Oaktree HR & Business Consulting

09/07/2026

Attending the Shake Up, Wake Up & Scale Up Conference 2026 was an inspiring and energising experience. A huge thank you to Rakesh Dua and his talented team for organising such a fantastic event around this year’s theme: AIR – Automation, Intelligence, Relationships.

We travelled up the night before, which gave us the opportunity to enjoy great food, wonderful company, and start building meaningful connections ahead of the main event. Those early conversations naturally carried through into the next day, where we continued strengthening relationships and creating many new ones.

It was a brilliant reminder that while automation and intelligence are shaping the future of business, relationships remain at the heart of everything we do. We’re excited to build on the connections made and see where these conversations lead.

Ashley Admin Solutions

07/07/2026

We had the pleasure of attending an invite-only drinks reception at the Marylebone Rooms in London recently, surrounded by a fantastic group of professionals and connections.

A real highlight of the evening was an inspiring presentation from Premila Puri, who shared the incredible work behind her charity, Be Kind Movement. The organisation is dedicated to promoting kindness, inclusion, and positive mental wellbeing in schools and communities, encouraging young people to build confidence, resilience, and empathy in their everyday lives.

It was a powerful reminder of how small acts of kindness can create meaningful impact, both personally and professionally.

Thank you to the hosts, Sanjeev & Roshni (SB Hub) for such a well-organised and engaging evening, great conversations, new connections, and plenty of inspiration to take forward.

https://www.bekindmovement.co.uk/
Ashley Admin Solutions

28/06/2026

On Saturday, we had the pleasure of visiting a wonderful nursery Cherry Tree, run by Plants and Minds Events and Fundraising.

We enjoyed a lovely cream tea and picked up a few new additions for our herb garden.

They are a wonderful
Charity that give those with mental health difficulties a purpose - words from their fundraiser - Maria Tidy

Opportunities like this remind us how valuable business networking can be. Being part of a supportive community opens doors to great experiences, meaningful connections, and inspiring local enterprises.

We’re grateful to be part of a network that continues to grow and support one another.

09/05/2026

Does this sound familiar? I'd love to know what's weighing on you most right now.

04/02/2026

You’ve grown your business to the point where you are now the bottleneck.

That’s a huge achievement – but it’s also a risky place to stay for too long.

You can only stretch your time and energy so far before:

- Quality starts to slip
- Response times get slower
- Great opportunities get delayed (or quietly dropped)
- You begin to wonder if growing the business is actually worth the strain

At that point, the real question becomes:

👉 How are you going to resource the next stage of growth – without burning out or lowering your standards?

I’ve created a practical guide to help:

📘 “Capacity Crunch to Scalable Success: A Founder’s Guide to Choosing the Right Support to Grow Your Business”

Inside, I walk through the four main routes you can take when you’ve hit capacity:

- Employing someone
- Subcontracting
- Outsourcing
- Engaging associates

You’ll get:

- A clear explanation of what each option actually looks like in real life
- The key pros and cons – cost, flexibility, control, culture and compliance
- A simple decision process to help you decide which route fits your business right now
- Help to work out what you should keep doing yourself, what to hand over, and what systems and standards you need so others can deliver reliably under your brand

To go a step further, I also offer an:

🎯 Owner Strategy & Clarity Session

This is a focused 2‑hour 1:1 session where we apply the thinking from the guide to your business:

- Your current pipeline and workload
- Your appetite for risk and responsibility
- Your goals for the next 6–12 months

By the end, you’ll have a clear, practical action plan for how to resource your next stage of growth.

If this sounds like where you’re at right now:
👉Review the blog and download the guide
👉Comment GROWTH if you’d like details on the Owner Strategy & Clarity Session and how to book.

You don’t have to keep white‑knuckling it at capacity.
There is a way to grow that protects your energy, your clients and your standards.

Many founders quietly hit the same wall: the work is there, the reputation is strong, but your own time and energy have become the bottleneck. When you are constantly juggling client delivery, operations and growth decisions, it is hard to step back and design the next stage of your business on purp...

03/02/2026

I’ve put together this short video because I’m creating practical guidance for business owners on the Employment Rights Act and the new laws coming into effect from April.

To make it genuinely useful, I’d love your input on two simple questions:

1. Have you looked at the Employment Rights Act in any detail yet?
2. What are your biggest questions or concerns about it right now?

There’s no right or wrong answer - if something is unclear, worrying or just feels confusing, that’s exactly what I want to hear.

I’ll be pulling together the themes and questions I receive and turning them into clear, action-focused guidance to cut through the noise and help you understand what this really means for your business.

Share your thoughts in the comments or drop me a message if you’d prefer to respond privately.

29/01/2026

Most managers are promoted because they’re great at what they do - not because they’ve been taught how to lead.

The shift from “doing” to “leading” takes intention. With the right development in communication, wellbeing support, and core HR skills, managers can grow into confident, capable leaders who bring out the best in their teams.

Here are 5 types of training that help turn good managers into great leaders 👇

28/01/2026

You might be a fit for Oaktree Consulting if… 👇

You’re an owner-managed business, typically somewhere between 10 and 150 employees, and things have grown faster than your structure and systems.

You’re in a service-based, people-intensive business – professional services, financial or mortgage services, technical or operational services – where smooth delivery and strong processes really matter.

On paper you’re “busy” and maybe even growing… but profit, headspace and consistency aren’t where you want them to be.

Your days are full of firefighting, duplication and workarounds, and you know the business relies too heavily on you to keep everything moving.

Your leadership team is capable, but you’re still the hub for decisions, priorities and problem-solving.

You’re asking “How do I grow and run this business better?” rather than just “How do I fix this one issue?”.

Oaktree Consulting partners with owners in exactly this space – aligning strategy, operations and leadership so your business becomes more scalable, profitable and easier to run, not just busier.

If you’re reading this and thinking “that sounds a bit like us”, I’d love to hear from you.

👉 Drop a comment or send me a message with:

What your business does

Rough team size

Your biggest current growth or operations challenge

I’ll reply with some thoughts on where I’d start if we were working together.

27/01/2026

Free up your time to actually grow your business, not wrestle with HR admin.

If you’re still tracking holidays, sickness and employee records in spreadsheets, HR software can take care of it all for you – safely, accurately and cost‑effectively.

I help business owners:

✅ Select the right HR system for their size, sector and budget

✅ Implement it properly so it saves time from day one

✅ Train leaders and managers so everyone feels confident using it

If you’re ready to ditch the spreadsheets and simplify HR so you can focus on growth, let’s talk.

22/01/2026

AI is everywhere right now - and if you’ve been quietly avoiding the hype, you’re not alone.

The truth is, AI can be incredibly useful… when it’s used wisely.

But here’s the catch: it doesn’t understand context, can misread policies, and definitely can’t spot when someone’s struggling. That’s where good leadership and sound HR judgment still matter most.

Used well, AI can save time on the admin and give you more headspace for the human side of business.

Here’s where AI can genuinely help - and where it should never replace your people: 👇