Working in the SME and health sectors.
Addressing the people side of business: business relationships, leadership, management and communication
and change . conflicts and disputes . converting prospects . customer service . decision making . delegation . empowerment . growth . innovation . investment in people . motivation . partnership . productivity . self improvement . stress . success . succession . vision . work/life balance etc.
I specialise in businesses which have the capacity for growth but are not achieving it, despite possessing the necessary resources and skills.

In small businesses: a wide variety of clients, from IT application developers to a car body repair shop; from a business networking organisation to marketing companies. Primarily, two sorts of involvement: (a) strategic, including business planning and development; (b) improving working relationships and communication, focussing on leadership and management skills.

In the health sector: a training programme in EI-related issues (communication skills, assertiveness, dealing with difficult people, stress, change) for junior staff in Great Western Hospital, Swindon; a coaching programme in strategic leadership for NHS Dorset; a coaching programme in leadership and commercial awareness for Skills for Health (the sector skills council).

I write professionally and regularly for Fanfare, the premier US classical CD review magazine. I also contribute occasionally to UK magazines.

Internal bid manager for payroll services, successfully securing multi-million pound contracts.
A number of clients, principally Hewlett-Packard (two years, three projects mixing consultancy and project management).

Mix of consultancy and management, primarily Rothmans (two years, including global management information system)
Main consultancy client were EWS Railways (three assignments, inc train scheduling system), GCHQ.
Main management clients were Anglian Water, Boots, MoD.

My role as a consultant was to work with clients to define what their business really needed their systems to deliver. I co-developed a prototyping methodology which facilitated representative focus groups shift from a conflicting set of views about what they personally wanted, to a unified consensus about what their organisation needed.
Variety of clients, including the BBC (three assignments, including programme scheduling system for BBC Television), Harrods, Littlewoods, Scottish Power, NCR, Arthur Andersen and not forgetting Norman's Superwarehouses

1986-88 computer audit manager (in particular, M&S Financial Services)
1982-86 project manager (inc first IT system to be rolled out to all stores - warehouse systems)
1978-82 systems developer (inc menswear and food distribution systems)

Systems analyst primarily on billing systems