Real lessons from the workplace.

I’m Michelle Clennett and after more than two decades inside organisations, I have a lot to say about work.

Work Talk was not born from a marketing plan. It grew from lived experience. Leading teams. Navigating restructures. Driving transformation. Building culture. Burning out. Rebuilding. Learning, sometimes the hard way, what it really takes to connect business goals to the hearts, hands and minds of people.

I began my career in agency recruitment with global creative recruiter Aquent. Those early years shaped my commercial backbone. I helped grow a struggling Melbourne office into a highly profitable business and a large thriving team. It taught me how to rally people, build momentum and create cultures that perform without losing their humanity.

From there, I moved into human resources, joining Hallmark Cards and later becoming HR Director. I introduced the measurement of employee engagement and significantly increased it over time. I led organisation redesigns, technology implementations and large-scale change initiatives. More importantly, I learned that no strategy survives without trust, and trust is built through collaboration.

In recent years, I have focused on internal communication across FMCG, retail and manufacturing environments. Culture change. Transformation programs. Leadership alignment. I have worked behind the scenes, shaping the messages that guide people through uncertainty, and I have seen what works and what absolutely does not.

I am a qualified HR practitioner, an accredited Prosci change manager and a communications graduate of Deakin College. Titles matter less to me now than perspective.

Because work is rarely just work.

It shapes our confidence. Our identity. Our energy. Our sense of purpose.

This blog is where I explore the real lessons behind corporate culture, change and communication. Not just the frameworks, but the human side of it all.

I live on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria with my husband Ross and our son James and am a proud stepmum to Guy and Nikki.

These days, I am less interested in corporate polish and more interested in honest reflection.

If you have ever felt stretched, challenged, reshaped or redefined by your career, you are in the right place.