David House
David has over 20 years’ business leadership experience to Board level in a variety of sectors including automotive, aerospace, food procurement and processing, IT (hardware, software and services) and mining equipment. His last position was HR Director in a £700m plc including Facilities Management, significant M&A involvement and account director responsibility for blue chip corporate clients.
Since 1997 he has worked internationally as facilitator and coach. He specialises in building client partnerships focused on making a positive difference to business performance.
He strives to bring out the best in people for themselves, their departments and their organisations through developing leadership capability; coaching to enhance performance; and facilitating teams in working together effectively to get results.
David’s particular areas of interest are:
directors and senior managers in leading their organisations, particularly at times of major change
newly promoted leaders and managers in accelerating the transition into their new role
high performing junior and middle managers with succession potential
professionals facing a complex blend of challenges at work and at home
individuals at a career crossroads (including specialist outplacement services)
His private and public sector experience includes Manufacturing; Chemicals; Law; Education; Financial Services; Search & Selection; Health; IT hardware, software & services; Media; Leisure and Consultancy Services
Example assignments include:
1-2-1 Executive Coaching Programmes with:
Regional Director moving his region’s performance from bottom 5 to top 5 in the UK.
newly appointed CEO in refreshing his senior leadership team; introducing a culture based on individual/joint accountability and strong, fair performance management; and managing and influencing the Main Board.
Plant Manager creating a new leadership team and achieving WCM Silver Award.
Head of Corporate Investments (M&A) supporting her promotion to Commercial Director.
new CEO appointed to turn round failing business.
Business Unit Director rebuilding leadership team to return BU to profitability.
newly appointed Regional R & D Manager(EMEA) creating new leadership team and new organisation whilst maintaining and improving results and service levels.
Department Head, Clinical Sciences building the leadership team and establishing a new department’s vision, strategy and objectives.
leading a team and 1-2-1 coaching programme to support 8 new Regional Managers in delivering a radical new strategy which achieved 100% Year 1 targets and 100% team retention.
collaborated with in-house resource in delivering an OD programme – workshops and 1-2-1 coaching – for a VC-backed Biotech leadership team which maintained margin and profit during a period of substantial growth and investment.
a series of team coaching workshops and 1-2-1 coaching for FTSE 100 Group and Divisional HR leadership teams who executed a major post-acquisition organisational restructure; and crystallised KPIs with measurable targets.
David has a BSc(Honours) Sociology/Psychology from Bath University; and is accredited to administer and interpret a wide variety of psychometric tools eg OPQ, MBTI, FIRO-B. He is a Member of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development; and is an accredited Cruse Bereavement Counsellor
“The work that David did for me with my Finance Director, R & D Director and Marketing Director was particularly valuable. It is clear that David helped them to work through issues of self-esteem, clarifying what their abilities were, what their development needs might be, and helped them to make good decisions about their contributions to the business and my leadership team.”
“When I first became a Regional Manager, it was really difficult to prioritise without getting bogged down by the detail. I had a tendency to react to whoever shouted the loudest or whichever situation was the most current. By talking through different mechanisms such as “in terms of contribution how important is this Branch?” it made me realise that I was wasting time on smaller contributors. Using the traffic light system to prioritise and also making me ask myself “what effect are my actions having on results?” I became a manager recognised for effective prioritisation. David understood when to encourage me and when to challenge me. I would put a large part of my success in my role down to this early coaching.”
“By always providing the right level of challenge and support and being non-judgemental David encouraged me to manage my own destiny rather than being swept along by the tide. Being available both for formal sessions and also for ad hoc conversations meant David was able to be a sounding board on a “just in time” basis which I found hugely valuable. David was officially my Executive Coach but was able to step into counselling mode alongside this, particularly shortly after the death of my father. David was able to both recognise and to help me address my rather complex needs at this time.”