Rolls-Royce

- Led transformation from a low-performing Scrum team to a highly collaborative, performing team using Kanban.
- Product Owner and Agile Coach of two Software teams developing a Data Platform for the business, initially focusing on maximising engine availability which has currently saved over £9 million for the customer. Created roadmaps and led stakeholder reviews to maintain alignment across teams.
- Coached the team to use a Minimum Viable Product approach in line with the Lean Startup methodology. This resulted in delivering a bespoke software solution in 4 months which saves £70k/year and reduces the manufacturing time of a component by 12%.
- Supporting the wider business adopt a more agile approach to product development, facilitating workshops, writing strategy documents and coaching teams in their transformation.
- Qualified Professional Scrum Master and trained SAFe Practitioner.

Agile Delivery Lead

- Technically lead three component teams through New Product Introduction - developing the component method of manufacture and managing the technical risk.
- Managing the programme management for those components, updating project plans (P6), technical risk burndown using PFMEAs and being accountable for delivery of the production technical packages.
- Specialised in Design for Manufacture - balancing the Design ideals against realistic Manufacturing considerations to meet delivery commitments.
- Responsible for building the team. Hiring, performance management, personal development and coaching.
- Built a culture of continuous improvement, hosting retrospectives to reflect and learn from mistakes before the components went into production. Applied Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma principles such as value stream mapping and statistical process control to reduce waste and variation within our manufacturing methods, improving quality and delivery.

Manufacturing Engineering Technical Lead

- Responsible for managing the existing components through manufacture including managing non-conformance and reworks to maintain Design intent.
- Co-ordinated and led major design improvements with stress, thermal and materials engineers as we re-introduced components into manufacture. Reduced non-conformance by over 50% through these improvements.
- Managed operations stakeholders as the primary contact for Engineering as we balanced the risk of progressing with manufacture vs performing detailed analysis on defects. Strong communicator.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Attained.

Mechanical Design Engineer

Blueprint Leadership Academy

- Coached clients of Small-Medium Enterprises on Transformational Change and business development. Specialised in getting the leaders to empower their teams to achieve ambitious outcomes.
- Focused on setting meaningful goals, using OKRs and aligning the team to collaborate together to achieve them. Supported the planning and execution of these goals through workshops and coaching.
- Devised a goal-setting planner, now available on Amazon.co.uk to help others set personal goals and track progress.

Leadership Consultant

BAE Systems

Spent 4 months on placement in Mechanical Engineering Support. This involved producing solutions to problems with the product. Skills used include; Problem Solving, Engineering Design, Mathematical Analysis and Report Writing.

My second placement on the GDF was in Cost Engineering began in January 2013 and involved working on the bid process for various projects and pricing the labour within the business.

GDF Engineer

Worked as a design engineer as part of the High Integrity Pressure Vessels team within the Nuclear Marine sector. Assisted in the design of a number of components, writing technical reports, working on the design and manufacture of the pressure vessel following ASME codes III and VIII. Techniques used included Design for Assembly/Manufacture, TRIZ and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. SC Security Clearance attained.

Over my time in the Engineering sector, I have witnessed many examples of both good and bad leadership. In 2021, I started working with clients to help improve their leadership, based on empowering team members with effective goal setting, determining where they decide to focus their efforts and developing a framework to support others to get higher performance.

My background, working in some of the best engineering firms in the world, has given me great exposure to "Operational Excellence" - which is what I can work with you to achieve. Operational excellence is the perfect balance of People, Process and Purpose. I have the tools to help you with all three!

People are at the heart of any good business, but you need to get the right ones, develop them and keep them around. I can help you preparing for interviewing new employees, empowering them to love their role and develop them so they can be at their best more often.

Process is often overlooked in leadership, but a great leader understands their outputs and helps their team by removing obstacles so they can deliver. Are your team bogged down or have inconsistent ways of working, with limited tangible results? I am experienced in Agile, Scrum, Lean, Six Sigma, Quality Management Systems and more to help you fix these problems.

Finally, purpose! Tell your team what you need to achieve and let them figure out how to get there. I can help with goal setting, planning for the future and delivering the mission to your team. Without understanding purpose, your team will never be able to reach high performance.

If your organisation is struggling to develop a high performing culture, get in touch and let me help you achieve your goals.

Dan Webb

Pragmatism (UK) Ltd

We specialise in resolving disputes through mediation, and helping organisations to nip issues in the bud by training mediation skills.

⛔️  Do you have disputes that need resolving?

⛔️  Do managers struggle to engage employees or Trade Unions?

⛔️  Are managers struggling to deal with people issues? 

⛔️  Is productivity suffering due to absence, capability or attitude?

⛔️  Are difficult conversations being avoided?

⛔️  Do employee surveys criticise communication?

⛔️  Are senior leaders distracted from strategic focus due to people issues?

When it comes to leading people effectively there's no substitute for experience - no short cuts either.  We'll never just regurgitate theory - if you want theories don't waste your money - just ask Google!

We get on the pitch and work with individuals, teams, HR functions and Trade Unions. Between us we can deliver sustained improvements through people which helps the business and employees. If leading people effectively was just about the soft and fluffy bits it'd be easy and anybody could do it - we help with the tough parts and the difficult conversations. 

We've been in your shoes, have the scars and learnt from mistakes. We've led amazing transformation through effective employee relations and strong people leadership.

We believe training courses have their place, but they don't transform managers into effective people leaders - pragmatic and accountable leadership does.

Pragmatism is more than our name - it's the ethos we live by.

Director

Civil Mediation Council

Facilitating the resolution of workplace, civil and commercial disputes. Working with organisations to identify and address root cause issues, prevent future issues and improve employee relations.

Mediator

Working as part of several senior executive leadership teams within the Aerospace supply chain. Leading large teams of HR Managers and partnering Executive Vice Presidents for global businesses of up to £850m turnover businesses. Responsible for HR provisions spanning up to 12,000 employees.

Senior HR Executive

Northern Foods

Leading the full operations of two high volume manufacturing plants, heading a team of Production Managers and Team Leaders. Responsible for c800 people supplying extremely challenging customers such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, as well as own-brand products, manufacturing to very tight financial margins within a highly unionised environment.

Factory Manager

Leading a team of HR professionals on a site which one publication referred to as ‘the most difficult industrial relations environment in the UK food industry. Escalation point of contact for employee relations issues / disputes across 10 manufacturing sites around the UK.

HR / Employee Relations Manager

Corus

Developed HR career, ultimately leading the HR function for the UK division of Corus Special Strip.

UK HR Manager (Special Strip) / HR Manager / HR Officer

Kinetic plc

Supplying talent to businesses ranging from small & medium enterprises to large blue-chip organisations, the main client being British Steel plc.

Recruitment Consultant

Mastercare Ltd

Warehouse Operative / Supervisor

I see formal grievances as failure - either failure to resolve the issue informally, or (rarely) for somebody to have any sense of rationale.

We seem to have lost the ability to have proper conversations - instead we get embroiled in formal grievances and litigation through the courts. In most cases these really aren’t the best answer - they only result in lots of time, cost and (most worryingly) significant stress. 

I see some extremely sad examples of lengthy and stressful disputes which have made people very poorly and affected personal relationships. Once they finally have proper conversations and resolve their issues people always wish they’d talked properly much sooner. 

I founded my business to help organisations and individuals resolve issues quickly, and to prevent them going forward. Life’s too short to waste time arguing and fighting against others - by having honest and confidential conversations people implement pragmatic resolutions more than 90% of the time. 

Naming the company was really easy. Pragmatism isn’t just our name - it’s our ethos.

I do have all the necessary qualifications but I’m really not into theories - although they’re interesting and do have their place. 

If you want the theories regurgitating then I’m not your man - you’ll need to work with somebody else. My personal advice would be to search on Amazon (or any other retailer) and buy a book - even easier just Google the theories for free. 

Over three decades with companies such as British Steel and Rolls-Royce I’ve loved working with employees, line managers, HR professionals and Trade Unions to resolve issues and prevent them going forward (I’m not a believer in sticking plasters). 

Once you start having proper, honest conversations performance starts to change pretty quickly. I don’t subscribe to the theory that cultures take years to change - I’ve literally seen them change overnight when it comes to people and leadership. 

I’m always open to a chat with anybody to run through your people-related challenges and the most pragmatic way forward. Feel free to call me on my mobile which is 07500 831181. 

Alternatively, you can leave a message with the office on 0333 987 5185 or for more details about what we do as a business visit our website at https://pragmatism-uk.co.uk

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The Battle

Dan Webb

Pete Colby

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