Bona Fide Consulting

30/10/2026

NOW HIRING!!! Jones Road Auto are looking for an experienced mechanic to join their team, if you're interested or know someone who Would be the perfect fit, we'd love to chat!

https://nz.seek.com/job/95599546?tracking=SHR-WEB-SharedJob-anz-2

28/10/2026

The stories we tell ourselves.

Every second, your brain receives around 11 million bits of information. It can consciously process about 40. So what happens to the other 10,999,960?

Your brain filters them. It deletes what it decides doesn’t matter, distorts what doesn’t fit, and generalises from what it has seen before. Then it fills the gaps with assumptions, past experience, beliefs and mood, and hands you a neat, convincing story.

Which means none of us respond to reality. We respond to our own perception of reality. Read that again.

That colleague who didn’t reply to your email? Your brain has probably already written the story: they’re annoyed with me, they don’t respect my time, they’re avoiding the issue. And we react to that story as if it were fact.

So much workplace conflict isn’t about what happened. It’s about the meaning each person attached to what happened.

A few questions worth pausing on next time you feel that reaction rising:
🔹 What do I actually know, and what am I assuming?
🔹 What else could be true?
🔹 What story might the other person be telling themselves about me?

Try saying it out loud: “The story I’m telling myself is…” It’s one of the simplest ways to turn a reaction into a conversation.

Bold conversations. Brave leadership. Better business.

26/10/2026

Not every employment issue needs an investigation or a lawyer. When it does, I’ll tell you. But in 20 years of employment law and HR practice, I’ve seen plenty of workplace issues escalate into formal processes that didn’t need to go there.

Often what’s really needed is:

• An objective triage of what’s actually going on
• Curious questions to get to the heart of the matter
• Clear expectations, reset kindly and firmly
• Coaching or training to build capability
• A courageous conversation, well planned and well held

That’s where I come in. For business owners and leaders, I’m a sounding board behind the scenes, coaching you through the curly stuff so you can respond with clarity rather than react under pressure.

If you’re sitting with a people problem and wondering “where do I even start?”, let’s talk.

Bold conversations. Brave leadership. Better business.

22/10/2026

Want fewer grievances at work? 🤔 You could try removing a few letters instead...
Take the I, E, V and N out of grievance, and look what’s left: Grace.

Leading with Grace looks like removing -

🔹 Instant judgements
🔹 Ego
🔹 Venting
🔹 Negative stories

None of these are a big deal on their own. But left unchecked, they quietly chip away at trust, and that’s often where grievances begin.

Who could you offer a little grace to this week?

To learn about our range of Leadership Programmes and Coaching call Pip on 021 474 736 or email [email protected].

LLB. AAMINZ Mediator. HR Advisor.

Employment Relations | Recruitment | Dispute Resolution | Training & Workshops | Coaching

19/10/2026

Ever noticed how a colleague who’s late is “disorganised”, but when you’re late it’s “the traffic”? 🚗

There’s a name for that: the fundamental attribution error. It means putting other people’s behaviour down to their character, while putting our own down to our circumstances.

We see our own full picture: the sick kid, the deadline, the bad night’s sleep. With others, we only see the moment. So, our brain fills the gap with a story, and it’s rarely a generous one. At work, that story shapes how we give feedback, handle conflict, and sometimes even how we start a formal process. Getting it wrong costs trust.

Next time you catch yourself making a snap judgement, try this:
- Test the assumption. What else could explain this?
- Ask before you decide. “Is everything okay?” goes a long way.
- Offer a little grace. It’s what you’d want for yourself.

If your team could use some help having these conversations, I’d love to chat.

16/10/2026

Word of the day: Perspicacious (per-spi-KAY-shus)

We all know someone like this. The leader who reads the room before the meeting starts. The manager who knows exactly how to deliver feedback so it lands. The colleague who can calm a tense conversation in two sentences.

Here's the good news: perspicacity isn't just a gift. It's a skill, and DiSC is one of the most powerful tools I know for building it.

DiSC helps you recognise how people prefer to communicate, make decisions and handle pressure:

🟢 D: direct, results-focused, wants the bottom line
🔴 i: enthusiastic, people-oriented, thrives on energy and ideas
🔵 S: steady, supportive, values stability and trust
🟡 C: careful, analytical, wants accuracy and detail

Once you can read these styles in yourself and others, you stop guessing. Conversations get easier, conflict gets smaller, and teams start to click.

Want to be more perspicacious? Let's talk about a DiSC profile for you or your team.

📞 021 474 736

15/10/2026

"So, what do you do?" I get asked this a lot, and the honest answer is simple: I solve people problems - the team that isn't quite gelling, the performance issue nobody wants to raise, the restructure that needs to be done properly.

For 20 years I've worked across employment law, HR, mediation and coaching. I now partner with NZ businesses across the whole employee lifecycle, from recruitment to offboarding. The snapshot below shows how I can help, including managing complex employment relations matters and my six-step team development programme.

If something's keeping you up at night, let's chat. Book a free, no-obligation call. Send me a message or email [email protected]

Bold conversations. Brave leadership. Better business.

14/10/2026

Recently I sat down with two colleagues who once worked well together, but could now barely stand to be in the same room. There was no single blow-up. Instead, it was a slow build of little things: a missed handover, a comment taken the wrong way, an email that felt cold.

It wasn't an easy meeting. There were tears and raised voices. But we created space, and they listened. They accepted the roles they had each played. They challenged the stories they'd been telling themselves about each other. And they left sharing a few laughs and making plans for coffee before their next shift together!

Workplace conflict rarely comes from bad people. More often, it's good people stuck in a pattern neither of them chose. Mediation gives them a safe place to step out of it, and the earlier it happens, the easier the repair.

If the little things are piling up in your team, let's talk before they become something bigger. I offer confidential, independent mediation for workplaces across New Zealand.

E: [email protected] or call 021 474 736

11/10/2026

This recent ERA decision highlights the intricacies of fair process when restructuring. The business had real financial pressure, and disestablishing the role was a legitimate option. Yet the Authority found the redundancy was both procedurally and substantively unjustified, because:

- The employee’s ACC injury and sick leave were scored against him
- Colleagues were told he was “at risk” before he’d even had a meeting.
- He first saw his scores in a 10-minute meeting, with no real chance to respond.

The cost: $20,000 for hurt and humiliation. The twist? The employee had already moved on to a higher-paying role.

This case is a great reminder that a good reason justifies a restructure. Only a fair process justifies the dismissal.

https://determinations.era.govt.nz/assets/elawpdf/2026/2026-NZERA-729.pdf

08/10/2026

Some places reset you instantly.

Moments like this give me space to think, to reflect, and to be grateful for the life we get to live and the work I get to do.

My work sits where people and employment law meet. Whether I'm facilitating a team workshop, guiding an employer through a tricky process, or mediating a dispute, the goal is the same: create enough calm and clarity for people to reconnect and move forward.

Good process protects everyone. Real connection is what makes it work.

Where's your reset place? For me today, it was the stunning shore of Lake Hāwea.