Strivin & Thrivin

This week on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast we caught up with Michael Delaney, Head of Talent at Humanforce, the shift-based workforce platform. For those considering a career change, Michael shares insight into his successful and unexpected career pivot, or should we say pirouette?

The first 15 years of his career, Micheal spent as a professional ballet dancer, performing everything from Swan Lake to Bananas in Pyjamas. Now, in a completely different field of work, he can still be relied upon to get the dancefloor moving. During our chat, we discuss what it takes to make a complete career change and the people who helped him succeed.

“It's funny, you know, when you talk to someone who really knows what they're doing, it's amazing, the insights that you get - who knew that experts could really help you grow and plan?”

Michael reflects fondly on his first female mentor, during a time when mentors were formally recognised and gets to the crux of what it means to be a good mentor.

“It's not always about telling them what to do. It's about asking them questions and letting them come to the realization that they could maybe look at things in a different way.”

The past year has seen Michael juggle being both a mentee and a mentor. Supporting those who have lost their jobs due to COVID, he has been working for a programme called Jobs for Australia, career coaching and guiding mentees on how to navigate the unknown landscape. Killing two birds with one stone, he also used the platform to land his new role at Humanforce.

During our conversation, we learn the value people can gain both personally and professionally, by having a mentor from someone who has been on both sides of the fence.

“I have a personal mantra in life that every day try and make somebody feel better and mentoring is a great way to make people feel better.”

Listen to Michael’s podcast on Strivin & Thrivin now, where we learn what it takes to be a successful career mentor and how Michael went from one-man show to team player.

This week on the Strivin & Thrivin podcast we chat to Amy Cotterill, Global Talent Acquisition Lead at Xref.

Amy talks about something we’ve all experienced. Trying to be a ‘yes’ person, taking on too much and struggling with an unmanageable workload. There are some of us who have painfully tried to struggle through unmanageable to-do lists, got things wrong, missed things out and even experienced burnout.

“I'm a natural people pleaser... I used this to just say, yeah, okay… and then I'd look at what I have to do and I'd be so overwhelmed.”

During our time with Amy we learn how she now manages her workflow, how mentors have helped her prioritise her workload, stakeholder management and refine her expectations. In doing so, she shares her advice on managing a mentor relationship.

“Be prepared, , know what you want to get out of the session...They can't give you the Holy grail”.

Having a fairly linear career path, Amy started out in recruitment, building a strong network of contacts and an impressive skill set as her roles gradually evolved and expanded. But growth didn’t happen without putting herself out there and pushing the boundaries of what she was comfortable with - something she has encouraged herself to do ever since moving from the UK to Australia eight years ago.

If you’re looking to hear more about self-management and managing not only your own expectations but that of leaders around you, give Amy’s Strivin & Thrivin podcast a listen!

After moving to Sydney 13 years ago, Scottish-born Neil Gunning tells us he learned a lot about “having fire in the belly” and the importance of hustle, while being strategic and resourceful.

Neil started out in recruitment as a teenager learning the beginnings of his craft in various agencies in Scotland.

Today, he works for Frollo, the Australian FinTech company and open banking leader teaching users to be smarter with their money as well as NextGen.net, a technology provider to the mortgage lending industry. But the hustle doesn’t stop there, Neil is also the Director of Tech Life Sydney, an employer branding as a service platform and has his own passion project on the side, Fletch & Bob, a specialty coffee  business and no-doubt the fuel behind his hustle.

In our latest episode of Strivin & Thrivin podcast, we caught up with Neil to talk about his professional experience. Just a few of the topics we cover are:

LEADERSHIP

What Neil has learned from other leaders and what he aspires to be like as a leader.

“If you're in a leadership role, you're there to have an opinion, you're there to bring your experience and bring your lens to whatever context you're working in. And, and if you're not going to back yourself why would anyone else?”

MENTORSHIP

Having two mentors himself, we cover the importance of extracting value from them, what questions you need to be asking and how you should approach your mentor.

“You need to have respect for that person and need to know that you're actually going to be able to learn from them.”

BALANCE

We find out what life experiences, outside of the professional field have taught Neil about himself, about his approach to work and in achieving balance.

Listen to our latest Strivin & Thrivin podcast for invaluable insight into Neil’s successfully diverse career within talent acquisition and beyond.