Human Resources with Su Patel

Su Patel worked in Human Resources for Tesco for 27 years. Redundancy, marriage ending becoming a single mum and then moving home in quick succession created massive challenges. She’s at the other side now, with her daughter doing well, a published author and international speaker.

Su Patel puts the human into Human Resources.

Are you working on your business as well as working in your business? Su was attending a mastermind just after the recording.

What’s the best thing about being in a Mastermind?

There are 10 people in a business mastermind that Su attends. She also attends a HR specific group too.

Su Patel – the Background

At Tesco for over 27 years, Su took voluntary redundancy in 2016. She considered getting another HR job with another retail company. Her mindset wasn’t right. It impacted her self-confidence.

Her friend advised her to set up her own business.

How did she feel at the time? In February 2016, she separated from her husband of 10 years, March was made redundant and April had to leave her family home. She was in a low place. Family, secure job and own home to single parent, no job and renting. This all changed. For Su, it was the awesome people around her that got her through.

Networks

She was surrounding herself with really capable people in network groups. She lived in Leigh on Sea (apparently one of the happiest places in the UK).

Her daughter’s school offered her the opportunity to create her first client. She did the first month free. After the first month, they gave Su her first contract.

Sue went from sobbing on her sofa and now she has an amazing business and is a published author. This lead to being invited to a HR convention in the Maldives. Her keynote was about her book.

Putting Human into HR

Click the image to Amazon. Released November 2018 – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Putting-Human-Back-Into-professional/dp/1781333300

Her experience is that many business owners think of HRs as policy people, rule book, the furthest from human. Su argues that HRs should do the right thing for people rather than just following policies.

Look at who is in front of you right now. Deal with that person.

Su thinks smaller companies can be more flexible than larger companies.

One of the positive side-benefits of being an author, is Su found herself surrounded by public speakers. Guess what happened to her! She became a public speaker. You become an average of the people you hang around with.

The Book

Su went to an event with Andy Harrington. He said something very profound…

“…One of the riches places in the world is the graveyard. Because, people die with their gifts inside them.
Without them sharing their message. Don’t be one of them….”
Andy Harrington

Andy posed the question…What can you be great at?

Su’s answer was I can help people be great in HR. She started to think of the ways in which she can help others be great at HR.

Su advises there are 5 areas in HR to find a balance with.

Has the book attracted more clients for Su? As she says, 100%! On the back of releasing her book, she has been invited to speak in Barcelona and the Maldives.

The 5 P’s of HR

The book is a how-to book. It shares the pitfalls of Human Resources and the mistakes we make. With 5 balanced solutions to put all that right.

PARTNERSHIP

– at the core of every thing in HR. It’s all about relationships. The solution to partnership Su fashions into an acronym, TEAM.

T = tune into the organisation. What does the business do? Who are they? Oftentimes, HRs don’t know what the business does.
E = engaging emotional intelligence. Be self aware who you are. Walk the floor. Create good news in your organisation.
A = associates, a team around you who can help you.
M = mindset, be good at developing others and yourself.

PROCESSES

– have processes that simply things. The acronym here is the stress-free LEGAL system!

L = legislation, because we need to abide by laws of the land.
E = employee cycle. 3 steps. Starting. Staying and Saying Goodbye! Often HRs are good at Starting but not Staying.
G = guides. Create simple guides for people. So, they know what to do when things go wrong.
A = auditing, make sure you do something with them
L = Level up those improvements from audits.

PRODUCTIVITY

– the RESULTS roadmap. Make sure you have the right roles in the business.

PERFORMANCE

Su is an advocate of self-leadership. Get people to take responsibility for their lives.

The solution is called The Born to Achieve Accelerator. So, Su made an acronym of ACHIEVE.

A = accountability. This should not be on the manager, but the individual.
C = contribution, to make sure what you need to do to grow the business.
H = hopes. What do you want for yourself?
I = Implement to create plans.
E = educate skills and qualifications for people to realise their potential.
V = validate, to make sure there is a follow up.
E = elevating the person.

PROGRESS

How are people doing? Surveys. She prefers forums of staff. What’s going well and what is not. HR should also be inviting feedback.

This is a very thorough action-oriented book.

Su’s authority has grown as a result of the book. Even her daughter has won a speaking competition.

Advice for Small Business?

Provide an environment where people can bring their WHOLE SELVES!

Understand yourself as a leader. Why would someone work for you as a leader. Leadership is a privilege. Get real leadership skills.

Su Patel creates the buzz and energy in the people she works alongside. She gets things done in Human Resources. Success is about the measure of culture change.

Another measure is that people want her to stay. She’s adding clients, but if you want to get in touch,

Contact

LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/su-patel-mcipd-a3093ba2/

Website = http://www.hrtrainingandconsulting.com

The next 100 days podcast is brought to you by Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith