Welcome to HR by Design (HRbD)
Building Capability. Enabling Growth.
At HR by Design, we believe people are the heart of every successful organisation. For over two decades, we’ve partnered with businesses across the globe to design and deliver human-centred solutions that unlock both organisational and individual potential.
Founded by Helen Hartley, an internationally recognised HR and Organisation Development leader, HRbD brings together a powerful blend of strategic expertise and practical, people-focused solutions. Helen’s career has spanned the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, India, and New Zealand, working with global icons such as Duty-Free Stores owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH Group), Schwarzkopf, and Levi Strauss & Co., where she was a Global Faculty member in the Leadership, Ethics and Diversity Programs.
Today, HRbD is known for creating sustainable change through innovative programs that integrate strategy, planning, and execution. Recent successes include the global rollout of Leadership Development, Management Development, and Women’s Development programs, delivered via live classrooms, across three continents with measurable impact.
With the launch of Momentum 2.0, our flagship Leadership Development program now goes further: equipping leaders with critical people skills. This curated program is also available to client organisations to transfer knowledge to in-house facilitators through a Train-the-Trainer model. This ensures that the benefits of Momentum are embedded, multiplied, and sustained across your organisation long after the program concludes.
Whether you’re navigating transformation, developing leaders, or embedding cultural change, HRbD will partner with you to:
- Build leadership and management capability
- Design and deliver programs tailored to your culture and strategy
- Coach and mentor executives and emerging leaders
- Create organisational frameworks that drive performance and engagement
Our approach is collaborative, customised, and globally proven. We bring deep knowledge, innovative tools, and a commitment to building thoughtful leaders who deliver results.
Together, we can design the future of work for your organisation.
Global or Local Delivery?
In a global environment, it is important to consider the cultural context within which participants belong and for them to consider the implications of any actions they take. The benefit is that we do not assume Western models will work or be appropriate in all cultures. Although very well researched, our models are not imposed on the participants, and the relevance is discussed within their cultural context. We have had some deeply revealing discussions when working across cultures.
Momentum:
The Importance of People Skills for Leaders
Leaders are expected to communicate effectively with people at all levels. They are expected to influence others, make decisions, lead happy and productive teams and produce successful outcomes for the business.
Contemporary research tells us that ‘soft skills for leaders are in demand. Do you think the term soft skills, although a generally accepted term, really encompasses what additional business skills are needed? Soft suggests – comfortable, gentle and easy. The term ‘soft skills’ does not truly reflect what we need to understand when connecting with people. There is nothing ‘soft’ about soft skills. I prefer to call them People Skills. Think of a time you had to navigate through the delivery of bad news, an unpopular decision, manage a poor performance issue, terminate an employee’s employment or make an employee redundant. There’s nothing soft about these situations. They can be tough, challenging, emotionally draining, and, I’m told, keep leaders up at night. As difficult as these situations are, over time, most employees will forget why they found themselves in such circumstances, yet they will never forget how they were made to feel!
Alternatively, if you have high-performing teams with great co-worker relationships, as the leader, you will be challenged to support them to stay on top of their game. Using great people skills to connect and engage people will see them flourish as a team, develop individually and stay engaged.
Having great people skills enables leaders to communicate and connect with others more effectively. Ask yourself, ‘Do you understand your people, their drives and motivations, and are you able to understand their behaviours and interpret their reactions? It’s about understanding how people tick!
Momentum will assist you in developing great people skills and provide a pathway to greater self-understanding by providing opportunities to deepen your understanding of how you tick.
For further information, please get in touch with Helen Hartley here!