Jane Fairhurst - Head of Employee & Industrial Relations at Royal Mail

“Royal Mail introduced mediation as part of the Agenda for Growth Agreement (our Industrial Relations Strategy) in partnership with the CWU, the Royal Mail Union. We use mediation to resolve cases of bullying and harassment and industrial relations disputes. TCM have been a critical partner in the development of mediation within Royal Mail and they have been a pleasure to work with at every stage – from the design to the roll out of mediation across the entire company. Mediation has been incredibly effective. In the first two years of using mediation, we had undertaken 329 mediations of which 118 were industrial relations cases and 211 were in bullying and harassment cases. 88% of all cases were resolved through mediation. The cost savings to Royal Mail are measured in terms of tens of millions of pounds. That does not include the less visible benefits of a more collaborative and adult relationship in the workplace and between Royal Mail and its unions partners.”

Employee Relations Advisor at RSPCA - Emily Stuart
"The mediation training that was delivered by TCM was enjoyed by all delegates on the course, we all felt that we had learnt a new skill that we could not only use to benefit the organisation but one that we could take away into our personal and professional lives. The trainer Bola was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Would strongly recommend this course."
Georgia Volpe - Gender, Diversity & Inclusion Specialist at Plan International HQ

“TCM certainly met our requirements and listened to our feedback to change the initial facilitator proposed to a more compatible match which represents excellent client service. It was great working with Aideen, she was very aligned to our Plan values and took the time to understand our needs and was open to suggestions for the format of the workshop and she also asked about the participants and their specific areas of interest so she had more of an idea of her audience before she met them. On the day she facilitated the session well and put everyone at ease and created an informal space that encouraged discussion and dialogue. She ensured everyone’s voices were heard and she did a good job of assimilating all of the various ideas into a visual representation of the process map which was really helpful as there were lots of suggestions from those in the room. She has also been very patient as the internal processes have delayed the next steps on this piece of work. We would definitely use TCM again and recommend to others (and have already started to do that).”

Lyn Elliott - Head of HR at Cygnet Health Care

“I am very happy with the service provided by TCM. Often in Operations we are so busy ensuring that our Service Users are well cared for, it is difficult for us to assign Managers to investigations. TCM do a fantastic job supporting us with investigations and by using TCM, we ensure investigations are impartial and outcomes are fair. The turnaround on investigations is really quick, which again is sometimes a struggle for us at Cygnet Health Care. I would thoroughly recommend TCM to support businesses.”

Karen Cregan - Assistant Director of HRM Services at University of Chester

“I have had the fortunate experience of working with David at an event that I organised for the CIPD, Chester committee. David’s openness, sense of humour and willingness to challenge the status quo, engaged the audience and generated interesting debate and discussion on all aspects of mediation and resolution. Even HR professionals have to acknowledge that his views and approaches are a radical, yet refreshing departure from the norm! I would welcome David to speak at any event that required a dynamic, engaging and thought-provoking speaker. I would recommend him where I wanted the audience to be able to challenge and debate the role of HR when dealing with employee relations issues, particularly on the role of mediation and resolution. I would invite him if I wanted a different and sometimes radical view from what ACAS suggest is best practice. I would also propose him as a speaker as someone who could draw from both personal and professional experience and can tell a good story.”

Jacob Achenbach - Programme Manager at Rolls-Royce & Chair of Events at APM

“I invited David to organise a seminar for the Association for Project Management (APM) to help project management professionals develop conflict resolution and mediation skills. David’s workshop was excellent; it was full of expertise and humour, allowed the delegates to reflect and speak about their experiences openly and provided us with a lot of practical tips on how to manage, and make the most of, disagreements in a workplace. David is a true professional with an ability to make a difference and it was a pleasure to work with him.”

Sarah Bidwell - CIPD Black Country

“David Liddle of TCM provided a really engaging and thought provoking session aimed at helping our members to think about the compelling reasons to modernise and make dispute resolution approaches more effective. David is a fun speaker  who draws on a wealth of experience to generate debate and he provided real added value to the session with generous access for participants to TCM resources. Such a popular session we’ll be inviting him back again!”

Jules Goddard - Event Coordinator at Swindon & North Wiltshire CIPD

“David Liddle from TCM recently delivered an excellent event for the Swindon and North Wiltshire CIPD. It was a very engaging session and we had some great feedback afterwards. The topic is a very important one to most if not all businesses, Redefining Resolution. We were excited to book David and he delivered a very informative and interactive evening.  David delivered some thought provoking information which made everyone begin to think about alternatives to the ‘normal’ formal grievance procedures and how to avoid the almost inevitable increase in tension within the organisation, while encouraging mediation and other informal approaches. This methodology also is very cost effective, avoiding the heavy input required from managers when trying to resolve conflict or grievances. The feedback from the group that David delivered to is overwhelmingly positive and I can highly recommend David and The TCM Group.”

Teresa Delaney - South Yorkshire and District Branch of CIPD

“We are extremely grateful to David Liddle of The TCM Group for leading an insightful discussion to our members on ‘Taking the Grief out of Grievance’ earlier this year. This event which was attended by over 70 HR professionals received excellent feedback with 93% of attendees rating David’s session as good or excellent.  In particular members reported that they found the session informative and that it developed and challenged thinking around  grievance, mediation and conflict resolution, as well as leading them to consider the proposition of changing from a grievance to a resolution policy approach.”

Frank Holden - Events Organiser at North Staffordshire and South Cheshire CIPD

“David led an insightful and knowledgeable discussion on the benefits of properly structured mediation interventions to resolve individual conflict issues in the work environment. He is passionate in his advocacy of the value of carefully considered mediation where communication has broken down. His thoughts on the organisation’s values and culture as the starting point to resolve issues where a breakdown in relationships has taken place was reinforced with practical steps evolved out of years of experience with what works. David is a rewarding and gifted speaker with the ability to give clear and nuanced messages in an area fraught with a lot of muddled thinking and poor personal experiences.”