The HR as Coach Newsletter: one letter a month, from inside the room.
Each edition takes one pattern from real client work (leadership off-sites, team workshops, the conversations in between) and turns it into one practical tip you can use the same week. Written for HR and people leaders. Read in a few minutes.
Get the first edition
A first name and an email address. That’s all it takes.
Your address goes on the newsletter list and the newsletter is what you’ll get. Managed in line with GDPR.
A letter, not a magazine.
No round-ups. No link lists. No ten-tips formats. Every edition does three things, and only three.
One pattern, properly explored
Each edition follows a single pattern from recent client work (why capable teams stall, what makes an off-site stick) through to what changes it. Real rooms, not theory.
One practical tip
Every edition carries one specific, opinionated recommendation: the kind you can apply in your next meeting, not a framework to file away.
Questions worth sitting with
Two short reflective questions in every edition, there to locate the pattern in your own team, not to fill space.
And what it’s not: not a round-up of other people’s links, not a services brochure, not ten tips with emoji headers. One letter, once a month, written by the person whose name is on it.
Read a little first.
An excerpt from the first edition. It looks at why leadership off-sites so often produce nothing that lasts.
One final thought — and I say this as someone who has stood at the top of a staircase holding a flip chart, a broken projector, and the unshakeable optimism of a person who has significantly over-engineered the agenda: the best off-sites I’ve ever been part of had the least content and the most conversation.
Plan less. Create the space. Trust the room.
From edition one: “The foundation most leadership off-sites skip”
“Keep the behavioural piece to half a day. Leaders at this level need to get into their business conversations, and energy is finite.”
Written for two kinds of reader.
HR, L&D and OD professionals
You’re building behavioural capability inside an organisation: running development programmes, choosing assessments, maybe weighing up accreditation. The letter is written practitioner-to-practitioner.
Leaders whose team isn’t clicking
Capable people, good intent. And meetings that still grind. The patterns in each edition come from rooms like yours, and the tips are built to be used in them.
Every edition is written by me.
David O'Grady · Chartered MCIPD
David O'Grady, executive and team coach in Ireland, helps new teams form faster. That is the work this letter comes from.
Not a content team, not a feed. A letter, with my name on it. I’ve spent 20+ years in HR and talent development, including senior roles at 3M and HubSpot, and I now work with HR and leadership teams as an Authorised Partner for Everything DiSC® and Insights Discovery®.
The newsletter is where I write down what the work keeps teaching me: the patterns that show up in off-sites, workshops and coaching rooms, and what they mean for how you build teams.
What you need to know.
How often does the HR as Coach Newsletter arrive? +
The first edition lands Tuesday 28 July 2026, then one letter a month on the last Tuesday. It arrives around lunchtime Irish time (morning on the US East Coast). There are no mid-month extras: one letter, twelve times a year.
What is in each edition? +
One main piece exploring a single pattern from real client work, one practical tip you can act on the same week, and two short reflective questions. It reads in a few minutes. It is a letter, not a round-up: no link lists, no product pitches.
Who is the newsletter for? +
HR, L&D (learning and development) and OD (organisation development) professionals first, and leaders of teams. If you spend your week thinking about how people work together, or you lead people and want a practical read on team dynamics, it is written for you.
Is it free? +
Yes. The newsletter is free, and there is nothing to buy to keep receiving it. Signing up takes a first name and an email address.
What happens to my email address? +
It goes on the newsletter list, and the newsletter is what you will get. Every edition carries an unsubscribe link, and the list is managed in line with GDPR.
Can I read an edition before signing up? +
Yes. The signup page includes an excerpt from edition one, “The foundation most leadership off-sites skip”. It gives you the tone: one pattern, one practical tip, no padding.
In before the first edition?
The first letter goes out Tuesday 28 July. Signing up takes about twenty seconds: a first name, an email address, done.
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