Ep.76 SWITCHTRACK Dr. Hayley Dawson: From Blocks to Breakthroughs with Human Skills

What happens when your dream business isn't connecting with anyone—including yourself? Dr. Hayley Dawson faced this exact dilemma with her first venture, "The Blocks," designed to help people navigate modern adulthood. Despite her extensive teaching and research background, something wasn't clicking.

Rather than continuing to push a concept that wasn't resonating, Hayley made the brave choice to step back, reassess, and pivot. The result? Let's Talk Human Skills—a focused approach to the seven essential capabilities everyone needs for career success: confidence, emotional intelligence, communication, collaboration, relationship building, ideation, and adaptability. This clarity transformed her business from struggling side-project to thriving enterprise, now serving prestigious clients like ASOS and University College London while reaching over 5,000 people through her curriculum.

Hayley's journey illuminates critical insights for anyone feeling stuck or considering a change. She discovered that success requires three elements: expertise in your area, genuine enjoyment of the work, and creating something people actually want.

Whether you're contemplating a career pivot or struggling to gain traction with your current path, this conversation (part of the Switchtrack Mini-Series) offers both practical wisdom and the permission to change direction. As Hayley reminds us, "If you have a vision for something in your head and there's a need for it, you can absolutely make it happen." Ready to take that first step toward your own switch track? Listen now, and discover how changing course might be the most powerful move you make...

💥https://www.letstalkhumanskills.com/

💥Listen to Hayley's first interview in Episode 17

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Switch Track Series
• 1:16 Hayley's Previous Business Journey
• 3:35 Pivoting to Let's Talk Human Skills
• 6:40 The Courage to Try Again
• 9:10 Simplifying for Greater Impact
• 12:38 Small Steps Toward Big Visions
• 16:18 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Transcript

Zoe Greenhalf: 0:00

Welcome to Switch Track, a summer mini-series brought to you by the Mischief Movement podcast. These are the real-life stories of rebels who changed direction by choice or by force, and found freedom on the other side, because sometimes life plays a tune that doesn't quite fit and the most powerful thing you can do is flip the track entirely. I'm your host, zoe Greenhalgh, disruptive coach, mindset mentor and mischievous guide for quiet rebels and unconventional humans who are done settling and ready to redesign a life that actually fits. In this series, we're catching up with past guests who've dared to pivot, disrupt and create something more aligned to who they really are Short, snappy and full of insight. Each episode is a reminder that you're allowed to change, to evolve and to burn the old script if it doesn't serve you anymore. So whether you're standing at a crossroads, itching for more or quietly plotting your next move, this series is for you.

Zoe Greenhalf: 1:15

Let's jump into today's SwitchTrack story. Okay, so welcome to episode one of the Switchtrack Summer Series podcast, where we are going to be revisiting some of the previous guests. Now, my guest today is Hayley Dawson Dr Hayley Dawson, I should add, who was actually interviewed in episode 17. So if you want to listen back to the original. You can go back to episode 17 and connect some of the dots, but today I want to talk to Hayley about where we are now, because I think things have changed a little bit. So, hayley, welcome. Thank you so much for coming back to chat with me.

Hayley Dawson: 1:57

Thank you so much. Thank you, you're right. So much has changed and I can't wait to get into it.

Zoe Greenhalf: 2:02

Okay, all right then. Well, let's start there. Where were you in life the last time that we spoke?

Hayley Dawson: 2:08

So the last time we spoke, I was working full-time and trying and failing, I would say, to be honest to build a company on the side. So I have got 12 years of experience in teaching and education and research behind me and I was trying to build education around navigating modern adulthood, which is all in that previous episode, right, yeah, yeah, it was called the Blocks, as in the building blocks of life, life, and it was clear to me that so many people were struggling to build their careers, to regulate their emotions, to build relationships with people, to deal with the fast pace of change, to connect with one another and, of course, that's still true today and all of these things are very real issues that people come across. But the framing, the way I was framing it, was all wrong. The way I had packaged everything up around navigating modern adulthood wasn't connecting with people and, to be honest, I wasn't connecting with it either. Everything felt very disjointed, frustrated, frustrating, rather overwhelming as well. So that's where I was.

Zoe Greenhalf: 3:27

Okay, it's really interesting that you were able to see that and feel that kind of disjointedness. What changed and what made you take a leap in a slightly different direction?

Hayley Dawson: 3:41

So it wasn't working, as I said. So I went back to the drawing board and when I took some time off, took a long break of a couple of months, and when I came back to it and started sort of brainstorming, thinking again about how I could bring this education to people, I realized that I was incredibly qualified to speak on these topics and research them and create education around them, specifically in the career space, and I realized that building a career and the skills that I mentioned a minute ago on regulating emotions, building professional relationships, navigating change they're all human skills. And so then that's where let's Talk Human Skills began. So I changed the business name, I changed the target audience, I got laser sharp on these seven essential human skills that we all need to make work and working together better. And since getting that clarity and making that huge, huge change, I've delivered workplace training on human skills for the most incredible clients like ASOS and the King's Trust and UCL University College London and so many more, and I've started an in-person conversation series as well. I've created lots of free resources for people and actually the human skills curriculum that I've created lots of free resources for people and actually the human skills curriculum that I've created has now reached over 5000 people.

Hayley Dawson: 5:11

So I think if you're, if you're building a business, you need three things. This is what I've learned these three things. So the first thing is the knowledge and the expertise in your area, of course, to be able to create something and bring it to life. And I had knowledge and expertise about the things I was talking about, so big tick there. The second I found is that you need to enjoy it. So I enjoyed creating something from scratch, taking it out of my head, bringing it into the world.

Hayley Dawson: 5:45

I enjoyed the topic that I was creating education around as well. So a big tick there. And then the third thing it has to be something that people want, right? So people need to need what you're creating. And that's the problem that I had with the blocks and how the business was before, because the way I packaged everything up was not connecting with people. People couldn't see a need for it, and that was the curveball I wasn't quite expecting. I think yeah, I responded to it was to stop, to take a break, to go back to the drawing board, get more clarity, take my time and then take more action, you know. And all of that action led to what it is now and what my career is now, which is all about, let's talk, human skills really.

Zoe Greenhalf: 6:31

It's fantastic. What were the scariest parts of pivoting and how did you handle those?

Hayley Dawson: 6:40

I think for me, the scariest part of pivoting was wondering whether it was all going to fail again, though I could see the huge need for human skills training, even though every single person that I spoke to or that found out about my work online would all say exactly the same thing. They would say, oh my God, hayley, this is so needed. But there was still that niggle. Oh, am I going to fail again? But here's the thing. So the only reason I learned that the blocks was not working was because I tried it Right.

Hayley Dawson: 7:19

I had an idea, I took action towards it and I tried to make it happen, and it didn't work. And knowing that was what made me try let's Talk Human Skills. The only way I was ever going to find out whether I could make let's Talk Human Skills a success or not was literally by trying it. Whether I could make let's Talk Human Skills a success or not was literally by trying it. So, yes, it was scary, the pivot was scary, but I think the realization I had was well, what else am I going to do? Just let the idea die on the sofa while I binge watch Netflix, you know and I thought no, actually I'm going to try this, try this as well.

Zoe Greenhalf: 7:57

Yeah, I love that so much. I mean, we talk about it all the time, but failures or mistakes or errors they are literally the stepping stones that create that success afterwards. And I have to remind myself of that many times, but I do tend to look at them like that now, um, as opposed to, this didn't work. God, you know I'm so terrible at doing this thing. It's just like okay, what did we learn? Go back to the drawing board, because you can't jump 100 meters in one uh fast swoop. You've got to take these little jumps first and and see what you learn.

Zoe Greenhalf: 8:34

So it's it's awesome that you were able to take that time to get clear and uh, and also like well done, because you you could have just sat there and gone. You know what. It didn't work, what, whatever. Just go back, go back to to life before the blocks and see what happens. But you didn't and you carried on and you were courageous about it and curious enough to say what if I just changed it slightly, what would happen? And it's lovely to see where you've got to now. What, what surprised you most about life on the other side of this change?

Hayley Dawson: 9:10

so two things have. I don't know if they've surprised me, but they've become very obvious to me and so the first is the simplest things get the greatest results. There is no need to overcomplicate anything ever. I really, really believe that, and when I was building the blocks, I was overcomplicating things. Let's talk human skills doesn't need to be everything to be impactful, right.

Hayley Dawson: 9:38

So the simplicity is that I focus now on seven essential human skills that we need for career success. So they're confidence, emotional intelligence, communication, collaboration, relationship building, ideation so how to think, collaboration, relationship building, ideation so how to think and adaptability as well. And I'm using those human skills to deliver workplace training so that was one product or service. And I'm using those seven skills to build human skill school, which is another product or service. Then I'm hosting the in-person conversation series, let's Talk so that's another product or service. Then I'm creating the free resources around the seven essential human skills as well, and that's another product or service. And so I'm using the same thing for everything that I create. Those seven essential human skills are the basis for everything, and the thing is, is that before making the pivot, I thought I needed to be everything to everyone and offer all of these different things.

Zoe Greenhalf: 10:40

No, it's so, so unnecessary, and I think that simplicity wins every single time, and my simplicity is focusing on these seven essential human skills, but experimenting with the mediums yeah, get to get it out there yeah, because essentially what you're doing is you've got your your sort of building blocks there and it's just they're being packaged in slightly different ways depending on on the end purpose of what that thing, the product or service is yeah, exactly, and you know the.

Hayley Dawson: 11:13

The second thing on that is that the other thing that became very clear to me and slightly surprised me as well, if I'm honest is that if you have a vision for something in your head, you can absolutely make it happen. There is always a way, always and, of course, referencing what I said earlier with the caveat that there is a need for what you're creating, right. If there's not a need for it, it's not going to work.

Hayley Dawson: 11:38

No one's going to want it, but if you have a vision and there's a need for it, you can make it happen, and a good example of this with me is the let's Talk in-person conversation series. Right, I wanted a way of bringing people together of my own accord and without the involvement of a workplace, so I wanted to create my own events. I still love working with places of work and education and doing the workplace training, but I wanted a way to bring people together without needing the green light from a workplace or place of education, and if you break it into small steps, you can absolutely make it work. Work.

Hayley Dawson: 12:16

I had to come up with the concept find a venue, secure a date, get a drink sponsor, advertise it, get people to buy tickets and actually come along, work out how to help people to enjoy the evening as well. And it's a lot when you first think of something, but if you can see in your mind, I think you can make it happen for sure. And you know, just yesterday, actually, I was reminded of this, saying that Pitbull has. I just saw this video online about it and I thought, oh yeah, I've, I've, I'd forgotten that, but actually it's, it's Paso Corto Vista Larga, and it's you know small steps like towards your big vision. Basically, um, and that that has become so, so clear to me you can make anything happen. As long as you've got the vision and you take the small steps towards it, you can pivot in any direction you want to, absolutely I think.

Hayley Dawson: 13:13

finally, I'd like to get your opinion on what you would say to someone who knows deep down that they need to change, but still feels stuck or scared to do so take action, honestly, if, if you've got multiple options in front of you, take action towards one of those options, because if you don't try, you don't get any clarity, and if you don't get any clarity, you can't improve anything. So then what changes? Nothing, and it's this cycle we get stuck in, don't we? Yes, through not making a decision, not taking action, you just need to start moving and failure feels uncomfortable and embarrassing, and it does feel that way, for the first few times at least, that you fail.

Hayley Dawson: 14:05

But if you haven't had enough exposure to failure, like the fear of failure will prevent you from taking any action at all. But if you take enough action and you fail enough, you're golden. Honestly, I don't actually pay attention to failure anymore. It's not something that worries me because, in the grand scheme of everything, a tiny part of my business has failed because I tried something like it doesn't matter, and you know, to get there, you've got to choose a direction and take action, and and that is what I think stops us from feeling stuck or or scared, you know yeah, 100% it's.

Zoe Greenhalf: 14:46

It's taking that leap even when you don't know exactly what you're doing or where it's going to go. It's just having the courage to just try something and say, if it works, brilliant, if it doesn't, it's just another learning step on that stairway towards the success that will come further down the line that will come further down the line.

Hayley Dawson: 15:10

Yeah, exactly, and you know, what I think is really helpful is it sort of softens the possibility even for failure is building in public. So you might have seen, I'm building human skills school and I'm taking people along the journey with me every week for the next 15 weeks until it has been built, you know, and I'm just doing that with one video or one post to social media per week, you know. But also bringing people along to actually build it with me, get people's input, get people's thoughts, have discussions with people, ask the important questions to make sure you're building something with people so that it's helpful for people. And everyone's seen that I'm building this in public and I'm well aware it might fail. It might do, that's okay. I don't want it to fail, don't get me wrong. I really don't want it to. But if it does, it's fine. We can just reiterate and go in a different direction.

Zoe Greenhalf: 16:13

Awesome, Exactly that. Well, I hope to see the end product of this not in failure. Obviously, it's been fabulous to watch your journey up until this point and see yeah, long may it continue. I can't wait to see what other things you come up up with and you create. In the meantime, just remind everybody where they can find you um online or how they can get in touch with you?

Hayley Dawson: 16:39

yeah, of course. So I'm at let's talk human skills on social media. So on instagram, uh, linkedin as hayley dawson H-A-Y-L-E-Y and for workplace training and to come along to the let's Talk conversation series in London and things it's letstalkhumanskillscom and all of the information is there Brilliant.

Zoe Greenhalf: 17:02

And I will obviously link in the show notes to those and I'll also link back to the original episode, so if anybody wants to go back and listen to where you started, they can. Hayley, thank you so much for letting us in on. You know what's been going on over the last. What's it been now? A couple of years, I guess Two years, I think. Yeah, I think so Amazing and yeah, have a wonderful summer, thank you and. I'll keep my eyes on. Let's Talk Human Skills, please do.

Hayley Dawson: 17:36

Thank you so much for your support and thank you for having me. You're welcome.

Zoe Greenhalf: 17:45

Thank you for listening to this summer mini series. If you're already feeling that itch to pivot, or even just to pause and rethink, this is your reminder that you don't have to do it alone. Whether you're craving clarity, courage or just someone to say you're not crazy for wanting more, I'm here for that. You can book a free call with me using the link in the show notes. No pressure, no expectation, just space to explore what's next for you. So stay rebellious, keep making mischief and meet me back here next week for another episode of Switch Track, because changing course might just be the most powerful move you make. Thank you.