Dakota Blue Consulting

Name: Dakota Blue Consulting
Address: Ashford, GB
Telephone: +441233662651

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Dakota Blue Consulting

Qualified director level HR professionals working on a flexible basis to meet your business needs. As people experts, we provide you the “how”.

Dakota Blue Consulting provides experienced and qualified part-time HR Director support to SME’s with ambitious growth plans. We work alongside CEO’s, Managing Directors and their leadership teams to deliver flexible, tailored HR solutions. Many organisations know that a major contributor to their success is attracting, developing, engaging and retaining talent but struggle with the question of “h

ow” to do this effectively. Our focus on your business goals ensures that we help you implement just the right HR solutions to unlock your growth potential and deliver profit.

11/09/2026

When someone is not performing as expected, it is easy to put it down to attitude or a lack of effort.

But it is not always that simple.

They may not fully understand what is expected of them. They may need more training or support. Their workload could be unrealistic or there may be a health issue affecting their work.

That is why it is important to understand what is really going on before deciding what to do next.

Start with the facts. Be clear about where performance is falling short and give the employee an opportunity to explain.

Once you understand what is behind the problem, you will be in a much better position to decide on the right next step.

Dealing with poor performance and unsure what to do next?

Find practical HR guidance, templates and support to help you handle it properly.

See the link in the comments. ↓

10/09/2026

It's here. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗛𝗥 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲!

Running a small business is demanding enough.

Employment legislation keeps changing. Costs are rising. Employee expectations are evolving. And somewhere in amongst all of that, you're expected to keep on top of the day-to-day challenges that come with managing people.

We started Dakota Blue because we believe small businesses deserve access to good HR support, even when they don't have their own HR team.

This library is another way we're making that happen.

𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀. 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.

Practical HR resources, all written by experienced HR professionals, for the situations that come up when you're managing people.

A probation review.

A return to work form.

A policy you need to put in place.

Instead of piecing together a generic template from a search result and wondering whether it's up to date, or using AI hoping that it has referenced the right legislation and is not hallucinating, you'll have practical HR resources written by HR Directors, ready when you need them.

And the best part, it's completely FREE!

You can sign up for free and start exploring the HR Resource Library today. Link in the comments.

PS .. Don't keep this a secret, if you know a friend that would benefit from these, make sure you share the link below.

09/09/2026

Receiving feedback like this means so much to us. 💙

HR situations can feel overwhelming, especially when you are responsible for making decisions that affect both your people and your business.

Our role is not just to tell you what the process says. It is to help you work through the situation, organise your thinking and feel more confident about what to do next.

And if the occasional session feels a little like therapy, we’ll take that too! 😊

Thank you for such a lovely review and for trusting Jackie to support you.

03/09/2026

We were speaking with a business leader this week about an employee who has been off sick for a long time with a genuine health condition.

One of the worst things you can do in that situation is ignore it because you are worried about saying the wrong thing.

Silence rarely helps the employee, the manager or the business. What usually helps is starting a sensible, supportive conversation.

How are you doing? What are you being told about your likely return to work? Is there anything we can reasonably do to support you? Would it help to talk about a phased return, reduced hours or temporary adjustments?

These conversations are not about putting pressure on someone to return before they are ready. They are about keeping communication open and understanding what might make a return to work possible.

For small businesses, long-term absence can be particularly difficult. Work still needs to be covered, colleagues may be taking on extra responsibility and the owner needs some idea of what the coming weeks or months might look like.

You can support someone who is genuinely unwell while still having open conversations about the impact on the business and what happens next.

Quite often, those early conversations help everyone move towards a much clearer plan.

If you are managing a long-term absence and are unsure what to say or do next, we can help you approach it fairly and sensitively.

02/09/2026

We recently stepped in to help a client shortlist CVs after they were inundated with applications and needed an extra pair of hands.

It was a useful reminder of what employers are up against when they advertise a role online.

The advert was clear about the experience required, but there were still many applications from people who did not meet the basic criteria. There was no explanation or covering note to help us understand why they thought they should still be considered.

When you are already running a business, finding the time to work through all of that can be painful.

We noticed that the client had not used screening questions as part of the application process. These can be a useful way to filter out applicants who clearly do not meet the basic criteria before you even reach the CV-shortlisting stage.

It sounds simple, but asking applicants to confirm key experience, qualifications or practical requirements before they progress can make the whole process far more manageable.

It will not stop every unsuitable application, but it can certainly reduce some of the noise.

If you are advertising a role, make sure you are using the screening tools available on the platform properly. A few well-chosen questions at the start could save you a lot of time later.

Business owners and recruiters, we feel your pain.

Need help making your recruitment process more manageable? We can help you put the right steps in place from the start.

28/08/2026

We were speaking to one of our new clients recently and as part of getting to know the business, we reviewed their employment contracts.

They had not been looked at properly for quite a long time and, unsurprisingly, there were several things the business now wanted to update.

This is something we see quite often. A business grows, ways of working change and responsibilities evolve, but the contracts stay exactly as they were.

The important point is that you cannot simply rewrite somebody’s contractual terms because the business would now prefer them to be different. In most cases, changes need to be discussed and agreed with employees. Where changes are proposed, consultation should be genuine and meaningful.

That does not mean you are stuck with outdated contracts forever.

It means you need to understand what you are trying to change, why the change is needed and what impact it may have on employees, then handle the conversation properly.

Quite often, when there is a sensible commercial reason for a change and it is explained clearly, employers and employees can reach an agreement without it becoming a major issue. Once agreed, the changes should also be confirmed in writing.

The bigger lesson is not to leave contracts untouched for years and then discover they no longer reflect how your business actually operates.

A regular review gives you the opportunity to spot issues early and make changes in a much more considered way.

If you are unsure whether your contracts still reflect your business, we can help you review them and understand what may need to change.

27/08/2026

Last week, one of our clients received some difficult news.

It was the sort of news that could easily have triggered an immediate reaction, an emergency meeting, lots of discussion and pressure to make decisions quickly.

But the business owner did something very different.

He said, “Let’s give ourselves 24 hours to reflect on it. Then we can make considered, logical decisions rather than emotional ones and come back with a clear plan.”

That is a really good example of leadership.

Good leadership is not always about acting quickly. Sometimes it is about knowing when not to act.

When something unexpected happens, there can be enormous pressure to respond immediately. But decisions made during that first emotional reaction are not always the decisions you would make once you have had time to think.

Giving yourself space does not mean avoiding the issue. It means creating enough distance to look at the facts, consider the wider business impact and decide what genuinely needs to happen next.

A big part of our work with business owners is helping them step out of immediate firefighting and think more clearly about the business, their people and the decisions in front of them.

Sometimes the most valuable leadership decision you can make is simply to say, “We do not need to decide this today.”

21/08/2026

A few of you asked what we've been building. Fair enough. We did say watch this space.

So, here's a little more.

It's for those moments when you need an HR document quickly.

A contract template.
A probation review.
A return to work form.
A policy that's up to date and right for your business.

Without relying on a generic template you found online and hoping it does the job, or using AI and hoping you have asked the right questions and it has not hallucinated, you will be able to use documents written and checked by HR Directors, to help your business grow.

We're getting closer to launch so if you are interested, send us a DM with your email so you can be the first to know when we go live.

20/08/2026

October 2026 brings several important employment law changes for SMEs.

From longer Employment Tribunal claim time limits to stronger trade union rights and a higher standard for preventing sexual harassment, there is a lot for employers to prepare for.

The key is not just knowing what is changing. It is making sure your policies, processes and managers are ready before the changes take effect.

We have broken the main updates down in this carousel so you can see what is changing and what to review now.

Our retainer clients do not need to track every employment law update themselves. We keep on top of the changes, explain what they mean for their business and help them prepare before anything becomes urgent.

Has your business started preparing for October yet?

19/08/2026

From 30 October 2026, having a sexual harassment policy sitting in a folder somewhere won't be enough.

The law is changing. Right now, employers have to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment at work.

From 30 October, that becomes "all reasonable steps", raising the standard expected of employers.

And the risks can extend beyond the behaviour of your own employees. Your business could also be exposed where staff experience harassment from clients, customers, contractors or suppliers.

We see this play out in smaller, less obvious ways more often than the dramatic cases that make the headlines.

A comment that gets laughed off at the photocopier. A joke on a video call that nobody challenges. A colleague who goes quiet and nobody asks why.

None of it looks like a crisis in the moment. But the new standard puts even greater emphasis on prevention, which means taking steps before something becomes a grievance rather than simply reacting afterwards.

For SME leaders, this isn't really about paperwork.

It's about whether your people would recognise where the line is, know how to speak up and trust that something would actually happen if they did.

That's what protects your business, your culture and your reputation. Not a policy nobody's read since induction.

If you're not sure your business would meet the new standard, our 𝗦𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 is designed to help managers and employees understand what sexual harassment can look like, how to challenge inappropriate behaviour and what their responsibilities are.

Details are in the comments below.

Has your business reviewed its approach ahead of October, or is it still on the to-do list?

Address

Ashford

Telephone

+441233662651

Website

https://www.dakotablueconsulting.com/

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