Meet Our HR Consultants
David James Grad IPM; HNC Public Administration; Cert Ed; Chartered FCIPD
Dave is an experienced and highly qualified HR consultant, with more than 25 years’ experience in human resource management and development. He is Chair of Liverpool City Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel with responsibility for recommending allowances and salaries for councillors and the Elected Mayor. He was Chair of the Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, St Helens & Warrington Branch of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development from 2008-11, responsible for the continuous professional development programme for more than 4,500 HR professionals. He was also Chair of East Liverpool Business Forum 2013-14, supporting the business development of local businesses. He is an active member of the Liverpool CIPD Committee and continues to organise professional development activities for HR practitioners. Dave has managed a range of HR and training services and his training team was successful in achieving a National Training Award in 2007, for Equality Action Training. He is a qualified English teacher, a graduate of the Institute of Personnel Management and a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
Human Resource Management
Dave has more than ten years’ generalist experience as Head of HR in a care sector organisation, responsible for all aspects of strategic and operational human resource management. Prior to this, he was responsible for a range of strategic HR development projects within a workforce of more than 26,000 employees. He has implemented both large-scale development strategies and specific skills-based training programmes in all aspects of leadership, management and equality & diversity. He is also very experienced in training managers in employment law and disciplinary/capability issues. Dave has provided HR consultancy services to various organisations. He specialises in organisation restructures, TUPE transfers, designing appraisal systems, designing fair recruitment processes, implementing redundancy programmes and managing complex discipline and grievance investigations. He has also supported many employers in absence management strategies, to reduce levels of persistent short-term sickness.
Equality & Diversity
Dave has a wealth of experience in this field, both in terms of knowledge of legislation and how to achieve inclusive workplace environments. His track record of success in equality achievements includes:providing consultancy support to a Premier League football club on its Diversity & Inclusion strategy; setting up employment programmes for people with disabilities and from various BME communities; advising Job Centre Plus on best practice in the recruitment of Deaf people and achieving a profile of 50% disabled employees in the successful delivery of various services. In 2009, the pioneering work Dave achieved with Deaf people from different racial minority communities, attracted recognition from the Equality & Human Rights Commission and the government. This culminated in the Director of the EHRC and a cabinet minister visiting the project to evidence first hand, the unique achievements of this project.
Skills Based Development
Dave can offer skills based training in a wide variety of disciplines. These include: time management; effective written communications; project management; performance management; negotiating skills; team building; and creative problem-solving.
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John Grace: M.A., Chartered FCIPD, Dip Couns
John is an experienced HR & Business consultant with over 13 yrs specialist experience in the public and private sectors. His overall managerial experience spans over 20 years, enabling him to draw upon a wide and varied base of practical knowledge & experience in both HR operations and strategy.
John’s exceptional knowledge of equality and diversity law and its practical application comes from working in this area at all levels from the ‘hands on’ to the strategic, including the development of strategy, policy and guidance and delivering cost effective training in the subject to a variety of audiences. He has extensive experience of advising staff, managers and organisational leaders in all aspects of employment legislation and the application of policy and strategy; as well as supporting the defence of claims at Employment Tribunals.
John has developed and delivered bespoke managerial development programmes, enabling managers to grow their confidence and capability in key subject areas such as change management, scorecard management, managing people & performance, disciplinary & grievance handling, dealing with disability within absence procedures, and conflict management.
John’s experience has involved him working overseas with the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland training staff in investigatory skills and legal compliance as well as in Hungary for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office reviewing Hungary’s readiness for accession to the EU in a number of specialist fields.
John is also a ‘sessional’ Lecturer in HR at Liverpool John Moore’s University and has delivered modules to undergraduate and post graduate programmes including International MBA courses. He has been an active member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development (CIPD) scene for a number of years, supporting the development of fellow professionals in the field, raising knowledge and skills of HR & Organisational Development practices.
Overall, John’s experience, qualifications and people skills in HR Management and Organisational Development enable him to provide the highest level of professional support to all of his customers.
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Alison Wood FCMI MCIPD
Alison’s career has enabled her to accrue an extensive portfolio of senior level experience in business and human resources management. Alison has worked in a wide range of organisations throughout her career and has an enviable record of achievement in fmcg retail, industry, education and professional services. Alison’s expertise in people and business management, which includes workplace mediation and arbitration, has enabled her to resolve the trickiest of situations before they have found their way to employment tribunal.
Commercially astute and an extremely able strategist Alison brings vision to organisational restructure, mergers & acquisitions. Her experience of staff profiling, redundancy consultation and TUPE related matters enables her to advise directors and senior management teams through the pitfalls of organisational development. Alison works to achieve outcomes that are fiscally prudent and commercially viable.
Alison works with a range of clients which include public sector services, owner managed businesses of varying sizes and in a range of sectors; professional services, registered charities and the not for profit sector.
Projects are wide and varied and have included introducing appraisal systems; training management teams; writing policies, procedures, contracts and staff handbooks; restructure, redundancy, TUPE; recruitment & selection; income and expenditure budgeting; the achievement of quality standards such as Lexcel and Investors in People.
Alison is CIPD qualified and currently upgrading to fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. She was Chair of the Liverpool CIPD Group 2011-12 and an advocate member of the Merseyside CMI committee. In addition she has been a school governor for over 20 years; currently deputy chair of Governors at a leading Liverpool school and a key member of the steering group which has delivered a new campus as part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative.
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