Aitch Are Gives You...
For my latest virtual "A Cuppa With...", I was delighted to have @SharonGChiara for company. We've had a fair bit of chit-chat over Twitter and have met a couple of times on the incomparable #hrpubquiz, so it was good to sit down one-on-one and get to know each other a bit better, albeit over Zoom.
Being English, we inevitably kicked off proceedings with a discussion about the weather, given how wet it was outside. So the first fun fact was that Sharon's hair goes frizzy when it's wet. If, like me, you feel that we should see this phenomena then let me know, and I will start a petition. The second thing I got to know about Sharon is that whilst she lives in Tooting, she has a soft spot for the North-East so we traded stories about Middlesborough, Newcastle, Sunderland etc. - mine through the lens of seeing my beloved Fulham play (but not always lose - honest!) in these cities, and Sharon through the lens of having lived there. We then discussed her business, as she has been running Chiara Consultancy for many a year now. Why did Sharon decide to do her own thing? She was falling out of love with her permanent job, a change-seeking person in a change-averse organisation is not a good mix, so she had been thinking for a year or so about setting up her own business where she could make a career out of what she loved doing. Was it difficult to get going? It required advanced planning (mental, as well as financial). It required Sharon to be comfortable with the "what's the worst that can happen?" scenario. Naturally, the initial "finding customer No. 1" was hard work. as is business development generally. And the first time you don't get a regular pay-check is always a bit of a freaky moment to navigate. Why "Chiara"? Sharon is a bit of an Italophile (yes, the word does exist, I just looked it up!) at heart and the translation of "chiara" is "clear", which drives everything Sharon does. "Clear Thinking People Solutions". Sharon creates tailored solutions for clients that creates value for them, particularly in the areas of people change, comms and engagement, and tech enablement. What does this require to be successful? A commercial and pragmatic approach to the "people stuff" based on a deep understanding of the client's business. And it must work, as a significant chunk of Sharon's business are customers who come back and ask for more! How did Sharon get into this space in the first instance? Like many of us, it wasn't a meticulously thought-through plan, and chance and circumstance played its part. Sharon was initially attracted to jobs she liked the sound of. I thought at first she meant things like "Ice Cream Taster", which would be my dream job, but she was thinking more of the job content rather than the job title, so she started out in the NHS working on health promotions, campaigns, education and policy work. She also did a lot of work in areas that at the time were not particularly fashionable but today would be all around wellbeing. She then transitioned out of the NHS to take up roles in learning and development, and things grew from there. I then unearthed an "unpaid passion" that Sharon has. No, don't worry, nothing dodgy, dear reader. In addition to her day-job, Sharon also runs the HR Interim Networking Group (search for it on LinkedIn). This is a really useful resource for people who do their own thing on an interim basis, it can feel a bit lonely at times but to have c1000 others in the same boat is a great back-up and confidence-booster. I asked Sharon how she had been coping in this most difficult of years. She has actually faced a triple whammy, not just Covid, but also the joys of IR35 and on a broader scale we have this little thing called Brexit to contend with too. That said, Sharon has not been idle, she has just come off the back of 3 contracts (or "assignments", to use the correct interim lingo), and was looking forward to a bit of down-time to tick off some of the admin tasks on her agile board that she has been putting off for a while! A website refresh, updating those CVs, doing some podcasts, etc. What gets Sharon out of bed in the morning? Sharon is all about continuous learning, so getting to grips with different businesses, new challenges, and a variety of projects ("no two projects are ever the same"). She also mentioned "risk and danger", which gave me a feeling that there is a more cloak-and-dagger side to Sharon than she actually lets on... I then asked Sharon what tips she would have for people in the HR profession, given the times we are living in at present. Sharon's commandments were as follows: 1. Know your business. 2. Be confident and resilient. 3. Don't naval-gaze for too long. 4. Know that what you do does make a difference. 5. Put people at the centre of all you do. Pretty good, huh? And then, finally, as we met on Twitter, I asked for Sharon's views on whether she loved it or loathed it. Twitter, not me. Overall, whilst she feels that it forces people to be too binary and judgmental and ignore the shades of grey that do exist, Sharon felt that she had got more from it than she thought she would, had learnt a lot, and met some great people. As we were out of tea as well as time we drew the conversation to a close. A huge thank you to Sharon for being such a good sport. If any of you have been on the lookout for a pragmatic, thoughtful and tailored approach to people issues you may be experiencing, your search is over... Stay dry, and be good. Aitch
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AuthorSenior HR executive who has seen it all. On a mission to simplify the world of work. Archives
May 2020
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