Purpose Matters

Strategic organisational development can enable your business to be ready for the future. Helping everyone in your teams understand your shared purpose, live your vision and work collectively, can make the difference in you achieving your goals.

With a proven track record working with organisations of all types, shapes and sizes, I can challenge and support you in identifying or refining your strategies, developing or reviewing your Company vision and goals and building a workforce that best meets your needs.

My approach to strategy development has proven time and time again to be fruitful. I spend time seeking to understand and help you explore what your ‘why’ is. By asking the right questions I look at at how you tell your stories, how you understand the context and landscapes you work in, and how will you create your future?

I don’t rely just on desk-based research and surveys but instead have real-life conversations with you, your stakeholders and your people to understand what is important to you all. And then help you build your vision, your governance, your goals and your strategy that will help you be the organisation you want to be.

Think 4 Wellbeing

Jo Metcalfe, Founder and Director

Ali and I connected working with Quest carrying out improvement assessments across the Active Partnership network. Since then we have continued to support each other and work together sharing similar values, principles and like minds in improving the health and wellbeing of our nation. She is highly collaborative and always challenges my thinking, providing insightful perspectives as well as innovative ideas. As a result we have built an Associate partnership way of working together and I greatly value her as an expert in leading transformational change in place based working.

Halesowen College Entreprises Ltd

Les Williams, NHS Director and Chair of Governors

As an Executive Director of HCE Ltd Alison bought exceptional organisational development and strategic business planning skills. Following her role on the Trustee Board, where she added considerable value to the College, she took on this key accountability bringing a very clear sense of business and through her well developed ability to work as a critical friend, she skill-fully combined challenge and support to achieve progression. Along with being personable and able to commnicate well her ideas and experience, she demonstrated a keen understanding of the commercial realities of an organisation and helped HCE Ltd grow as a business and employer.

Dudley MBC

Jacqueline Branch, HR&OD Director

“Alison supported us to co-design our People Strategy for our entire workforce. She provided much needed resource, experience and expertise us helping us to focus on what matters most to us and how we want to drive organisational and cultural change across the whole Council”. I would highly recommend her and hope to work together again in the future”.

Yorkshire Sport Foundation

Nigel Harrison, CEO

‘Ali lead our strategy review as we knew she had a deep understanding of the type of work we do and would bring fresh thinking to us. We’re delighted we did. Ali worked extensively with our partners and our team, listening to their thoughts, reflecting them back to us to give us real, tangible learnings for us to build upon. Her approach was both challenging and supportive. Throughout the process Ali was great at interpreting our thoughts, changing things when needed, and was flexible in the way the project ran its course. We are now in a much better position to move on with a well-rounded and well thought-through strategy which is in line with all our stakeholders’ thoughts.’

Sport Sheffield

Andrew Cox, Director of Sport and Physical Activity

I would have to say I am a very strong advocate of Alison’s professional approach to developing a strategic plan for our organisation.

From our very first correspondence and subsequent introductory meeting, Alison has been a joy to work with resulting in a high quality process, project, and piece of work all within the timeline and budget outlined.

Alison has actively listened, positively challenged, posed suitable questions, investigated and accurately interpreted both our own feedback, ideas and thoughts and also that of our key stakeholders.

This has resulted in a strategy that truly and authentically reflects our organisation and carries the desired integrity & transparency to implement a plan we have great confidence in and that will support our future strategic direction.

One of the significant benefits of working with Alison, was the way in which she interpreted the brief, her understanding of the complexities of the HE sector and blended these with local, regional and national strategy intelligence..

This has all been completed with the skill to translate the information into a straightforward working document, created with the intention of being understandable for all members of our staff team and the wider University community.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Alison (Shipway Consulting) to other organisations, friends and colleagues.

I’m already looking forward to our next collaboration.