Jivan Dempsey FCIPD GMBPsS

Jivan is the co-founder of FiveRivers HR, a HR practitioner with over 20 years’ experience of changing company culture through people, process and technology. With a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Master degree in Occupational Psychology she has a passion to transform the way we work, leading organisations to think differently about people and culture.

Jivan partners with ambitious founders and scale-ups to design the HR systems, structures, and leadership frameworks that allow businesses to grow without losing the very essence of what made them so successful at the start. She blends her deep knowledge of psychology with years of HR expertise to take on the toughest challenges in the workplace - dismantling toxic cultures, tackling bad leadership, and helping teams to rebuild trust, motivation, and resilience.

Having worked with over 50 organisations across various industries including fintech, tech startups, life sciences, creative agencies, manufacturing and healthcare, she has guided and coached leaders and their teams through the difficult but necessary process of culture change, using diagnostic interviews, behavioural profiling and leadership development to identify and embed people strategies that align with business goals. She helps leaders through the messy realities of scaling, uncovering the root causes of burnout and disconnection to ensure organisations are built on strong, sustainable foundations.

In a recent case study, Jivan worked with the founders of a UK based manufacturing company struggling with toxic communication, departmental silos, leadership disconnect and a blame culture that was driving high turnover rates and impacting employee morale. Jivan helped to reset the culture from the top down and bottom up. Drawing on her experience in occupational psychology and HR, she worked with the executive team to understand their behaviours and triggers, communication styles and the impact of their leadership style on employee morale and performance. Feedback from employees was critical as was having a joined up approach to identify solutions. Together they designed new leadership behavioural frameworks and scalable HR systems and structures that shifted the business by rebuilding trust and accountability, realigning shared values and kick- starting a people first leadership approach.

Jivan is also the author of “The Change Leader’s Handbook” in which she provides much needed advice and guidance to other HR change leaders and practitioners to deliver change and HR transformation. She’s also co-author to a second book, “Cant Break Me” as one of 16 female entrepreneurs sharing their stories of strenght and triumph overcoming adversities to find their place in the world. Both books are available on Amazon.