‘Being part of the furniture’ is what I was referred to in a meeting during my heady days as an HR leader in a legal tech organisation. I am not criticising the description nor anyone who likes feeling they are. But for me it sent a shudder down my spine. It felt too comfortable, too complacent and a bit too… normal.
This was the start of my should-I-go-it-alone itch. Then March 2020 happened. I remember the day we closed our offices because of the pandemic and home working stretched ahead. Packing up my monitors, using anti bac wipes on every surface in sight (and in the process realising I had been using my colleague’s mouse, the one she thought had vanished off the face of the earth. Whoops). My husband was furloughed for the summer, and I spent my mornings, evenings, and nights on the phone to our employees.
Hurdling over lock downs and ever changing rules for businesses to navigate, we came out of the hottest summer in 2020. I found out I was pregnant and luckily by this point, my well-tanned husband was back at work and no longer prey to my constant nagging for mozzarella sticks. My French Bulldog, Psmith, was assuming his all-day position of dozing under my desk until it was time for our morning and afternoon snack breaks.
As Christmas brought yet another lockdown, I began to be approached by local SMEs looking for HR support in many different guises. As a full time Executive and a mini human oven, I had to keep saying no. I only had so much time in a day, and I couldn’t help working up to my due date.
Little Teddy was born in April, and September brought the opportunity to leave the London 65 hour working week and wave goodbye to ‘being part of the furniture’. Ta dah exhilHRate was born! I am now the boss of my own destination, working with businesses that need a big or small injection of the expertise and experience I have gained over many years, not to mention the HR qualifications I have worked hard to gain.
I pride myself on being an authentic People leader, operating through any level in an organisation, supporting and encouraging change. Talent driven results and accelerated commercial growth are my bread and butter outputs with the right People recipe.
I am not part of the traditional movement of ‘I beat people with a stick’ or the ‘Human Remains’ approach (despite having to do so on occasion in my career). My support and approach are focused on providing consistent and tangible results aligned with real-time business objectives. Whether it’s coaching ‘out of the box’ thinking, creating fair and well-rounded commercial directors or building a strong succession planned workforce, I will provide people, commercial and operational support in a manner that fosters respect and understanding of the underlying objectives.
Whether you need a review of your people initiatives, are unsure where to start in building a great people policy or have a specific people challenge to unravel why not contact me. We can talk on the phone or online so that you can build a picture of your business, the challenges you face and the culture of your organisation; most importantly where you feel you need my input. I will always be honest with you and will share useful tips and ideas from my experience.