Doug is an experienced HR professional with over 20 years of industry expertise. Throughout his career, he has dedicated 9 years to the Public Sector, working with organizations such as the Police, Local Government, and Further Education College.
Additionally, he has spent 11 years as a consultant in the Private sector, providing valuable insights to a diverse range of industries including Private Healthcare, Travel, Technology/MSP’s, Renewable Energy, Childcare Providers, Automotive, Manufacturing, and Not-for-Profit organizations.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Tammy Alvarez, CEO of Career Winners Circle, a professional training and coaching company that helps individuals and businesses navigate career transitions, thrive in executive roles, and grow their businesses effectively.
Tammy Alvarez
Tammy Alvarez is a visionary who serves as a catalyst for leaders to create a breakthrough performance for themselves and their businesses. Her unique approach blends decades of executive experience on Wall Street with a pragmatic, results-based coaching style that helps business professionals at all levels become the leader people choose to follow.
During her 20-year corporate career Tammy became a renowned business transformation and turnaround expert. She held roles as a Managing Director at AIG, First Senior Vice President at Bank Leumi USA, Chief Operating Officer at Genesis10 and Senior Vice President at Bank of America. Each role relied upon Tammy’s vision and leadership to drive large global business transformation initiatives.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Tammy and I talked about:
Tammy’s journey from Wall Street to starting her own company.
Career Winners Circle (CWC) helps individuals and businesses navigate career transitions, thrive in executive roles, and grow their businesses effectively.
The programs focus on career strategy, executive support, leadership development, operational design, and sales performance.
How CWC scales a coaching business by bringing in new coaches and using a revenue-sharing model.
The importance of focusing on customer needs and preferences to grow a business.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Vanessa Judelman, President of Mosaic People Development. For over 20 years, Vanessa has been helping clients to develop leaders who inspire great results. She is a speaker, facilitator, talent management consultant, and certified coach.
Vanessa Judelman
Vanessa has been a consultant and has worked in-house as a business leader. By combining these experiences, she designs and delivers programs that are practical, customized, and can be applied on the job immediately.
Vanessa’s goal is to develop great leaders at all levels by:
Coaching individual leaders to grow leaps and bounds in a short period of time.
Training new managers to successfully transition into a leadership role.
Providing senior leaders with the necessary tools to align their people with their business strategy.
Capabilities include:
Organizational Development and Talent Management
Executive Coaching
Leadership Training
Business facilitation
In a wide-ranging discussion, Vanessa and I talked about:
How Mosaic People Development focuses on developing leaders by offering training and executive coaching.
“Mastering Leadership” is an eight-module leadership program that takes leaders on a journey to help them evolve and build confidence.
Vanessa’s clients are those who are seeking leadership coaching, executive coaching, and leadership development programs.
Sharing learnings and advice from coaching work helps establish credibility and attract potential clients.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Andrew Lawson, Founder of Just Ninety, an L&D business focused on helping professional trainers shorten the design curve for online course creation, by providing ready-to-go training courseware.
We discussed how & why he pivoted from delivering only in-person corporate training to adding a whole new line of ready-to-go corporate training materials online.
Andrew Lawson
Andrew has 25 years of experience as a facilitator and trainer, 15 years of experience as a coach and mentor, and is the founding director of Best Practice Consulting. Since starting Best Practice Consulting, Andrew has worked with hundreds of organisations. During this time, he has worked with many senior leadership teams to build purpose and unity, and embed organisational culture.
Andrew is an excellent facilitator, trainer, and consultant, dedicated to bringing results through tailored approaches. He possesses high-level group facilitation skills and is known for being people-focused, clear in his communication, and innovative in his workshop approaches. He is highly sought after for his facilitation and advisory skills. with senior leadership teams, intact work teams, and individuals.
The courseware designed by Just Ninety helps trainers to reclaim their time on designing training courses, which allows them to deliver more courses and generate more revenue.
Andrew: “Our vision is to see trainers enjoying more work-life balance. These premium 90-minute courses for trainers are perfect for leveraging time and money.”
In a wide-ranging discussion, Andrew and I talked about:
The tumultuous journey of reinventing a training business during the pandemic.
Using the AGES model to create more engaging training.
The advantages of using ready-to-go courses.
Just Ninety’s marketing growth strategy.
How L&D consultants, HR consultants, and other such businesses can partner with Just Ninety to add a new revenue stream and/or add value to their client engagements.
Andrew’s marketing advice for people in HR businesses.
What is HR consulting and why become an HR consultant?
In today’s ever-changing business landscape, organizations require HR consulting services to meet their human resource needs. HR consulting has become a popular profession due to the increasing demand for HR experts who can offer solutions and strategies to solve HR-related issues.
This article provides an in-depth look at what is HR consulting and why become an HR consultant, including the benefits of becoming an HR consultant, and how to actually become an HR consultant.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Don Phin, HR entrepreneur, speaker, author, and mental fitness coach for executives.
Don Phin has been a California employment practices attorney since 1983. He litigated cases for 17 years, figured out how ridiculous it all was, and decided to help employees and companies avoid destructive dramas.
Don Phin
In 2002 Don built HR That Works which he sold to ThinkHR in 2014 (and ThinkHR became part of Mineralrecently). After two years as a VP on the ThinkHR executive team, Don left as planned to begin his newest work on his most recent program, Great HR.
Don has written 6 books on the workplace, created dozens of training programs, and presented to hundreds of CEO, HR, and insurance groups. His goal is to help companies build powerful employment relationships that grow careers and the bottom line.
His book, ‘The 40/40 Solution: Mastering Emotional Energy in Leadership and Sales’ is the solution to ending painful and destructive dramas, whether in the boardroom, in coaching sessions, sales meetings, at home, or in conversations with yourself. Unlike most emotional intelligence books that focus on thinking your way through emotional problems, this book helps you learn how to feel your way through them. So that you can feel good about yourself afterward.
Don has created 10 courses for LinkedIn Learning (his programs there have had around 1 million views so far). He recently finished recording and producing the LinkedIn Learning program on Transferable Skills. LinkedIn has asked him to do a new program about Building a Skills-Based Organization.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Don and I talked about:
Transitioning from law attorney to the HR world.
Don has presented over 600 times -two-thirds of which have been to Vistage CEO groups – this has created a unique opportunity to understand the needs & wants of top leaders.
How to run an HR hotline with 3500 clients by yourself!
The decision to sell your business and move on.
Using white labeling to add extra value through your consulting service.
Don’s book, ‘The 40/40 Solution – Mastering Emotional Energy in Leadership and Sales’.
Jeremy is a social psychologist focusing on peace and conflict psychology. As a researcher, he studies cognitive, behavioral, and cultural patterns that tend to lead people into conflicts or into peace. He also studies how leaders play a role in creating systems of peace or conflict. He is further interested in the neuropsychological components of threat and fear and how acute stress responses (fight-flight) impact people’s capacities for optimal functioning, especially in social environments.
Pollack Peacebuilding Systems provides workplace conflict transformation services, including conflict analysis, peacebuilding interventions, coaching, training, and various other methodologies to help create more peaceful and productive organizational cultures.
“What we do is mitigate those risks, increase efficiency, and decrease the stress. We do this by teaching leaders and employees how to communicate more effectively and rebuild mutual trust, through coaching, training, and conflict resolution services that we call peacemaking. In fact, we’ve helped dozens of companies, large and small, in all varieties of industries around the world, resolve conflicts and foster greater peace. Pollack Peacebuilding Systems is not your average conflict resolution consulting firm. We are a complete 360-degree peace generator empowering organizations toward positive change through transformative peace processes.“
In a wide-ranging discussion, Jeremy and I talked about:
The most common and the most difficult workplace conflict situations that Pollack Peacebuilding typically deals with
The different approaches, techniques, and tools used for conflict resolution
What Pollack Peacebuilding is doing and whom does it help?
How to measure the business benefit?
Training and certifications for teams and companies
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Dean Garamella, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SourceOwls, a virtual recruiting Marketplace that brings experienced recruiters and hiring companies together to quickly and efficiently fill pressing human capital hiring needs.
Dean Garamella
Over the past two decades, Dean has mastered what it means to be the “right fit” and has successfully managed several thousand searches for companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500.
Dean Garamella continues his passion for providing a valuable service to all the HireResources members, clients, by now overseeing the recruitment operations and overall Member satisfaction for all the HireResources business units.
Outside of his work, Dean Garamella enjoys spending time with his wife and sons: mountain biking, golfing and coaching baseball.
SourceOwls is a recruitment platform built for the busy recruiter:
Source and recruit qualified candidates
Conduct one qualifications assessment via phone or video call
Provided the candidate is qualified and interested supply them with the client and jobs details
Submit an up-to-date resume from the candidate in the SourceOwls platform
You will receive notifications each time the candidate status is changed
In a wide-ranging discussion, Dean and I talked about:
What is SourceOwls and who is it for
The advantages of using SourceOwls from an employer’s perspective
The benefits of using the SourceOwls platform versus using a traditional staffing firm
How SourceOwls manages to attract both employers and recruiters to grow the platform
Dean’s advice on how to find and attract new customers
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Pam Costa, Founder& Director of People Relations, an HR consultancy firm for SMEs and Tech Startups based in Sydney, Australia.
Pam Costa
Pam is a strategic and innovative HR Leader who translates business vision into HR initiatives that improve performance, profitability, growth, and employee engagement. She is passionate about implementing HR initiatives to help businesses reduce labor costs.
Using research and data-based solutions, People Relations helps SMEs and Tech Startups identify the risks and provides HR solutions that are focused on improving their bottom line.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Pams and I talked about:
Pam’s background and experience in various business sectors.
The typical problems that SMEs and startups face when expanding.
How People Relations helps companies improve performance, profitability, growth, and employee engagement.
Pam’s advice for startups and small businesses when competing against the big players for talent.
The free resources provided by Pam on her website.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by my old friend and business colleague, Mandy Withers, Founder & Director of Talk HR Club, a support community for independent HR consultants in the UK.
Mandy Withers
In the past, Mandy had run HR forum groups and it was clear from the HR professionals that attended that they often felt isolated and they really looked forward to attending the monthly workshops.
The TalkHR Club provides a safe environment for fostering personal and professional growth and development.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Mandy and I talked about:
CommReady is an interactive and confidential conversation prep tool.
CommReady combines theories of negotiation and mediation with elements of the “Atlas of Emotions” methodology. CommReady app is an on-hand companion which helps remove the noise from a distressing situation.
Chen’s professional background is in biotechnology engineering, but a Negotiation and Dispute Resolution course from Harvard Law School gave her the idea to create CommReady and turned her into an entrepreneur.
Robin offers intermediate services between temporary employment agencies and people looking for a job with a living space.
During his Master’s studies in International Business in 2007, Johan established Robin: the first Lithuanian agency that recruits Lithuanian staff for Dutch employment agencies.
14 years later, Robin has built up a database with over 220,000 candidates and recruited over 20,000 candidates from Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary for the Dutch employment market.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Johan and I talked about:
How and why did he start Robin? (And the struggles before it became the global business it is today).
What does Robin do and who does it help?
How Robin attracts new employee and employer clients? Any tips for others?
Johan’s excellent approach to the art of management and delegation.
Johan’s advice when it comes to growing a successful HR business.
What does the future hold for HR and the world of work and what should listeners do about it?
Thanks to my podcast, newsletter, blog, LinkedIn posts, etc, I get marketing queries every week from companies and individuals running businesses in the HR sector.
The questions often revolve around this central question:
‘What should we do next?’
Prefer To Listen? Podcast Version of ‘Use This Simple 5-Step Process To Grow Your HR Business‘
In Episode 119 of the A Better HR Business show, I share a simple 5-step process you can use to grow your HR business.
It makes sense.
There are so many options out there for people trying to grow their HR business.
These lead to questions such as:
Should we be running paid ads somewhere?
Do we need a blog?
What should we be posting on LinkedIn?
Which types of companies should we approach? Why are they ignoring us?
Should I write a book?
What about Google AdWords?
What should we say on our website?
Should we be making videos?
How should we send emails? Hubspot, Mailchimp, Active Campaign, something else?
How do we decide what to offer?
What’s the right angle to take in sales meetings?
How do we get more clients?
Again, ‘What should we do next?‘
People often feel a little overwhelmed.
A Simple 5-Step Process To Follow
Here’s a simple 5-step process I use with my clients which are either: consulting firms, HR tech firms, or individual consultants, all within the wide HR sector.
I was delighted to be joined on the A Better HR Business show by Emma Del Torto, Managing Director of the very successful HR consultancy based in Wales in the UK, Effective HRM.
Originally from London, Emma moved to Wales to attend law school at Cardiff University in 1993 before qualifying as a solicitor in 1998, specialising in employment law. She also holds a Master’s degree in employment law.
With over 20 years’ experience in employment law and HR, Emma established Effective HRM in 2011 with a mission of becoming the UK’s most cost-effective, personable and valuable HR service. 10 years on, she still feels passionately about her vision of creating a nation full of positive, proactive and empowered employers.
Straight talking, pragmatic and a great team player, Emma focusses on delivering expert legal advice, combined with the preventative good practice of HR management and commercial realism. She’s particularly talented at getting to grips with complex issues quickly and resolving problems with a collaborative and solution focussed approach.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Emma and I talked about:
[00:01:38] – Emma’s background.
[00:02:26] – Why did Emma start Effective HRM all those (10) years ago?
[00:05:14] – The book that changed the game for Emma.
[00:08:43] – A brilliant way for any consultant to get started (with thanks to Emma’s former employer)
[00:11:57] – Celebrating 10 years in business & the types of clients.
[00:13:41] – Emma’s mission to make herself redundant at every stage.
[00:16:35] – What is Emma’s role as Managing Director?
[00:17:52] – Effect HRM buys another consultancy.
[00:19:37] – Effective HRM’s different products & service offerings.
[00:21:47] – The classic staff handbook service.
[00:23:18] – Additional service offerings after an employee handbook.
[00:24:05] – Going remote for HR consulting services.
[00:25:21] – The importance of retainer clients.
[00:26:29] – With this, you don’t have a business to sell.
[00:27:30] – Want to sell your HR consultancy? (NOTE: Emma is looking for more HR businesses to buy).
[00:27:39] – Structuring retainers and agreements (including a possible difference between men and women).
[00:30:11] – Emma’s advice on acquiring new clients and growing a successful HR business.
[00:32:12] – What does the future hold for HR and the world of work?
[00:33:17] – HR should aim for a seat on the Board
[00:34:03] – Looking back, the advice Emma would give herself when first starting her business.
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