The Navy SEAL of HR: Lisa Oakley on High-Stakes Leadership Without the Fluff
When a crisis overwhelms your business, and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting further away, there is one person you can call Lisa Oakley.
With more than 20 years of experience in human resources and health and safety across corporate giants like Air New Zealand, Spark, purpose-led SMEs, and not-for-profits, this Navy SEAL of HR isn’t your average Jane when it comes to dealing with matters at the heart of your business.
‘Being the “Navy SEAL of HR” isn’t just a catchy title—it’s a philosophy. It means stepping into the messiest, highest-stakes situations and not just surviving them, but transforming them,’ she tells M2woman. ‘Where others see chaos, we see opportunity. Where challenges seem insurmountable, we bring clarity, courage, and action.’
Plainly put, the founder of People Associates—who is also a qualified coach, mediator, licensed private investigator, and tutor in Employment Relations—isn’t going to bake a cake and ask everyone to look on the bright side, or to get people to hold hands and sing kumbaya.
She will find the root cause of the issue, and work through a problem solving process that takes into consideration your available time and resources and delivers solutions that are cost efficient, time effective and reduce business risk.
It’s what’s helped her help countless businesses, earn an impressive reputation, and resulted in multiple achievements, including her most recent, which saw her named in HRD’s HR Executive Hot List in 2025.
Designed to highlight ‘outstanding HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand’, Lisa was one of nine individuals recognised for their significant contribution to the industry over the past 12 months.
For this HR expert, it’s exciting and another sign that she is on the right track with her methodology—something that is essential in today’s fast-moving business environment.
Lisa shares some key insights for what is essential in People and Culture in 2025:
The Biggest Leadership Misconception in 2025
2025 is a unique time for businesses to be navigating people and culture. In just five years, there have been significant changes, including COVID, redundancies or the polar opposite: rapid growth. There have been transformative changes in the way we work, where we work and how, talent attraction, retention and management, including many competitive and compliance changes for businesses, many of whom are struggling to keep up.
While it may make you want to throw a duvet over your head and hide, Lisa says the worst thing you can do is shy away from the challenge.
One of leaders’ biggest misconceptions about workplace culture is that ‘perks, policies, and mission statements’ will save them.
Lisa is very clear in stating that this couldn’t be more incorrect.
‘The reality is that culture is shaped every single day by the actions of leaders. It’s about how they show up in crises, how they handle conflict, how they reward, challenge, and communicate with their teams. A great workplace culture is not a project—it’s a practice. It requires leaders who understand that culture is not what they say it is—it’s what their people experience every day.’
If that were a mantra, it would be; leadership happens in the trenches, not the boardroom.
She says that if you want to see real change in your team and your culture, you can’t be a manager who enforces rules but rather a leader who leads with authenticity and strong values.
‘The most inspirational leaders have one thing in common: they create clarity, trust, and momentum,’ Lisa says. ‘They don’t just direct; they empower. They don’t just react; they anticipate. And most importantly, they make people feel valued, seen, and capable of more than they believed possible.’
To practice this, Lisa explains three steps: the first is to ditch transactional leadership, the second is to build teams that can handle uncertainty, and the third is to invest in clarity and communication.
‘Leaders who adapt to this shift won’t just survive the future of work—they’ll shape it,’ Lisa adds.
It’s beneficial to everyone but especially your business because even though the eye of the storm can be a scary place, Lisa says overcoming it can later become your biggest advantage.
Turning Crisis Into Competitive Advantage
One thing you’ll notice if you’ve worked with or seen Lisa in action is that she doesn’t flinch in a crisis. Instead, she sees it as a catalyst, an entry point for real transformation, and she wants to help you see that, too.
Take, for instance, the time she was called in to work with a leadership team on the verge of collapse. Trust had eroded, communication had broken down, and performance was in freefall.
‘Instead of implementing generic training or policies, we stepped in with a bold intervention—an unfiltered deep dive into leadership accountability and culture. We worked side by side with the team, navigating difficult conversations, resetting expectations, and aligning the leadership vision,’ she explains.
The result wasn’t just a recovered leadership team. It was a revitalised organisation where culture became more than just a buzzword—it became the the DNA, the operating system, and the company’s strength.
Lisa believes most traditional People and Culture approaches fail because they focus too much on policy and not enough on people: ‘Leadership isn’t about titles or talk—it’s about outcomes,’ she exclaims.
But even more than the leader, it’s about creating a team that can handle adversity.
‘Leaders constantly worry: “Do I have the right people? Can they adapt? Will they push through when things get tough?”‘ She says this is good as it highlights something many have yet to learn: businesses don’t fail because they lack strategy but because they lack the right people to execute that strategy under pressure.
‘Stop hiring for skills alone—hire for resilience, adaptability, and mindset. The best teams aren’t just talented—they are tough, agile, and able to perform under pressure.’
Final Word
In a world obsessed with quick fixes and superficial strategy, Lisa proves time and time again that she is a rare force. She is direct, grounded, and transformational.
Whether that’s leading a complex dispute through to resolution, rebuilding a fractured culture, or guiding an emerging business through people-led change, she’s not here for fluff—she’s here for impact.
Because she knows that the best leaders aren’t remembered for the titles they held, they’re remembered for the futures they built.
To learn more about Lisa Oakley and People Associates, visit peopleassociates.nz
