You might love doing HR on your own and be really effective and that is fine (I am always trialling new people practices myself) but have you ever:• Felt like ‘there are no good people out there’ ?• Hated interviewing because of the abysmal candidates in the room (that is, when they bother to turn up)?• Had your best people quit (leaving you in the lurch).• Spent hours managing poor performance or feel exhausted from dealing with what Steve and Nat got up to at the Christmas… Show more You might love doing HR on your own and be really effective and that is fine (I am always trialling new people practices myself) but have you ever:• Felt like ‘there are no good people out there’ ?• Hated interviewing because of the abysmal candidates in the room (that is, when they bother to turn up)?• Had your best people quit (leaving you in the lurch).• Spent hours managing poor performance or feel exhausted from dealing with what Steve and Nat got up to at the Christmas party?• Wished people would ‘just do their bloody job!’?• Felt like HR is an underdog of the business, where everyone comes to whinge, but significant change never happens (and no mass redundancies don’t count).If you’d rather spend your time and energy on the things you love, like developing your skills and profit, enhancing your career (or just going out for a long lunch), not stuck in the vicious cycle of eternally hiring, performance managing and firing poor-fit people, then maybe my innovative techniques can give you an edge. They’re all road-tested on several hundred businesses including Dairy Australia farmers, the Stockbroker’s Association of Australia, OzHarvest, Teys Beef, State Library of Queensland, CareSuper, Michael Hill Jewellery and Heritage Bank to name just a few (because aargh...everyone's now in the 'people' business). I’ve also spoken at 150+ events in Australia/UK/China/Asia and South Africa, and been interviewed on Sky Business News, Channel 7 News, ABC John Faine program and Conversation Hour, Australian Financial Review, Qantas In-Flight Radio, The Age, Courier Mail, BOSS Magazine, Brand Eins magazine, in a bid to kick traditional HR into touch.So if you’d like to fix your people problems and get better business results, subscribe to my newsletter below or go to www.mandyjohnson.co for more articles, tools & freebies; or join my People and Culture Accelerator Program or its off-shoot PCAP Tribe (with regular meet-ups) at www.pcaps.com.au. Show less

After I quit to go backpacking through South America, Flight Centre's CEO convinced me that what I really wanted to do was co-found Flight Centre's start-up UK operation instead.This was like an on-the-job MBA because I learnt so much in this 5 year period and became the company's youngest ever-director in the process. We were opening a shop a month with limited support from our Australian head office, so had to get super-sharp at hiring, developing and keeping great people. It took us two… Show more After I quit to go backpacking through South America, Flight Centre's CEO convinced me that what I really wanted to do was co-found Flight Centre's start-up UK operation instead.This was like an on-the-job MBA because I learnt so much in this 5 year period and became the company's youngest ever-director in the process. We were opening a shop a month with limited support from our Australian head office, so had to get super-sharp at hiring, developing and keeping great people. It took us two years of probably the hardest work I've ever done to become profitable.Yet it was all worth it.The UK is now Flight Centre's most profitable operation outside Australia with over 200 businesses and a turnover of $1 billion +.On my return home I became Australian 'PeopleWorks'​ Leader, one of the country's 6-person leadership team. I was jointly responsible for growing shop numbers, profit and turnover by 40% compared to the previous year (a total of 515 shops, $55 million pre-tax profit and turnover of $1.6 billion). I also researched a best-practice people management system to be rolled out globally. This was the first time I'd looked at what other organisations were doing and it was when I became an active campaigner for business innovation in this area. Flight Centre has always been focused on and is constantly improving its people strategies and has since won 'Best Employer' awards in Australia, NZ, the UK, Canada and South Africa. Show less

QUEENSLAND HR LEADER: I made the mistake of having a few too many drinks at a conference and telling Flight Centre's CEO that the way the company hired and developed people was terrible.Two weeks later he gave me the keys to a store and told me that since I knew so much about the subject I could start up the organisation’s first training and recruitment centre. My journalism degree was as useful as wet tissue paper here so I bumbled along, trialling and testing a diverse range of techniques A… Show more QUEENSLAND HR LEADER: I made the mistake of having a few too many drinks at a conference and telling Flight Centre's CEO that the way the company hired and developed people was terrible.Two weeks later he gave me the keys to a store and told me that since I knew so much about the subject I could start up the organisation’s first training and recruitment centre. My journalism degree was as useful as wet tissue paper here so I bumbled along, trialling and testing a diverse range of techniques A year later it was a very successful operation and I'd won the Flight Centre Director's Award for Outstanding Achievement. This experience taught me that real success is simply a measure of improvement.MANAGER: On my return to Australia after 3 years travelling the world, I became store leader of what was Queensland's most unprofitable shop at the time. My team and I managed to turn it into a profitable operation in 3 months; we became one of the company's most improved stores that year; and I became a Million Dollar consultant which was Flight Centre's highest sales award at the time. Because I now had a reputation as a troubleshooter I was given another poor-performing store and made it profitable too.TRAVEL CONSULTANT: I began working for Flight Centre as a travel consultant in my last year of university. Show less