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About Us

Your vision,
our expertise

At HD&U, we’ve found most business owners start their journey with a vision of the business they are creating or buying, and are propelled by a dream of what it would feel like to own a thriving version of that business. But reality is different and, over time, that dream can become buried under a mountain of stress, challenges, or uncertainty.

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Helping you rejuvenate your business and the experience of owning it, and re-igniting the spark that once drove you to start in the first place, we’re dedicated to helping pioneering business owners find enjoyment and fulfilment in their work as they rediscover their love for the job.
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Putting the ‘U’ in HD&U

At HD&U, we take a humanistic approach to our business consulting solutions. Working with you as a collaborative team, experienced advisors, and your dedicated support network, we take the time to fully understand every layer of your business to get to the core of what makes your company tick, and what challenges it needs to overcome in order to thrive.

From high-ranking managers to employees on the ground, we work alongside you and your teams to deliver tailored support, expert guidance, and learning & development solutions that fit your needs, budget, and time constraints. Offering direction, improving performance, developing strategies, and building a positive culture that values teamwork and staff engagement, we’re committed to empowering your company to become more agile, sustainable, and ultimately, more profitable.

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How we work with U

  • diagnose

    Diagnose

    We’ll assess your business and identify potential roadblocks to growth

  • strategise-plan

    Strategise and Plan

    Establish key goals and objectives, and map out your journey to success

  • implement-change

    Implement Change

    Execute plans and key projects to overcome the challenges we’ve identified

  • high-performance-growth

    High-Performance Growth

    Close capability gaps, nurture skills, and improve the way teams work together to achieve shared objectives

Not your typical business consultants

Narrowly targeted business consulting services are usually limited in how much they can bring about change. At HD&U, we take a whole-of-business approach by analysing your business from top to bottom to identify and resolve issues. Making proactive changes that prevent future problems from arising, we also uncover hidden opportunities for growth and improvement.

Our team of business consultants include Turnaround, Change, Finance, Business Improvement, Leadership, and HR professionals who work together to support business owners, leaders, and teams at every level of your company.

Not your regular coach. Not your regular coach.
HD&U combines cutting edge business consulting and coaching techniques with the experience and qualifications of a team of specialists, as well as the unparalleled transparency, alignment, and accountability of the TeamLife platform. This allows us to blend management consulting, business coaching, and advisory services into a complete solution tailored to your exact needs and goals.
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Not your regular coach.

Meet the team

James Dalton

Strategic Business Leadership, Governance, and Turnaround

James brings a diversity of experience and ideas resulting from having worked at a global advisory firm and his own performance improvement consulting practice. He commenced his career with KPMG Audit, transitioning to KPMG Consulting in the supply chain practice, followed by a corporate role at Sensis prior to working in his own consulting practice. In 2006, James returned to KPMG and worked in the Transactions and Restructuring Practice in both New York and Melbourne during the global financial crisis.

He has a wide range of experience in financial restructuring, due diligence assignments, trust account audits, rent roll sale & purchase, operational restructuring, and performance improvement from the small & middle market to multi-national organisations. During his career, he has assessed and developed business plans, designed and implemented solutions to improve performance and effect business turnaround, undertaken business reviews (from a strategic and operational perspective) on behalf of secured lenders, and performed due diligence assessments.

Over the years, James has worked in many sectors, including residential and commercial real estate, listed property funds management, retail, consumer markets, telecommunications, health care, IT, and mining.

Most recently, James led and operated Neil Dalton Consulting (NDC), a boutique practice specialising in providing trust auditing, due diligence, rent roll sale & purchase advice, and business improvement services to Real Estate clients. The Neil Dalton Consulting brand is now owned and operated by HD&U.

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Stuart Hayes

Strategic Business & Team Leadership, Governance and Turnaround

Working with some of the world’s leading advisory and consulting firms as a ‘CEO & Mr Fix-It’, Stuart spent over a decade parachuting into unique situations or ailing companies and assuming the role of CEO to get to the bottom of why a business was under-performing. He would then quickly turn things around by transforming the business and its people from the ground up.

Training and working with some of the most elite consulting organisations, including KPMG, Andersen, and Deloitte, Stuart has been a business leader and a professional CEO in Australia, Asia, and the UK, working in diverse environments from governments to private companies.

In 2002, Stuart made the conscious decision to step away from the hustle and bustle of a corporate career to bring his extensive learning, training, and experience to everyday businesses and entrepreneurs. Stuart is driven by a passion for delivering advice, coaching, support, and leadership services that transform SMBs and empower teams for success.

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Claudia Navarro

HR & Training Specialist, Team Coach, and Consultant
Through a distinguished career spanning over 17 years, Claudia brings a wealth of experience as a human resource partner. Her roles have ranged from esteemed global enterprises including Coca Cola, Schweppes, and Asahi, to collaborative work with scale-up, SME leaders, and teams. 
 
Throughout her professional journey, Claudia has observed the intricate impact of leadership on individuals, teams, and organisations, and the importance of supporting leaders with success-oriented tools. In 2016, she authored "The Power of Engagement – Transforming Business Results and Inspiring Your Employees," a guiding beacon for fellow leaders. Her extensive certifications in Education, NLP, Meta Dynamics, Coaching, Extended DISC, and Emotional Culture attest to her expertise. Having resided in 23 countries, including Sweden, Mexico, and France, Claudia's global exposure enriches her perspective. For the past 14 years she has been based in Australia, where she continues to cultivate personal growth through her dedication to boxing and public speaking engagements.
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Rani Blake

Team Support & Administration

Rani is renowned for her person centered approach to everything she does, and for thriving upon helping people to enjoy life more. Be it creating special moments, solving problems, finding solutions, or providing a change in perspective, Rani will pull up her sleeves and get the job done!

With experience across various industries and roles, including healthcare, education, hospitality, design, fashion, wellbeing & business ownership. Rani’s accumulated knowledge and skills means she is able to support our team and clients across multiple aspects of business from group work and facilitation to administration, research and client services.

Rani’s inclination to ‘go the extra mile' to deliver quality products and services is recognised and appreciated by all. Not just by us at HD&U, but by our clients as well.

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See the Results

  • Client 1

    Construction and Mining Industry

    Earth Moving Equipment Wholesaler, VIC, Australia

    60 Employees

  • Situation

    • 45-year-old, market-leading, family business
    • Now run down by new owners
    • Poor financial records. Losing money rapidly. Tired branding
    • Angry customers and aggrieved employees

  • Approach

    • Initiate an engagement program to reconnect staff to the business,
    • Reinvigorate brand and restructure sales tactics to approach customers in a new way.
    • Coordinate strategic investment to allow the business to form the cornerstone of a larger enterprise with other industry participants

  • Impact

    Within 10 months:

    • Doubled revenue
    • Established engaged culture
    • Raised $10m capital and acquired two smaller enterprises
    • Improved operational systems

  • Client 2

    Professional Services Industry

    Engineering Consultancy, VIC, Australia

    80 Employees

  • Situation

    • Established 50 yr old Consulting business
    • Haemorrhaging staff due to industry competition
    • Losing credibility with customers
    • Losing profitability due to additional costs of operations
    • Limited succession of leadership options

  • Approach

    • Constructed a high-performance culture
    • Introduced the Emerging Leader program to identify & develop future leaders
    • Designed & launched an employee share scheme

  • Impact

    Within 18 months:

    • Approximately 30% of all staff-owned shares
    • Staff engagement at all-time high
    • Staff losses stopped

  • Client 3

    Power Generation Industry

    Capital Equipment Supplier, VIC, Australia

    25 Employees

  • Situation

    • Profitability destroyed by poor management
    • Business was arguably insolvent
    • Poor accountability & alignment of staff towards strategy
    • Staff unhappy and not confident in the strategy and high turnover of GMs
    • Legal actions with the both #1 customer and #1 supplier
    • Loss of exclusivity to sell the most profitable product
    • Owner overwhelmed, desperate, lost for direction

  • Approach

    • Initiate an engagement program to reconnect staff to the business,
    • Reinvigorate brand and restructure sales tactics to approach customers in a new way.
    • Coordinate strategic investment to allow the business to form the cornerstone of a larger enterprise with other industry participants

  • Impact

    Within 18 months:

    • Revenue doubles previous record
    • Staff engagement at an all-time high
    • Legal actions were settled
    • Long-term contracts with key customers were locked in to guarantee revenue
    • Onboarded new leadership team
    • Established Board of Directors

    The owner is happy in their new board role and confident the business is moving forward the right direction

  • Client 4

    Commercial Cleaning Industry

    Professional Commercial Cleaners, National, Australia

    50 Employees + Subcontractors

  • Situation

    • Micromanagement by the owner was stifling business growth
    • Staff unhappy, a divided and toxic culture
    • Mixed accountability & poor alignment of staff
    • Owner worn out from the highly intensive and ‘manual’ nature of business
    • Revenue stagnated for 4 years

  • Approach

    • Initiate an engagement program to reconnect staff to the business,
    • Constructed a high-performance culture
    • Reorganised business structure & systems,
    • Reorganised and simplified management & operational systems - introducing software platforms 
    • Recruited & onboarded new leaders
    • Developed all staff
    • Improved governance

  • Impact

    Within 10 months:

    • Doubled revenue
    • Established engaged culture
    • Raised $10m capital and acquired two smaller enterprises
    • Improved operational systems

  • Client 5

    Manufacturing Industry

    Manufacturing & Distribution, VIC, Australia

    20 Employees 

  • Situation

    • Bold vision, lacking strategic direction 
    • Poor cash  availability & risk management
    • Poor planning & accountability
    • No people & culture strategy
    • Sporadic & un-systemised sales & marketing
    • Owner not drawing wages and living off credit
    • Staff claiming owner owes them ‘shares’
    • Poor agility

  • Approach

    • Built forward cash flow model and guided owner to manage through crisis, to reach break-even, then profitability
    • Improved operational systems
    • Introduced governance
    • Resolved claims on equity and restructured company group
    • Identified step-by-step approach to sales and reorganised team

  • Impact

    Within 18 months:

    • Record sales & improved market share
    • Improved production standards and lowered unit costs
    • Strong management processes, reporting and accountability
    • Business now profitable

  • Client 6

    Food Manufacturing Industry

    Micro-Manufacturing Start-Up, VIC, Australia

    5 Employees + Subcontractors

  • Situation

    • Well-branded business with great product
    • Owner was inexperienced as a leader and struggling to direct the business
    • Missing strategic/action-oriented business plan
    • Poor accountability & alignment of systems

     

  • Approach

    • Mentored owner to clarify and achieve strategy
    • Developed and implemented systems to introduce accountability structures, ensuring the team achieves company objectives
    • Creation of a performance dashboard
    • Implemented OKR

     

  • Impact

    Within 9 months:

    • Market Share had significantly lifted
    • Strong visibility of performance drivers in real-time
    • OKR system embedded in culture
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A history of delivering quality services

Stuart Hayes and James Dalton have long been driven by a passion for helping businesses realise their full potential. With years of experience transforming ailing companies into thriving businesses, Stuart and James have now come together to form HD&U.

HD&U stands for Hayes, Dalton, and You: A partnership combining the extensive experience and unique expertise of two industry juggernauts … and You!

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Get in touch

To learn more about our business consulting services or book a discovery call, please fill out the form below. One of our experienced business consultants will be with you shortly to answer any questions or organise a discussion.

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