One of the easiest things to try (you may already be doing this) is managing by wandering around (MBWA) made popular by Tom Peters, slight alternative is the Gemba Walk (actual place where work happens). It is amazing how many problems can be fixed just by walking around.

HR team of 1 is never going to be easy so don't be too hard on yourself.

In reply to Steven :

thank you Steven. Although I do this given that we have an informal setting but the term (MBWA) is new to me.

I am standalone for around 70 perm staff so similar to you. My top tips would be:

- work out the key leaders/teams in your business and schedule monthly meetings. I have a loose agenda to cover recruitment, new starters/probations, absence/conduct/capability, training, engagement, AOB. In reality, we don't cover all of these every month because they're not all relevant but they do remind us of topics to discuss. The meetings tend to be more line management counselling/coaching! But gives me an early insight into any issues and allows me to make timely nudges, while building a relationship.

- take themes to your monthly meetings. Last month I was gathering feedback on our appraisal system (I had revamped), this month I am supporting planning for appraisals, next month I am discussing training needs, the following month I plan to start succession planning with them. Helps achieve some more strategic aims with dedicated time to do so

- schedule policy reviews cyclically throughout the year. The first year that I did this, it was a mammoth task because a lot of our policies were out of date or poorly formatted etc. Now I review a couple a month with minimal changes required.

- try as much as you can to sit in the open office. I used to have my own office but since moving out, I hear a lot more, people speak to me a lot more, I understand the business far better
- protect the beginning of your day for YOUR priority tasks and no one elses. A couple of days a week, I don't open my emails or messages apps until 10am. This gives me nearly 2 hours to work on my strategic projects without being drawn into something that is not important and probably not that urgent either. If it is urgent, someone will come to me in person or ring me! Otherwise you can drown in emails doing everyone else's priorities and never moving yours forwards.

- in terms of wellbeing, if you mean your own, identify a couple of people that you can truly trust. You are not going to be able to disclose confidential things to them, but for me there are one or two senior people who I can speak to a bit cryptically if I need support! E.g. "I am having a really hard day. I can't go into specifics but I have a dilemma/difficult conversation/personal challenge that is causing me stress/anxiety/upset and I'd just like to offload". Because I can trust them, I know it doesn't go any further (although this is always a risk) and I also know they won't probe me for details because they respect my job and my professional boundaries. They will become your morale lifeline!

I'm still working on being consistent with these tips - some days I dive right into emails, sometimes I don't have energy to be at my best in the monthly meetings etc. But it has certainly helped me to become more strategic and less transactional, while still getting the transactional bits done.

This really resonates. Being a team of one means constantly switching between firefighting and long-term thinking. I’ve found that having clear weekly priorities and protected time for strategic work helps, even if it’s small. Regular check-ins with managers also make a big difference for visibility without being everywhere at once