Yvette specialises in leadership, personal effectiveness, change and innovation.
Before joining =mc, she worked in HR for several years in both the private and charity sector as an HR Manager. In these roles, Yvette provided advice and guidance to managers, staff and trade union representatives. She also delivered several change projects and worked closely with senior leaders.
I have recently been supporting leaders and managers with their development, through our Transformational Leadership Programme. I’m particularly excited to be working with leaders at University of Surrey, Solent Mind and Outward Housing. Leadership can be tough, especially when we are still getting used to leading hybrid and remote teams through challenging times. Our programme includes Strategic Thinking, Innovation, Change, Motivation and Coaching Skills.
Coaching is also key part of our Advanced People Management programme. I’ve been supporting organisations like Christian Aid with this lately. Coaching is a really empowering way to enable people to perform at their best – without you being physically present. Having practical skills to hold the conversations that help people to solve their own challenges, and learn from their own experiences a real confidence booster: both for the coach and the coachee.
As the ‘great resignation’ or ‘great reshuffle’ continues, I am supporting organisations with recruitment workshops exploring bias and how to overcome unconscious bias in interview processes. This is so important to ensuring your applicants are treated fairly and have a good experience. I have also been supporting individuals and groups in preparing for job hunting and interviewing as part of our outplacement service. Giving participants a structured process for interview preparation has been really beneficial, and you can see their confidence growing. I love seeing both sides of this, and ensuring a positive experience all round.
I have also been supporting people to develop their confidence in assertive conversations. Having the motivation to speak up is crucial when there are challenges, issues or changes needed. We also need skills, tools, and emotional intelligence to handle these conversations in a sensitive and productive way. I have been supporting teams through online workshops to be courageous, develop a mindset for assertiveness, hold useful conversations and use strategies to manage their own wellbeing in the process.
I’ve been really excited to continue a Business Skills project with the Calico Group. We have just launched the most recent cohort, cohort four, exploring commercial thinking for managers in charity settings. Calico is a large and diverse organisation, and managers need to deliver their services in a way that is both sustainable and effective. They have a strategic focus on ‘customer’ service – meeting the needs of their stakeholders, through an enabling approach. The programme is all about being business minded, but with a social heart. It is a very practical course, and throughout participants apply ideas to their real work. They also have a Finance module, helping them to better understand the way finance works in their part of the organisation. This is delivered internally, and we’re working together to ensure the cohort experience is joined up and swapping lots of ideas! Feedback from participants has shown they have been applying the tools and ideas from the modules, and are also sharing these with their teams. It has been fantastic hear how much they had taken from the programme, and their ideas for next steps. I’m looking forward to seeing what our next group comes up with!
Finally, I have been working with the Open Society Foundations to support their managers via a four-workshop programme. This programme has been customised to support an international audience, where cohorts come together from across the organisation. We’re looking at essential people management skills, and participants come away with very practical tools to use straight away. We have completed four cohorts, and cohort five is about to start on the way. I enjoy working with these diverse groups, talking about how managers need to adapt their approach when working with hybrid, remote and international teams. This is a great opportunity for managers from across the world to come together, share insights and work together on the common challenges that they face. The programme is also helping them to navigate a significant period of change.
Before joining =mc, I worked in HR for several years in both the private and charity sectors. I started out at a major City Law firm, where I provided a support role to staff, managers and senior management on all kinds on employment issues. Whilst there, I really enjoyed developing and facilitating training for staff and HR colleagues alike. I was also involved in large change projects, working with management to lead change and providing support to staff.
Most recently, I was the HR Manager at ODI. In this role, I managed a team to deliver lots of different HR activities. I particularly focused on designing and implementing the Learning and Development strategy. I also enjoyed providing support, advice and coaching for line managers. Throughout my time at ODI, I lead the performance management procedure. This meant working closely with the senior management team and CEO to ensure the process was strategically aligned, fair and met organisational goals. I also had a key role in providing training to staff and managers, and ensuring staff had development opportunities.
Through our work at =mc I am constantly inspired by the work the people on our programmes are doing and how our customers handle the tough challenges that they face. I’m really enjoying seeing people develop as leaders as they go through their own learning journey on our courses. This means honing their skills so that they are confident to lead others, to make tough decisions, to improve their own performance and develop their teams. I’m always delighted when I can see participants applying the tools they’ve learned on the course, and getting tangible results. When I hear from them several months after the course, I’m thrilled to hear how they are making techniques work for them.