Peas in a Podcast®

Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
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Before starting our own People and Culture business, we were managers on the other side of the table — held accountable for performance and results, but without the HR advice we actually needed to achieve them. So we became the people we needed. We built Peas in a Pod from scratch and went on to work with hundreds of small business owners, seeing just about every workplace drama you can imagine (and some you probably shouldn’t). We don’t sugar-coat, we don’t sit on the fence, and we don’t just hand you a process and tell you to get on with it. This podcast is candid chats between two female founders — who know exactly what leadership looks like when there’s nowhere to hide and no one coming to do it for you. Expect candid perspectives, qualified advice, strong opinions and occasional rants backed by real life experience, without the LinkedIn leadership guff. We’re passionate about people, serious about results, and the ones you want in your corner when shit’s hitting the fan.

  1. 3d ago

    From Fish & Chip Shops to Founder Therapy: Our 10-Year Journey | Peas in a Podcast

    Have you ever wondered why you started your business in the first place, especially on the days when managing people makes you want to pull your hair out? You are not alone. This week on Peas in a Podcast, Rebecca and Kay strip back the corporate front to share their own founding story as Peas in a Pod Consulting turns 10. From 15-year-old Rebecca demanding her £60 holiday pay in a Reading chip shop, to Kay growing up in a vicarage learning servant leadership, this episode is an honest peek behind the curtain at what truly drives our business. We unpack why every business owner needs to reconnect with their original "why", how personal values shape company culture, and why neither of us ever set out to run a traditional HR firm. Plus, we share a few of our most embarrassing early-day c**k-ups (including a website that looked suspiciously like Asda and 17 printed forms for phone calls that never came!). Subscribe for weekly zero-fluff leadership advice!

  2. Aug 12

    Managing Planned Absence: You Have More Control Than You Think | Peas in a Podcast

    When an employee requests time off or drops a sudden absence notification on your desk, your first instinct as a manager might be to panic or assume you simply have to say yes. But employers actually hold far more control over planned absences than most realise. With Kay away on holiday, Rebecca is joined by senior consultant Natalie Close to break down the human and legal realities of managing planned leave without destroying team culture or operational output. In this episode, we unpack: The Legal Truth About Annual Leave: Why it’s a health and safety right (not a benefit) and how employers can legally dictate holiday timing, impose blackouts, or shut down for peak periods.Family Leave & Antenatal Surprises: Handling antenatal appointment proof, managing paternity notifications given at the eleventh hour, and drawing the line between antenatal leave and sickness.Cosmetic vs. Medical Surgery: How to handle requests for elective procedures (from turkey teeth to aesthetic tweaks) versus essential operations like hip replacements or hysterectomies.Jury Service Deferrals: What rights you have as a business when a court summons threatens your busiest operational period.The 2 Core Questions: The essential framework every employer needs when evaluating any time-off request. Stop running your business on fear and guesswork. Tune in for practical, zero-fluff HR advice to help you manage your workforce with confidence. Don't forget to Subscribe, hit the notification bell, and leave a comment with your biggest absence management headache!

  3. Aug 10

    Stop Having Meetings That Could Have Been an Email | Peas in a Podcast

    If you have ever sat in a team meeting thinking "why are we here?", you are not alone. Unstructured, meandering team meetings are one of the biggest drains on time, energy, and money in scaling businesses. In this episode of Peas in a Podcast, Kay and Rebecca (Directors of Peas in a Pod Consulting) unpack the human mechanics behind running genuinely effective team meetings. From six-hour marathon sessions to round-robins that descend into chat about the office coffee, we break down why meetings go wrong and how managers can get them right. Stop letting meetings become expensive talking shops. Learn how to create structure, drive accountability, and get your team performing collectively. Subscribe to the channel so you never miss an episode, share with a fellow leader, and leave us a comment with your biggest meeting pet peeves! Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk facebook.com/piapconsulting instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting

  4. Jul 28

    Psychological Safety: Building Teams That Actually Talk | Peas in a Podcast

    This week, Rebecca and Kay tackle a term that sounds like pure corporate fluff but directly impacts your bottom line: Psychological Safety. A lack of psychological safety costs UK small businesses an estimated £15.7 billion a year. It does not show up as a line item on your balance sheet; it hides behind high staff turnover, low productivity, absenteeism, and silence. The moment your employees go quiet is the exact moment you have something to worry about. Passionate disruption means your team still cares, whereas silence means they have checked out completely. In this episode, we strip away the HR buzzwords to discuss what it actually looks like to lead without the corporate guff. We break down our new favourite mantra, "When you're furious, get curious," and share exactly how to stop focusing on the symptoms of underperformance so you can address the root cause. Plus, we share our own spectacular project failures to explain the three practical leadership pillars you need to role-model every day: Clarity, Vulnerability, and Fallibility. Remember, people problems don’t fix themselves, and healthy cultures never happen by accident. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and share this with a fellow founder who needs to hear it!

  5. Jul 21

    Tick-Boxes vs. True Empathy: How to Handle Redundancies Properly | Peas in a Podcast

    Redundancy is easily one of the toughest parts of running a business. In this impromptu but highly timely episode of Peas in a Podcast, Kay and Bex strip away the corporate jargon to talk about the human reality of reducing headcount. Focusing on small to medium businesses (up to 150 employees) navigating individual redundancies, they unpack what "f*****g it up" actually looks like. Hint: it is usually treating a legal consultation process as a cold, tick-box exercise rather than a meaningful human conversation. In this episode, we dive into: Why you must never conflate performance management issues with a genuine redundancy situation.The absolute necessity of a robust, well-documented business rationale before you start.How to give employees true agency and a voice during a difficult transition.The long-term strategic and reputational risks of getting it wrong (because online feedback is everywhere).Why providing individualised career transition and outplacement support is both the kind thing to do and a smart business move. Whether you are a founder currently facing these difficult decisions or a manager wanting to support your team with dignity, this episode offers practical, empathetic, and grounded advice. Peas in a Pod Consulting offers a free one-hour consultation for business owners navigating these challenging times. Reach out to the team at PIAP Consulting to find out how we can act as your sounding board. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and share this with a fellow founder who needs to hear it!

  6. Jul 14

    Why Marketing Shouldn’t Write Your Company Values | Peas in a Podcast

    Ever walked into an office, read a shiny placard about "Innovation and Integrity," and instantly rolled your eyes? You’re not alone. This week, Rebecca and Kay unpack a massive mistake founder-managers make when they’re moving fast: outsourcing their company values to the marketing department. While marketing is brilliant at managing how your business is perceived, leadership is about how your business actually behaves. When there's a canyon between your website's marketing collateral and the reality of your workplace culture, it’s not just awkward—it’s dangerous for employee trust. Tune in as we break down why your values shouldn’t be boring nouns, what it means for a value to be Memorable, Portable, and Emotional, and a rare peek behind the curtain at the 5 core values that keep Peas in a Pod real. Ditch the noun-based nonsense for values you’d actually lose money for. Key Takeaways: Why marketing looks at values outward, but leaders must look inward. The 3 filters of a real company value: Is it memorable? Is it portable? Is it emotional? How to turn useless noun values into "life-giving statements." Real-life examples: From Timpson's culture to our own Pod non-negotiables. Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk facebook.com/piapconsulting instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting Subscribe for weekly HR advice without the corporate wank!

  7. Jul 7

    AI Grievances: How to Handle a 70-Page Complaint Without Panicking | Peas in a Podcast

    Welcome back to Season 2 of Peas in a Podcast! We are barreling headfirst into the crazy summer season, but before everyone jet-sets off on holiday, we need to talk about a massive, heavy burden currently landing in managers' inboxes: AI Grievances. You know the score. Dave from Accounts, who usually struggles to string a coherent text together on Teams, suddenly submits a 70-page document packed with complex legalistic terminology and cited case law, sounding like he writes for the King’s Council. It’s intimidating, it’s overwhelming, and quite frankly, it’s putting grievances on steroids. But behind the legalistic armor, AI is doing something incredibly dangerous: it's hallucinating fake case law, inflating employee expectations into delusional £500k tribunal claims, and completely destroying the true purpose of a grievance policy: conflict resolution. In this episode, we unpack: How to spot a heavily prompted, nebulous AI complaint (beyond just the bold text and bullet points). The exact step-by-step reaction a founder or manager needs to have when a massive document lands on their desk. How to modernise your grievance policy with specific boundaries around AI, summaries, and data confidentiality (GDPR). Why an AI-generated grievance usually signals a deeper cultural failure, a lack of psychological safety, or a relationship that has completely imploded. The ultimate takeaway? This isn't a court of law. You don't need to dismantle a 60-page AI manifesto point-by-point. You need to strip away the corporate wank, get curious, and get both parties in a room to talk. Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk facebook.com/piapconsulting instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting Subscribe for weekly HR advice without the corporate wank!

  8. Jun 9

    Ep.10 Who's Holding the Ball? Driving True Employee Accountability | Peas in a Podcast

    We’ve made it to Episode 10, and what a rollercoaster of a first season it has been! To celebrate hitting this milestone, Rebecca and Kay are tackling one of the single biggest hurdles managers face: holding employees accountable for their performance. Too many managers fall into the trap of thinking it’s their job to solve every employee problem, carry the emotional labour, and fix every mistake. In this episode, we unpack why performance is a two-way contractual relationship and how to stop playing what we call "s****y tennis" (where the ball of responsibility keeps getting smacked back into your court!). In this season finale, we discuss: The Performance Triangle: Balancing organisational framework, managerial guidance, and the employee’s ultimate responsibility.Enablement vs. Accountability: Why you can’t have one without the other (and how to do your due diligence first).You-Centred Questioning: Moving away from fixing things and using coaching skills to keep the ownership firmly with the employee.The GROW Framework Shortcut: How to walk through Goal, Reality, Options, and Way Forward without drowning in corporate jargon. Note: We are taking a quick 4-week summer breather to compile your burning questions and plan Season 2! We will be back in your ears on the first Tuesday of July. Have a topic you want us to cover? Drop a comment below or message us on our socials! Connect with us: peasinapodconsulting.org.uk instagram.com/peasinapodconsulting Subscribe for weekly HR advice without the corporate wank!

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About

Before starting our own People and Culture business, we were managers on the other side of the table — held accountable for performance and results, but without the HR advice we actually needed to achieve them. So we became the people we needed. We built Peas in a Pod from scratch and went on to work with hundreds of small business owners, seeing just about every workplace drama you can imagine (and some you probably shouldn’t). We don’t sugar-coat, we don’t sit on the fence, and we don’t just hand you a process and tell you to get on with it. This podcast is candid chats between two female founders — who know exactly what leadership looks like when there’s nowhere to hide and no one coming to do it for you. Expect candid perspectives, qualified advice, strong opinions and occasional rants backed by real life experience, without the LinkedIn leadership guff. We’re passionate about people, serious about results, and the ones you want in your corner when shit’s hitting the fan.

Information

  • Creator
    Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Kay Coombs & Rebecca Beard
  • Show Website
    Peas in a Podcast®