Evolving HR through strategy and connection
I develop HR professionals as strategic business leaders and help them find the support, development and community they need for themselves and their roles
In addition to a 20+ year career in international HR leadership roles, I’m a qualified Executive Coach, have worked extensively as a Strategic HR Consultant in multiple industries and conducted over 15 Management Due Diligence exercises for private equity investors in an advisory capacity. I’m also a Non-Executive Director for a Tech Start up called Pina Vida.
I founded Ethica HR to provide HR professionals globally with the support I often didn’t have access to as I was growing and developing in my own HR career.
I’m tired of HR being told they’re ‘not strategic enough’, ‘don’t need to be in this meeting’ or being left to navigate their own careers without support, development and community.
I’m here to change that.
I relocated to Malta in early 2023 with my husband and our adopted Texan cat, Cashy. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2023 at the age of 50 and am continually learning how to use that to my advantage.
My Personal Values
Having spent far too long trying to be what people expected of me rather than being myself, I have reached a point where that no longer serves me.
The most important things to me are:
- AUTHENTICITY
- COLLABORATION OVER COMPETITION
- INDEPENDENCE
- INCLUSIVITY
- GROWTH MINDSET
- HEAVY METAL
Kirsty Baggs-Morgan
My HR Journey
I initially started my career in HR by accident.
After leaving school and heading to university, I obtained a degree in Media and Communications, and started my working life as an Office Manager, often assisting with large scale recruitment projects. It was from here that I progressed quickly up the HR career ladder.
I spent 20 years in financial services HR, primarily in highly transactional roles that involved a lot of ‘firefighting’. Almost as soon as I got promoted into an HR leadership role, I started being asked to be ‘more strategic’ and yet working strategically had never been part of my experience up to this point.
As is often the case, there was no training or guidance offered, as I was the most senior HR employee in the business. It was assumed that I would just make the switch.
“I had to work out for myself what strategy was in an HR context and how my role and my approach needed to change”.
Additionally, I was working in an industry where very few of the other leaders were women and where I was often held back, ignored or belittled. I accepted this without question as the ‘norm’ and often changed my behaviour to fit in better. As time went on, I realised that I valued authenticity and openness above all else. I’ve never been able to pretend to be something I’m not, even when that has meant I haven’t always ‘played the game’ in my corporate life.
“I honestly believe we can only really achieve our potential at work if we’re genuine, open and show humility. Real success can only be achieved when you’re true to your values and to who you are.”
My work was my life for all of my 20s and 30s, I was one of those “24/7, glued to my emails, checking in whilst on holiday, travelling all around the world at the drop of a hat” types. I reached burnout in summer 2014 and had to take 9 weeks off work, but only realised it was burnout in 2024.
After that period of absence and illness, I carried on just as I had done previously. I lived like this for 4 more years until one day, out of the blue, I got let go rather dramatically on Boxing Day in 2018. My confidence was shattered, my self-doubt was at an all time high and I didn’t know what I wanted to do next.
After a foray into HR Consultancy to experience different industries and develop my strategic skills further, I decided to pursue a coaching qualification. While I was studying I realised how badly I could have done with a coach myself as I was developing in my own HR career and resolved to be the one to fill that gap for others. I initially focused my coaching practice purely on other HR professionals so that I could bring the full remit of my experience to my clients.
I no longer coach 1:1 because my love of business and HR strategy took over and I can make more of an impact on HR professionals by focusing on that. I left my final Head of HR role in early 2023 and went fully self-employed.
The idea for the Evolving HR Directory came to me in July 2023 (I actually had a dream about it), as I saw a solution to the questions that start with “Can anyone recommend someone who…..” that often popped up in my HR WhatsApp group.
The Directory launched in February 2024 and reached 1,200 subscribers in 3 months. It launched as a web app in June 2024.
