David is a globally renowned authority in the fields of conflict management, HR transformation, culture change, people & culture, leadership and organisation development. David was recognised as one of the top HR Most Influential Thinkers in 2024
David is author of two highly acclaimed books. His first book, Managing Conflict, transformed the landscape of dispute resolution. The 2nd edition was published in October 2023. Transformational Culture was published in October 2021 to rave reviews including from Dave Ulrich who described it as ‘remarkable’. David has also contributed to several texts published by Thinkers50.
Having completed a degree in race relations, David went on to set up one of the UK’s first specialist mediation and restorative justice organisations. In 2001, having completed his MBA with distinction, David began to offer mediation and restorative practices to UK organisations. One of the first to do so, he quickly recognised that dialogue, compassion, empathy and inclusion were more effective at resolving issues at work than retribution, blame, shame, punishment and fear.
David’s company, The TCM Group, has evolved into a global consultancy offering a unique ecosystem of consulting services and training programs. David’s ground-breaking Resolution Framework™ is being used to replace grievance and disciplinary procedures in numerous organisations and his Transformational Culture Model offers a blueprint for a purpose driven, values based and person-centred workplace. David recently set up his new venture peopleandculture.com supporting HR teams to transition into an exciting and progressive people and culture function. A function which David describes as one of the most strategically important functions in our organisation
David has also contributed to three highly acclaimed texts: PERPETUAL TRANSFORMATION: Practical Tools, Inspiration and Best Practice to Constantly Transform Your World, BUILDING RESILIENT ORGANIZATIONS: Best practices, tools and insights to thrive in ever-changing contexts and CERTAIN UNCERTAINTY: leading with agility and resilience in an unpredictable world
Originating from Nottingham in the East Midlands, David has extensive experience of cultural transformation, conflict resolution and leadership development. In the early nineties, David established Leicestershire Mediation Service – one of the first community mediation and restorative justice (RJ) schemes in the UK. David ran the service for eight years and in that time he established the Conflict Resolution in Schools Programme (CRISP), was a founding member of the Midlands Mediation Network and he pioneered the use of restorative justice to tackle youth offending. He was also active in numerous mediation, RJ, and community regeneration programmes across the UK.
In 2001, David established The TCM Group – Putting People First™. His vision for TCM was, and still is, to help organisations to develop purpose driven, values based and person centred cultures- transformational cultures. For the past two decades, David has been at the forefront of conflict resolution and change management, HR transformation, employee relations and leadership best practice. In 2021, David was recognised as one of the global top 20 HR most influential thinkers and in 2022, he was invited to join the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar.
David has built a world class team of consultants and a head office team who work with numerous household names to develop and integrate fair, just, inclusive, sustainable and high performing systems, cultures and leadership practices. David was awarded his MBA with distinction after studying the use of mediation and ADR within three large organisations.
David tells people that he is a mediator through and through. However, he goes on to explain that the principles of mediation are so universally valuable (dialogue, compassion, empathy, respect, courage, trust and tolerance), that he has learned how to adapt them and to shape them so that they are relevant, not just for resolving a conflict, but in virtually every area of the modern workplace and indeed across our society.
Some of David’s recent assignments have included:
- Supporting the integration of his award wining Resolution Framework™ in numerous organisations as varied as Lloyds Banking Group, TSB, Aviva, Capgemini, AIG, HSBC, Next PLC, Burberry, Nationwide BS, NHSBT, MaPS, Woodgreen animal charity, Oxfam, and numerous NHS trust, councils, universities and other public, private and not for profit organisations.
- Setting up inhouse mediation schemes for HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Royal Mail, Network Rail, The Metropolitan Police, Aviva, DWP, BA and many others.
- Embedding a values based culture within the British Retail Consortium.
- Training over 100 NHS managers and clinicians across the East of England for NHSE&I
- Designing and delivering a number of workshops and courses for senior managers and the global HR Team at Capgemini
- Undertaking successful mediations for a wide array of organisations.
- Speaking at various conferences and events.
David has created the FAIR Model™ which is the benchmark mediation and investigations model in use in workplaces across the UK. He has designed the Transformational Culture Model™, The Employee Experience Equation™, The Culture Flow System™ and the INSIGHT – CHANGE Model™ to help managers and leaders to secure better outcomes from change programmes and transformation initiatives. in 2013, frustrated with the corrosive and damaging systems for addressing issues in the workplace, David launched his innovative Resolution Framework™ which numerous organisations have now adopted to replace their outdated discipline and grievance procedures.
David has created a highly effective ecosystem within TCM comprising a unique portfolio of brands, each of which has its own website and full time co-ordinator: The Mediation Company™, The Investigation Company™, Engage Leadership™, Engage Coaching™, Resolution Framework™, Apaxio®, UK Resolution, People and Culture Consulting, and The People and Culture Association (PCA). This ecosystem draws from the very latest thinking in cultural transformation, leadership, employee experience, systems thinking and customer experience.
David is a father of three beautiful children and, when he is not mediating or writing, he enjoys cycling and a spot of amateur dramatics. His latest role was Jeeves in PG Wodehouse’s ‘Carry on Jeeves’.
