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Richard Smith

Richard is an experienced, highly-skilled facilitator and consultant, as well as an excellent trainer and coach. He has wide experience of designing strategic developmental interventions and processes in organisations ranging from global ‘blue chips’ to regional law firms and not-for-profits. He has worked as an executive Director and Chair of a small consortium company and as a non-executive in the NHS, including chairing the Finance and Performance Committee of a £4bn Clinical Commissioning Group. Richard led the authoring team for the Change Management Institute's change management 'body of knowledge' The Effective Change Manager (Change Management Institute, 2013) and was a co-author and lead editor of The Effective Change Manager's Handbook (Kogan Page, 2014).

Richard’s consulting work has focused largely on leadership, senior team effectiveness and organisational change, also with a strong interest in performance and talent management issues, enabling organisations to get the best from their people at all levels. His supportive coaching and facilitation style supports this work. He brings to all his work the practical touch of someone who also spends much time working with individuals, small groups and senior teams on their own development issues. His work as a trainer and facilitator of senior learning benefits from his depth of insight into the wider development issues faced by organisations. The management processes he develops are found by line managers to be workable and practical - and value-adding.

Richard's client work has been truly global. More than 70% has taken place outside the UK; he has worked in over 40 countries across six continents.

Professional Background

Having studied Economics (specialising in Accounting & Finance) Richard undertook postgraduate study in HR. His interest in the development of people at work led him into the learning & development, management development and organisation development fields. His professional experience inside companies included training and development roles in SimChem and the Dixon Group, and management development, organisation development and talent management roles in United Biscuits and Lloyds Bank, where he was for some years part of a small strategic HR team.

As a consultant, his client experience has included projects for Bank of Cyprus (London), Bank Mandiri, COfunds, Royal DSM, Fidelity Investments, GKN, Harvard Business School, HSBC, Idexx, Lloyds TSB, Loughborough University, NatWest Bank, Nestlé, Penn State University, Randstad, Rolls Royce, Thames Water and Unilever.

Richard is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD), and is Chief Examiner for Change Management for APMG International, a professional accreditation body.

Personal Profile

Richard lives in north-west London and has a wife, two adult daughters and four grandchildren. He is interested in technology development of all kinds and appreciates a wide variety of music, playing piano and guitar - for his own enjoyment, he says, rather than that of others!

Download Richard Smith's CV