Dakota Blue Consulting Blog

Dakota Blue Consulting News

We won HR Consultancy of the Year 2025!

The 8 Reasons You Can Refuse Flexible Working Requests and What to Watch Out For

We were speaking with a client recently who said they are seeing more and more flexible working requests coming through. They are not alone.

24 February 2026

Strong Culture Is Not an Accident, Why Growing Businesses Must Be Intentional

Most leaders agree that culture matters, but far fewer are clear on how it is actually created and sustained as a business grows. In the early stages, culture often feels obvious.

17 February 2026

Interview With Jackie, Corporate HR Lessons That Help Small Businesses

This month we sat down with Jackie, founder of Dakota Blue Consulting, to talk about her journey from a long corporate HR career into supporting small and medium sized businesses.

10 February 2026

What Got You Here Will Not Get You There:Why Growing Businesses Need a Different Approach to People

There comes a point in many growing businesses where managing people starts to feel noticeably harder, not because leaders care less or managers are doing a poor job, but because the business itself has changed.

3 February 2026

You Do Not Have an HR Problem,You Have a Growth Problem

When people issues start taking up more space in your day, many business owners assume they have an HR problem. Managers need reassurance, expectations feel unclear and situations that used to resolve themselves now seem to linger.

28 January 2026

The Hidden HR Work That Quietly Protects Your Business Every Day

When you are running a business, HR is rarely front of mind unless something has gone wrong. A grievance lands in your inbox, an employee raises a concern, or you realise too late that a process was not followed properly.

20 January 2026

Why January Is When Leadership Gaps Show Up First

January feels full of promise. New goals.

15 January 2026

The January Reset Your Business Actually Needs

January usually starts with good intentions. Fresh targets.

13 January 2026

How to Tell If Your Team Is Truly Performing

How to spot a high-performing team and what to do if yours isn’t quite there yet.

13 January 2026

Why Every Business Needs a Strategic Leadership Director (Even If You Don’t Call Them That)

Most business leaders get stuck in day-to-day operations. A Strategic Leadership Director helps change that.

13 January 2026

AI and Small Business: Using Kindness as Your Leadership Compass

Use kindness as your compass to balance technology and humanity in your small business.

New Year New Strategy, Why Most Business Plans Fail by March

January is when many businesses reset.

22 December 2025

How to Create a Positive January Mindset Before the Break

January can feel heavy for many teams, a long winter and a busy December can create anxiety before people step back through the door.

17 December 2025

The December Slowdown, How Smart Businesses Use It to Get Ahead

For many businesses we work with, every year the same moment arrives.

4 December 2025

How to improve productivity with simple and powerful changes

Most businesses want better productivity, but a common myth is that this requires big changes or complex tools.

25 November 2025

Stop Chasing Prompts, Make AI Work with Purpose

Why writing clever AI prompts will not fix poor results and how to use context engineering instead. If you have ever spent far too long crafting a clever prompt only to receive something bland or oddly enthusiastic in return, you are definitely not the only one. Many business owners assume that better prompts will lead to better results. In reality, the prompt is rarely the problem.

18 November 2025

How to Spot the Warning Signs Before Things Get Serious#SafeguardingAdultsWeek

Safeguarding Adults Week takes place from (17th-21st November) and it is a useful reminder that safeguarding is not only a concern for health or care settings.

11 November 2025

Think the Real Living Wage Isn’t for You? Think Again

Living Wage Week (10–16 November) is the perfect time to revisit what the Real Living Wage really means for small and medium-sized businesses. Many business owners assume it’s only something big employers can afford.

15 October 2025

It’s Boss’s Day: A Reminder of the Power of Strategic Leadership

If you’re a business owner or leader, Boss’s Day (16 October) is more than just a date on the calendar.

It’sWorld Employer Branding Day: How SMEs Can Stand Out to Top Talent

Attracting and keeping great people has never been more challenging for small and medium-sized businesses.

This is Your Q4 Reset: How to Refocus and Finish the Year Strong

The last quarter of the year can feel like crunch time.

24 September 2025

Top 3 Reasons Small Teams Struggle to Adopt AI (And How to Fix Them)

AI tools are no longer reserved for large corporations.

19 September 2025

Practical Ways to Mark National Inclusion Week Without Overthinking It

National Inclusion Week (16–20 September 2025) is not just a date in the diary, it’s an opportunity for small businesses to show employees they are valued.