmacarthur/

Ever dreaded having an awkward conversation with an employee or your manager? Or lost sleep worrying about a situation you’re in at work?

The first episode of the Real World HR podcast will equip you with solutions to face these issues.

Join HR expert and host Louise Kennedy as she shines the spotlight on her team at Oculus HR. The team share their journeys and why they love working in HR.

Then there's the best bit - going beyond the HR handbook to discuss some standout, real life stories from their HR world. And there are some gems!

Let's step into the real world of HR.

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Find out more about Oculus HR: https://oculus-hr.co.uk/

Connect with Louise: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisekennedyfcipd/

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Content warning: the discussions in this episode mention sexual harassment (18.20), suicide (35.00), and alcohol dependency (36.50).