The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Hello and welcome to Episode 337 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you softened a deadline because you didn't want to be the bad guy? Let a piece of work that wasn't good enough slide because pulling someone up on it felt like an uncomfortable conversation you'd rather avoid? Said yes to something you really wanted to say no to, just to keep the peace? None of those moments feel like a big deal on their own. But they're all quietly costing you performance, and there's one thing running through every single one of them: wanting to be liked by your team.

I've been circling a similar theme on the podcast over the last few weeks, and there's a reason for that. I'm celebrating 20 years in business this year, and reflecting on two decades of working with business owners, a handful of truths keep coming back to me.

One of the biggest is this: so many of us are chasing being liked by our team, almost wanting to treat them like family, and in the process we miss the thing that act...

Hello and welcome to Episode 336 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You made a call to your team on Monday. By Thursday, new information landed and you knew the original decision wasn't right anymore, but instead of fixing it, you sat on it for two days. You're worried that changing your mind will make you look weak, indecisive, like your team won't take you seriously next time you make a call. That fear is exactly what keeps business owners stuck on the wrong course for far longer than they should be, and it's costing more than anyone realises.

I keep seeing this play out with the business owners I work with, and it shows up two ways. Some get so paralysed by the fear of looking indecisive that they stay on a path they know is wrong, and it ends up costing the business money. Others swing hard the other way, changing direction every other week until their team stops bothering to follow through on anything, because why would they, if the goalposts are going to move again by Frid...

Hello and welcome to Episode 335 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You've had that conversation before. You vent about someone on your team to your partner, your mum or your best mate, and they say exactly what you want to hear: sack them, you deserve better than this, how dare they. It feels like support in the moment. It's actually some of the worst advice you can get.

I keep seeing this play out with the business owners I work with, and honestly, I live it too. My partner vents to me about his work day most nights, and I'm probably not the best person to give him advice because all I want is for him to feel better. That's completely normal. When your team is driving you mad, you can't exactly vent to your team about your team, so you turn to the people closest to you instead.

But here's the problem. Those people are emotionally invested in you, not in your business, and their advice is shaped entirely by that. It's not dishonesty. It's protection. It feels good in the momen...

Hello and welcome to Episode 334 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You built a team so you'd have back-up. So why does it feel like the bigger that team gets, the fewer people you've actually got to talk to?

I keep hearing versions of this from the business owners I work with: they've grown a team, they're doing well by every outside measure, and yet somewhere along the way they started feeling more isolated, not less. Nobody warned them this would happen, and most of them assumed it was just them.

After 20 years of watching business owners build teams, I can tell you it isn't. It's part of the job.

In this episode I unpack why growing a team and feeling lonelier as the boss happen at exactly the same rate, and why that's actually a sign you're doing something right, not wrong. I talk about why your team, no matter how great they are, can't be the ones you offload your hardest decisions onto, and why the same self-reliance that got your business off the ground might now be th...

Hello and welcome to Episode 333 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Do you catch yourself giving instructions that come with a pre-packaged apology? "Sorry to be a pain, but..." "Sorry, I know you're flat out, but..." If every request you make of your team arrives wrapped in a sorry, this episode is for you.

And if you think that little apology is you being kind, I'd love you to keep reading, because it's doing the opposite of what you intend.

A couple of episodes back we talked about the risks of over-explaining yourself to your team, and I briefly mentioned that over-explaining often comes with an apology attached. As I've been working with my Power Boss clients over the last few weeks, I've realised just how many of us have fallen into apologising as a default. One client even emailed me to say it felt like I was looking straight at her.

We do this almost subconsciously, usually because we've worked for the barking-orders type of boss and decided we'd never be that person. ...

Hello and welcome to Episode 332 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you thrown money at wellbeing perks in your business, morning teas, a gym membership, maybe even a "wellness day," and still feel like your team is running on empty? You're not doing it wrong. You've just been sold the wrong fix, and you're definitely not alone.

I keep hearing this from business owners I work with. They genuinely care about their people, they've ticked the boxes they were told to tick, and they're still watching staff disengage, burn out or walk out the door anyway.

It's estimated Australian businesses spend around $64 million a year on wellbeing initiatives, and most of it goes towards treating symptoms rather than causes. So for this episode I sat down with workplace wellbeing strategist, speaker and author Amy Green. Amy's a former teacher and school leader who's spent the last decade working with schools, corporates and individual leaders, helping them properly rethink what keeps peopl...

Hello and welcome to Episode 331 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Do you ever catch yourself justifying a decision to your team three different ways before you've even finished the sentence? Or slip in an apology before giving a completely reasonable instruction? If that's you, you're not alone, and it's costing you more than you think.

I see this constantly with the business owners I work with: over-explaining, apologising, adding disclaimers to decisions. It feels considerate, it feels inclusive, it feels kind. But it's actually undermining your authority and changing how your team sees you as a leader, whether you realise it or not. Most of us do it because we don't want to be the boss who barked orders without any context, the boss none of us wanted to work for. This one flies under the radar because it looks like good manners rather than a leadership issue, so I wanted to unpick it properly, because I promise you, every business owner has done this at some point.

In this...

Hello and welcome to Episode 330 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you ever watched a sporting team go into the halftime break looking completely defeated, then come out in the second half looking like an entirely different team? That shift doesn't happen by accident. Something happens in that locker room, and whatever those coaches are saying, it works. So what if you could borrow that same approach for your business right now?

With the FIFA World Cup on in our house (I live with an ex-professional footballer, so there's no escaping it), I've been watching these halftime turnarounds with fresh eyes. It struck me that the best coaches in the world are doing exactly what the best business leaders should be doing at the midway point in the year. And right now, with July 1 here and 2026 already half done, this feels like exactly the right moment to talk about it.

For a lot of business owners, the first half of this year has been genuinely tough. Rising costs, ongoing complia...

Hello and welcome to Episode 329 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you ever felt like you're drowning in information but still not sure what action to take when it comes to managing your team? Maybe you've downloaded templates, Googled answers, asked AI for help and still found yourself second-guessing whether you're doing the right thing. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. The reality is that managing people in business has become more complex, not less, and many business owners are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available.

In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of my own business and sharing a significant change that's happening inside People Powered HR. As I celebrate 20 years in business, I've been reflecting on one thing that has remained true throughout every stage of growth and change: when the game changes, we need to change with it. I've seen this happen before, from launching my recruitment business in 2006, to moving in...

Hello and welcome to episode 328 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Are you hearing about Payday Super everywhere right now and wondering what it actually means for your business?

If managing payroll already feels like one more thing on a never-ending list of jobs, the thought of another compliance change might have you feeling like you're putting out fires before they've even started.

I keep seeing business owners feeling overwhelmed by this change because, while we've known it was coming for some time, many people still aren't sure what practical steps they need to take. That's exactly why I invited accountant and business coach Laura Elkaslassy onto the podcast. There is a lot of noise around Payday Super, but what small business owners really need is clear, practical information about what's changing, what they need to do now, and how to avoid getting caught out.

Laura Elkaslassy is a Director at Think Big Financial Group. She is also a Profit First Professional, Cash Flow...