People & Change
People & ChangeThe people side of change.
A strategy can make sense on paper and still be hard to put into practice. I help you plan for the people side of change, and work through it when it’s already underway.
Let’s talk it through
The restructure is about to be announced, and you want to know what it will ask of people before it lands. Or it’s already happened, and the energy drained out of the room. The new operating model is live and nobody’s working differently. The AI tools are bought, the pilot went fine, and then everything slowed down. Your best people started asking careful questions about what this means for them.
Before you call it resistance, it’s worth asking what people are protecting — and whether they have a point. That might be their competence, their standing, or their sense of who they are at work. It might also tell you that something needs to change in the organisation, not just in the people. I help organisations understand this before they act, and work through it when change is already underway.
Who I work with
The people carrying the change.
My work focuses on law firms and in-house legal teams. In legal work, people’s expertise is the business, so changing how they work means changing more than a process. I’ve been a solicitor, built and sold a legal services business, and worked inside legal teams on AI adoption, so I know how the work actually gets done.
Managing partners and firm leaders
Growing, restructuring or bringing in new technology, and knowing the next stage depends on how your people work, not just on what you buy.
General Counsel and legal leadership teams
Asked to do more with less, bring in AI and show their value to the business, while keeping the good people they have.
HR and People Directors in legal
Who need a partner with the evidence base to shift the conversation with partners and the board — someone who talks organisational change, not org charts.
Examples of my work
What this looks like when it works.
Most of my work is under NDA, so I don’t name every client. Here is the shape of two engagements.
Putting AI to work in a legal team.
- The situation
- A sports media business whose legal team was bringing AI into its day-to-day work.
- What I did
- Worked inside the team rather than advising from outside: getting to grips with how the work actually happened, then helping the team put AI to use in ways that fitted it.
- What changed
- AI put to use in ways that worked for the people using it.
Alice quickly embedded herself in our team and got to grips with our reality. She didn’t just advise; she helped us implement AI so it actually works for the people using it.
Giving a growing firm more structure.
- The situation
- A solicitor-led firm preparing to scale.
- What I did
- Helped the founder put systems and structures in place, gain financial visibility across the business, and set a roadmap for growth.
- What changed
- Systems and structures in place, with a clear roadmap for growth.
Alice has a way of cutting through noise and getting straight to what matters. She helped me put the right systems and structures in place and create a clear roadmap for growth. And that’s only part of it — she is genuinely someone you can call on for the everyday challenges of running a business, whether that’s working through a decision, sense-checking an idea, or just having someone in your corner who gets it.
How I work
Three ways in.
Diagnose
A focused diagnostic. We agree the change you are trying to make, speak with the people involved and examine how the work happens in practice. You receive a clear assessment of the main obstacles and a prioritised set of recommendations. We then decide whether you need further support or have what you need to proceed independently.
Typically three to four weeks. Fixed scope, agreed upfront — you know exactly what you’re committing to before anything bigger. The usual place to start.
Advise
Ongoing advisory. Support for an agreed organisational change or business objective, as it unfolds. A retained relationship on a monthly retainer, at a cadence that suits the work, usually involving the leaders and stakeholders carrying the change rather than one person alone.
We agree the objective, who needs to be involved and how we’ll know it’s working. Get in touch to discuss the scope and fee.
Embed
Hands-on support. Working alongside your team for the moments that matter — an adoption push, a restructure, a capability programme — with the aim of leaving your people able to carry it on themselves.
Time-boxed with an exit built in. The hand-off is the point: your team runs it without me.
Whichever way in, you work directly with me. We agree the scope, what useful progress looks like and when the work is done — and I build it so your team can carry on without me.
Organisational advisory
Support for an agreed organisational change or business objective. That’s this page.
Thinking Partner
Support centred on one person’s decisions, leadership or professional development. Employers often fund it; the difference is the focus, not who pays.
About Thinking Partner →Looking for a session rather than an engagement? Workshops & Speaking →
Why me
Because I’ve sat on every side of this.
I’ve been the adviser telling the board what their people won’t say to them. I’ve been the founder asking a team to work in ways nobody had before. I’ve been the lecturer teaching the next generation of HR leaders, and I’m a doctoral researcher at the University of Bath, studying how workplace expectations shape professional identity and everyday working lives.
I’ve sat on every side of this, and I bring all of it into the room.
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
The Red Queen, Through the Looking-Glass
Let’s talk it through.
No pitch deck, no framework. Just a chat about where you are and whether I can help.
