David is CEO of The TCM Group and president of the Institute of Organisational Dynamics. He is author of ‘MANAGING CONFLICT’ (Kogan Page/CIPD) and his second book, ‘TRANSFORMATIONAL CULTURE’ was recently shortlisted as Business Book of the Year. David is currently working on a new text for the Economist entitled ‘How to Disagree Well’ and the 2nd Edition of Managing Conflict is due to be published in early 2023.
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 schemes in the UK. David ran the scheme 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 (RJ) 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. For the past two decades, David has been at the forefront of conflict management, human resources, 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:
- 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.
- Working with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) to embed a Resolution Policy.
- 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™, Total Conflict Management™ and The Institute of Organisation Dynamics™. This ecosystem draws from the very latest thinking in digital transformation 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’.