Mike Dalley
Bio
Living in London with big feet, a Swede, and an angry cat. Lover of all things related to Hospitality and Human Resources; lucky that my career encompasses both.
Stories (16/0)
A little note of thankfulness.
I mean, where to begin with this one. On this day of remembrance there is much to reflect on from the last twelve months. Friends, family, and companionship. An incredible NHS and an amazing vaccine rollout. So, in addition to these things and people which I have often taken for granted, here are three other things I personally am thankful for since COVID changed our lives.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
Remembering three female leaders from my early years.
Happy International Women’s Day! Wherever you are, whoever you are, I wish you a wonderful day. Many amazing women shape our lives, and I am sure more than a few of them have been your leaders, or at least leaders that you have worked with. I want to share with you three female leaders from my earlier years. I do not think about them nearly enough, but they helped me get off to a great start in life and deserve a special bit of recognition for putting up with me, before the H.R. profession kicked me into line.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Humans
What simracing can tell you about career management.
A bout of furlough earlier on in the lockdown got me back into Gran Turismo Sport, a racing simulator up there with the best of them in terms of realism and for me, a discerning petrolhead, the best motoring fix there is. I am so into it I am even measuring my driving rating (D.R.) and sportsmanship rating (S.R.) performances after each race.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Gamers
Three alternative hospitality H.R. M.B.Os for 2021.
Ahh, it’s that wonderful time of the year when targets are set, plans put in place and goals cascaded down through the business. Management by objectives, popularly known as M.B.Os, were developed by Peter Drucker in 1954, making the concept the same age as John Travolta or Ray Liotta, albeit a little less stylish. Nevertheless, setting M.B.Os is a proven approach to plotting out an organisation’s strategy for the year ahead. For hospitality’s H.R. practitioners, the setting of M.B.Os has arguably never been more important than looking forward into 2021, our year of recovery.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
Ten things – unrelated to work – that I am handing over to my H.R. coordinator when I leave next month.
This post started off with a working title along the lines of “Suggestions on how to hand over a job” but a little more than a hundred words into writing it, I read the paragraph back to myself and it felt like watching paint dry.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
An introduction to techagogy.
I facilitated a training session on Zoom earlier this week. It was so mentally exhausting I went home and ordered a burger from Wimpy. Here is what I have learned so far in my initial forays into the rapidly developing world of remote training and facilitation (spoiler alert: not a great deal):
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Lifehack
Training H.R. on strategy and governance.
I was reading an interesting article by Jenny Roper (People Management, June 2020) on corporate governance the other day, and how Human Resources – often forgotten when it comes to boardroom level matters – will likely have a larger part to play in senior business decisions in the future. In the uncertain world presented to us by Covid-19, values, integrity, and responsible business are the only constant – that there are indeed difficult decisions to make to make operations viable in the long term, but the best anyone can do right now is handle the strategic thought process and execution in a responsible way (we are seeing plenty of horror stories to the contrary). H.R. – already central to many contemporary business decisions through being the custodians of consultation processes and suchlike – will certainly have a role to play in the wider governance of such behaviours, also in scrutinising pay, wellbeing provision and even an increasing say in the curation of organisational culture.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
Five things no one tells you about making people redundant.
Due to dramatic downturns in business because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have just gone through a restructuring at work. I coördinated it locally, with guidance from my regional team. It sucked, but you do not have to be a genius to work that one out. Restructuring — in the U.K., often code for ‘redundancies’ — is never easy for anyone involved. From a Human Resources point of view however — and being a novice to this whole sorry process — I had some surprising observations.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
If you really love your job, then learn to give it some space.
I love my partner. She’s really great. I mean, of course she is, otherwise we wouldn’t still be together after five years. Our anniversary (helpfully) coincides with Valentine’s Day. Most years, we visit an amazing restaurant. This year obviously was different. In the morning, we drank mimosas and exchanged gifts. In the evening, we attempted not to mess up a Jason Atherton meal kit. In between, we parted ways. She retired to the lounge to play Genshin Impact, and I went to the study to resurrect my childhood via Roller Coaster Tycoon. We arranged a set time in the evening to begin dinner together.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
The Great Reopening
The north-facing windows in her south bank apartment face London City Airport. This was both a blessing and a curse, affording her magnificent river views and an exquisite sunset over Canary Wharf (so long as she craned her neck a little to the left), as well as the regular windy roars of arriving and departing planes. She is sitting upright in the wide sill, drinking in the view, as well as an unreasonably large gin. Her phone pings. The Monzo “ka-ching!”. She looks down.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Wander
Does my boss actually want me to do any work?
The title of this article was the crescendo of my friend Rob*, during an impassioned call with him last week. Rob has recently taken on a new junior leadership role in a great company. I say recently, but he signed the contract in March 2020, had his first day scheduled for the beginning of April 2020, before this was deferred, first to June, and finally to August. Rob works in an office for a meetings and events company. The reasons for the deferral of his start date? Take a wild guess.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
Should I invest in a professionally written CV?
I begin with a guarantee; that I am not trying to sell you anything and I do not write CVs, LinkedIn profiles or cover letters as a side gig, or anything like that. I am however becoming increasingly aware – and I am sure that you are too – that more and more people or companies offer this service.
By Mike Dalley3 years ago in Journal
