# HR, Inclusion and Heart-Led Leadership | Lisa Ironside of The HR Dept Aberdeenshire Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeenshire Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeenshire.md Podcast: [Scale Her Up: Female business stories and expert tips for business growth and success](https://stenobird.com/podcast/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057) Published: 2026-04-10T06:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://scaleherup.com/episode/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeen-shire Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/1c4e56ea-3d38-4a62-be8d-ef6fc123497a.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057/episodes/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeenshire Duration seconds: 2254 ## Resource In this episode of Scale HER Up , I’m joined by Lisa Ironside , owner of The HR Dept Aberdeen Shire and Bagamoyo Consulting Limited . Lisa shares how Bagamoyo Consulting began as her first business after leaving the corporate world, creating a space for her passion around inclusion, culture, diversity and belonging. She then added The HR Dept Aberdeen Shire as a natural extension, bringing practical HR consultancy and employment law support to small and medium-sized businesses who need trusted advice but do not have in-house HR. We talk about what small business owners really need when they start hiring, why getting proper contracts and advice in place matters, and how strong communication, clear business values and honest conversations can prevent people problems from escalating. Lisa also explains why the Employment Rights Bill does not need to be something business owners fear, as long as they lead fairly and communicate well. Lisa is also very open about her own journey into business. She talks honestly about redundancy, illness, recovery, burnout, rebuilding at her own pace, and finding the courage to create a business that reflects her values. It is a thoughtful conversation about leadership, purpose, resilience and the freedom that comes from building something your own way. In this episode, we cover: What Bagamoyo Consulting and The HR Dept Aberdeen Shire each do Why small businesses need proper HR and employment law support from the start The risks of copying contracts and policies from the internet What business owners should be clear about before they hire Why company purpose, values and story matter when attracting people The importance of honest conversations and tackling issues early Lisa’s transition from corporate life into entrepreneurship Building a b… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057/episodes/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeenshire/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/scale-her-up-female-business-stories-and-expert-tips-for-business-growth-and-success-1377057/hr-inclusion-and-heart-led-leadership-lisa-ironside-of-the-hr-dept-aberdeenshire.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.