Specialisms
I specialise in the following areas:
- HR Consultancy
- Leadership Training
- Organisational Development
Carol is a Software trainer PwC, who then diversified into leadership and a personal development in-house consultant.
She gained her degree in HR management and became self-employed after moving into Cambridgeshire where she then grew a portfolio of diverse clients in both private and public sectors, gaining a reputation as being professionally robust and able to communicate with people at all levels.
In 2012 Carol took on contract as Head of HR and L&D in a large London College which ran successfully in parallel with her freelance consulting business. Since 2016 she has worked as a solo practitioner; collaborated with fellow independents and been an associate consultant on projects of varying lengths, ranging from short investigations to multi-year strategic initiatives.
One of the reasons she enjoys helping all types of organisations to become highly effective, is the profound impact it has on both the business; its staff, and often more widely in society. Witnessing the transformation of an organisation as it adopts new processes and becomes more effective is incredibly rewarding. She takes pride in knowing that her contributions play a crucial role in fostering a positive work environment where employees feel respected, valued, and motivated.
Carol specialises in not specialising! Her varied experience across sectors and industries has led her to collaborate on many different projects with many interesting people. Each organisation presents unique opportunities to develop best-fit solutions, and she learns something new from everyone she comes into contact with.
She is extremely proud of her Chartered CIPD Fellow status which reflects her efforts to stay at the forefront of HR practices in a rapidly changing political and social landscape in the UK. Carol is well known for aligning HR initiatives with organisational ambitions by contributing in real terms to the overall success and sustainability of the business. This invariably creates a win-win relationship between the organisation and its employees.
Key Strengths/Area of Expertise
- Strategic and operational HR, including:
- Workforce planning/TUPE support and restructuring/redundancies
- Performance management initiatives – design and implementation
- Job evaluation/descriptions and salary benchmarking
- Facilitated relationships (mediation)
- Managing negotiations and conflict situations (including working with Trade Unions)
- Learning design/facilitation and evaluation
- Leadership development
- Technical HR training
- Personal impact
- Train the trainer – increasing organisational capacity
- Organisation-wide projects (eg onboarding programmes)
- Individual and team coaching (bespoke according to specific needs)
- Change initiatives/organisational and cultural development
Professional Qualifications
- CIPD chartered fellow status
- Belbin team roles accredited facilitator
- MBTI and BPS trained
- BA (Hons) HR Management
Testimonials/Case Studies
Cultural and structural organisational change – Acted as project lead for transfers of staff from one part of business to another and from one business to another. Key activities included:
- Liaison with business seller, holding to account and ensuring nothing is overlooked
- driving staff consultation, communications and engagement activities
- ensuring legal compliance at all stages of the process
- providing accurate; timely responses to any staff and management concerns (eg regular FAQ bulletins throughout process)
Leadership development – designed and delivered bespoke programmes for grades with managerial responsibility. Key deliverables included:
- grounding/refresher in key management theories, including current thinking
- identifying perceived and real challenges to effective management
- exploration of personal style (with or without using tool) – what are my strengths and blind spots?
- working with colleagues to evaluate strategies for good management/leadership
- review of progress at regular intervals via action learning sets
Notable Achievements/Value Added
- Using influencing skills and professional knowledge – reduced number of potential redundancies
- Created and implemented redesign of staff development pathways and associated metrics
- Collaborated with IT experts to create/implement onboarding application for new joiners
- Lead responder for Ofsted HR review leading to upgrading
- Recruitment – organisation-wide training for all hiring managers
- Embedding HR team as trusted business partners
- Coaching individuals – most result in career progression or lead to personal actualisation/fulfilment
Relevant Sector Knowledge
- Service Procurement – led initiatives towards enhanced compliance with Value for Money (VFM) requirements (people and systems)
- Business partnering – trained teams to more effective collaboration with internal and external clients
Training/Coaching Programs/Workshop Offers
- Effective Corporate communications training/coaching – for leaders needing to make the correct impact with a large number of people, quickly and accurately
- Focus on handling “awkward” questions
- Influencing towards desired outcomess
- Coaching/Support for displaced staff – CV review; interview practice, confidence-building etc
- Coaching/Support for “survivors” – resilience; promoting your strengths in the new set up
LGR Experience & Expertise
- Experience with NHS reforms – job redesign; function restructuring; salary benchmarking; interview panels
- General ongoing support for management and staff through transition of organisation