John Burgess
John Burgess is a Consultant with 25 years experience of HR management in local government, managing services and staff. Flexible and versatile, with good organisational and inter-personal skills, he has a track record of change and performance improvement.
During his local government career he was
responsible for the development of numerous staff, both as a manager and a management coach. He is currently a Director of two companies, involved in the provision of diversity management training, organisational development, employee relations services, and management and personal development opportunities.
His approach both as a coach and as a learning facilitator is to encourage colleagues/clients to reflect critically upon personal performance and to question their own pre-suppositions: to look for new ways of thinking and looking forward; to manage and prioritise their personal development within competency frameworks. He says: “Supporting people to learn in this way is easily the most satisfying and exciting work that I do.”
Among his most cherished beliefs is that everyone should have an equal chance to maximise both their potential and their contribution, and his work has always been informed by this belief. This has involved him in a journey from implementing equal opportunities policies (in the 1980's) based on the belief that equality is a noble cause, and that it meant treating everyone “the same” , to the conviction that diversity is essential for business growth (or service development), via the recognition that treating everyone the same does not lead to equality.
Areas of expertise:
Organisational
- Changed culture & practices in own services and others
- Structural re-organisations
- Recruitment at Chief Officer level
- Collective bargaining in a highly political environment
- Working corporately, and managing conflict between different professional groups
- Developing employment policy and conditions
- Best Value reviews
Inter-personal
- Written and verbal communication
- Action Learning facilitator, targeting personal and management development
- Management coach
- Recruited, trained, led & motivated staff
- Performance manager
Operational
- Continuous improvement
- Best value
- Expertise in HR functions
- Employee relations specialist
- Performance management
- Managed all aspects of HR management services