Helping Organisations Thrive with Julian Roberts

#88 Michelle Smith | How to support your teams through times of grief, bereavement and loss

Today I am interviewing Michelle Smith who is the Founder and Managing Director of Empower Workplace solutions.
 
Michelle has an empathetic leadership approach to all the services she offers, today we focused on how to equip your leaders to have those conversations around supporting your teams in loss or grief, this could be loss of a loved one, loss of a marriage or even financial loss. Michelle shares a number of ways to have those emotional conversations, which in essence are through an empathetic approach, they are 1. Really focus on the employee and have no distractions 2. Make the employee feel valued 3. Listen to them fully, give space to the conversation and finally 4. It is ok to have silence, allow the space. And overall use empathy rather than sympathy when having these emotional conversations, it is far more empowering for the employee.
 
Watch full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FItGYft6AxY
 
Connect with Michelle:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmithempowerws/
Website: https://www.empowerworkplacesolutions.co.uk/
Email: michelle@empowerworkplacesolutions.co.uk
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#87 George Minakakis | How to create impact in your organisation through authentic leadership

Today I am interviewing George Minakakis who is the Founder and CEO of Inception Retail Group Inc.
 
We discussed authentic leadership in the context of the organisation and how leading in this will have the greatest impact on your business. George shared his Reliability Quotient which is defined as 1. Authenticity - believable leadership, 2. Integrity - incorruptible leadership, 3. Credibility - proven leadership and 4. Accountability - no excuses leadership. Our conversation started to shift away from the individual and explore how organisations need to be authentic, they need to ensure they are transparent to their values and beliefs, and what they stand for and how they are going to execute that with their customers and colleagues.
 
Watch full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzC0g1ZiogA
 
Connect with George:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeminakakis/
Website: http://www.inceptionretailgroup.com/
Email: minakakisg@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeorgeMinakakis
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#86 Victoria Thomson | Menopause and work: why it’s so important

Today I am interviewing Victoria Thomson who is the Owner of Ambridge HR. Today's episode is part of the series on "HR challenges faced by SME's", where I will be interviewing HR experts on key topics to help SME organisations.
 
Today we explored menopause in the workplace, policy and how to implement day to day, what does it mean and why. Here is the context for our discussion. According to Professor Jo Brewis, co-author Government Report on Menopause, ‘menopausal women are the fastest growing workforce demographic’, which is highlighted by the Office of National Statistics. The average age for a woman to go through menopause is 51. It can be earlier than this, naturally or due to surgery, or illness. And symptoms may start years before menopause, during the peri-menopause phase. According to the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM), nearly 8 out of 10 of menopausal women are in work. 3 out of 4 women experience symptoms, 1 in 4 could experience serious symptoms. One in three of the workforce will soon be over 50, and retirement ages are now 68.
Victoria shared some valuable advice in how we should implement a policy, support those with menopause and support for the managers too ensuring that everyone is educated and supported throughout the organisation.
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T09TfrNm52Y
 
Connect with Victoria:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriathomsonhr/
Website: https://www.ambridgehr.co.uk/
Email: hr.enquiries@ambridgehr.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VThomsonHR
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#85 Emily Woodason | Lessons in resilience from rowing the Atlantic ocean

Today I am interviewing Emily Woodason, by day a Landscape Architect, however she has just completed the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. A 3,000 mile rowing race across the Atlantic.
This is a story of resilience, teamwork and leadership that we can translate into our organisations.
Her team One Ocean Crew crossed the #TWAC2021 finish line on 21st January 2022 at 13:13 local time. Jen Cullom, Emily Woodason, Janette Potgieter and Erin Bastian rowed the Atlantic Ocean in 40 days, 4 hours, and 7 minutes. A final hard push got them to be the winners of the #TWAC2021 Women’s Class and the Murden Trophy!
 
Today Emily answers questions such as Why did you take on this challenge? What were your greatest fears? How did you overcome those difficult moments? How did you help each other as team to keep going? What lessons did you learn that you can now use in your organisation? All the answers to these questions provided a rich source of inspiration to help organisations build resilience.
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ7lr7NF_6I
 
Connect with Emily and the One Ocean Crew:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilywoodason/
Website: https://www.oneoceancrew.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oneoceancrew/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnHOXQDsbGkoJRLTZVyL1Q
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#84 Linda Taylor | How to deal with discrimination in the workplace

Today I am interviewing Linda Taylor who is the Managing Director of The Employees Relations Consultancy. Today's episode is part of the series on "HR challenges faced by SME's", where I will be interviewing HR experts on key topics to help SME organisations.
 
We discussed discrimination in the workplace, and we focused on the behaviour of banter and telling inappropriate jokes, and how do you deal with this. Linda's general rule with banter is that are both parties happy with the exchange that is happening, if they then that should be ok but we have to mindful of others observing. And also anything that is covered in the equality act like race, gender and disability is off limits. Linda gave us three key points to helping deal with discrimination, firstly as a leader or owner of a business get educated on discrimination, be familiar with the equality act. Secondly, role model in the workplace, if you are in a situation of inappropriate banter then don't join in and deal with the individual either then or later. Thirdly, if someone does complain, do take it seriously.
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9O9HqoADg
 
Connect with Linda:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-taylor-5b08625/
Website: http://www.ercltd.co.uk/
Email: linda.taylor@ercltd.co.uk
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com
 

#83 Matt Atkinson | How to create a mindset and environment for innovation

Today I am interviewing Matt Atkinson who is the Managing Director of Utelize.
 
Matt shared his experiences of how he has started multiple businesses and grown them, recognising that each stage of growth requires different skills of people, along with ensuring you are empowering and motivating your teams onto the next stage. Matt shared 2 key ways to drive his business forward, one was ensure you have the right culture - Matt has created a customer service focused culture due to this being a competitive advantage in their sector and secondly, create an environment of innovation, an environment where there is freedom to fail and learn from these, thereby pushing the boundaries in a safe environment.
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qn6Ym8sUoQ
 
Connect with Matt:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/telecomsbilling/
Website: http://www.utelize.co.uk/
Email: matta@utelize.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Utelize
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#82 Emily Perry | How to get the best out of your people

Today I am interviewing Emily Perry who is the Founder of The People Consultancy. Today's episode is part of the series on "HR challenges faced by SME's", where I will be interviewing HR experts on key topics to help SME organisations.
 
Emily started the conversation by saying before you even think about your people in your business, is to get clear what your business goals are, who you are as a business, what is unique, so that you can share with confidence and clarity to your people - this is the starting point to determine your approach to your people. Then you can decide what roles you need for the company, what are the expectations of these roles and in essence what would good look like. The overarching theme that Emily shared in getting the best out of your people was 'have conversations', that interact, listen and empower people - do this frequently and don't wait for formal reviews once a year, keep an ongoing dialogue with your people.
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDuatfROd8
 
Connect with Emily:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyperry-people/
Website: https://www.thepeopleconsultancy.uk/
Email: emily@thepeopleconsultancy.uk
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com

#81 Lucy Fitzgerald | Why should leaders care about their people?

Today I am interviewing Lucy Fitzgerald who is the CEO & Founder of Fitzgerald HR. Today's episode starts the a series on "HR challenges faced by SME's", where I will be interviewing HR experts on key topics to help SME organisations.
 
According to Breathe (HR software platform), 68% of business owners have said that they have seen an increase in the mental health, anxiety and depression in their employees in the last few years, based on this we need to have the people and a well-being strategy at the heart of the business. Lucy went on to share that having a focus on well-being will increase productivity, employee engagement which leads to discretionary effort and thereby increase in profits, so there are tangible reasons for caring about your people. Lucy also shared that you don't need a dedicated HR expert in the business but someone who is a champion of the people and can use key people strategies like Employee Assistance Programs, engaging your employees to gain insights of what they need. And in terms of an overall strategy, if it can encompass the Physical, Emotional, Financial and Social aspects of the people, this can be used as guide for the overall well-being of the people.
 
Here is the link that Lucy refereed to in the episode on developing a well-being strategy: https://www.fitzgeraldhr.co.uk/employee-wellbeing-strategy/
 
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK-Y3tZKYGo
 
Connect with Lucy:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyfitzgeraldhr/
Website: http://www.fitzgeraldhr.co.uk/
Email: lucy@fitzgeraldhr.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FitzgeraldHR
 
Helping SME’s build resilient, high performing teams and businesses, quickly, so they can innovate, deliver, and thrive.
 
The SME’s I work with typically struggle/suffer/ with one or more of these challenges:
- no clear strategy
- dysfunctional team dynamics
- not knowing their vision or mission
- feeling stuck and procrastinating
- business not growing
- leadership challenges
 
If you want support in helping your organisation thrive, do get in contact with me:
https://www.julianrobertsconsulting.com