Download The Course Outline Link

HR in the Middle: Getting Results Without Burning Relationships is a complimentary half-day practical session designed for HR professionals and people managers who regularly find themselves balancing business expectations, employee concerns, policies and important working relationships.

HR is often expected to deliver decisions it did not make, handle issues that should sit with line managers, uphold policies when they are inconvenient, and push back on senior stakeholders while still maintaining productive relationships. Push too hard and the relationship may suffer. Give way too often and HR risks losing credibility. This session explores how participants can achieve results without treating relationships as a trade-off.

Led by Paul Wong, Human Resources Specialist, the session uses practical workplace situations commonly faced by Malaysian HR practitioners. Participants will examine where HR’s responsibility ends and the line manager’s begins, practise more effective ways to approach difficult conversations, and explore how to push back professionally without unnecessarily damaging working relationships.

Through discussion, small-group practice and real workplace application, participants will work with situations involving performance issues, difficult stakeholders, policy exceptions and challenging organisational decisions. Each participant will also apply the approach to a real situation from their own workplace and leave with a practical Results & Relationships Conversation Template that can be used after the HR in the Middle session.

What Will You Learn in HR in the Middle: Getting Results Without Burning Relationships?

By the end of this HR in the Middle session, participants will be able to:

• Recognise what HR should own, what should remain with the line manager, and how HR can support without taking over someone else’s responsibility.
• Push back on senior stakeholders while maintaining constructive working relationships.
• Open difficult conversations using a practical question structure that helps uncover the real issue more quickly.
• Recognise behaviours that can gradually reduce HR’s credibility and identify more effective alternatives.
• Apply the approach to realistic workplace situations involving performance, stakeholder expectations and policy decisions.
• Use a practical Results & Relationships Conversation Template to prepare for challenging workplace conversations.

Course Outline

Through HR in the Middle, participants will practise practical approaches that can be applied to difficult conversations, stakeholder expectations and real workplace situations.

Session 1: Welcome and Framing
– Introductions and session expectations
– Identify a current workplace situation participants are finding difficult
– Use real participant situations as working material throughout the session

Session 2: Results and Relationships Are Not a Trade-Off
– Understand why choosing between achieving the outcome and protecting the relationship can be the wrong approach
– Explore how HR can maintain both results and effective working relationships
– Examine what this looks like in day-to-day HR situations

Session 3: What HR Owns vs What HR Is Carrying
– Clarify where HR’s responsibility ends and the line manager’s begins
– Explore the difference between an Area of Responsibility and an Area of Concern
– Identify the risks of taking over responsibilities that belong to managers
– Recognise situations where HR may be avoiding responsibilities that genuinely belong to HR

Session 4: Practice – Live Conversations
– Use the Results & Relationships Conversation Template to prepare for a difficult discussion
– Practise five-minute workplace conversations in small groups
– Work through realistic HR scenarios
– Receive feedback and reflect on different approaches to handling the conversation

Session 5: Your Own Situation and Next Steps
– Apply the framework to a real workplace situation
– Identify one specific action to take after the session
– Discuss practical next steps
– Open Q&A with the facilitator

Who Should Attend?

This HR in the Middle session is suitable for HR Managers, Assistant HR Managers, HR Business Partners, HR Executives, Senior HR Executives, HR Generalists, People Managers and Line Managers with people responsibility.

It is designed as a practical working-level session, and no previous knowledge of the framework is required.

What Will You Take Away?

By completing HR in the Middle, every participant will leave with a printed Results & Relationships Conversation Template that has already been completed against a real workplace situation during the session. The template is designed to be practical and immediately usable when preparing for future difficult conversations.

HR in the Middle Session Details
Date: 16 October 2026 (Friday)
Time: 9.00 AM – 12.00 PM
Venue: Online via Zoom
Speaker: Paul Wong, Human Resources Specialist
Fee: Complimentary
Limited to: 25 participants

Register here: https://bit.ly/EA_ComplementarySession

For more information, contact 03-7499 7190, WhatsApp 012-748 7190 or email training@excelacademy.my.

For more information about our training programmes, visit Excel Academy Malaysia.