Over the last 25 years, Mark has been providing advice, training and support to a range of organisations: helping small enterprises to develop growth strategies, shaping the future of large corporations through skills development programmes and successfully delivering complex projects within the education sector. Working in English, Mark has delivered training to teams in Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, India, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 

He began his career as a consultant in 1997 when he joined Pera (Production Engineering Research Association) undertaking research on behalf of Government agencies and commercial organisations within the UK. One of his earliest roles was supporting managers within the Standard Bank Group, of South Africa, through the delivery of cultural awareness training. When Mark joined the Training Division of Pera, he delivered courses on Effective Decision Making, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving, Effective Communication and Collaborative Working Using BS11000.
Whilst working with British Airways Mark was responsible for providing business intelligence within the Purchasing function. This included the provision of economic forecasts, selection and validation of price variation formulae to support long-term engine contracts, category planning and managing communication between relevant stakeholders.
In July 2004, Mark became a Director within Optima Training (UK) Limited and undertook a range of interim management roles and consulting interventions, gaining extensive experience of training a range of businesses across the UK. Working in partnership with Grant Thornton, an accounting and financial services firm based in London, he coordinated and managed the delivery team for the government funded GrowthAccelerator programme for three years; developing and delivering Leadership and Management workshops to growing businesses all over the UK. He also developed Masterclasses in Creative Problem Solving Techniques, Creating Competitive Products and Services, Identifying Unmet Customer Needs and Developing an Innovative Organisation as part of the Innovation strand of the programme. Mark also managed the design and development of Innovation in Action, an ILM L3 accredited programme.
Mark is an experienced presenter and facilitator, who has delivered a number of courses on the subject of Presenting with Confidence, Effective Report Writing and Communicating to Influence. Much of this work is bespoke, designed specifically for the client to reflect internal guidelines and branding requirements. One such client was William Saunders, a firm of architects in the UK, enabling participants to Create and Deliver PowerPoint Presentations with Impact.

In June 2016, Mark was approached by a previous client and asked to help transition the company to a new leadership team. He joined MS (Distribution) UK Limited, a provider of professional wireless and networking solutions, as Chief Operations Officer. Here he was responsible for improving operations, implementing a new operating model and driving a change in organisational culture; formulating company strategy on behalf of the Directors and translating this into actionable operational plans.
Whilst in role, Mark introduced new methods of performance feedback and employee recognition, implemented staff empowerment initiatives and established staff reporting and feedback mechanisms to deliver improved employee engagement. New skills development and staff training initiatives were also introduced, leading to higher levels of staff engagement and efficiency.  Whilst in role, he implemented a number of internal training programmes to develop the leadership and management teams, focusing on management fundamentals, stakeholder management and influencing skills, communication and time management.  
    Having helped transition to business to new ownership, Mark was contracted to Jaguar Land Rover as their Procurement Training and Development Manager. He was responsible for training all new starters within the Purchasing Department, redesigning the functions induction programme to deliver cost efficiencies of 50% and improve feedback from 85% average to 92% average.  Mark was the lead trainer in the delivery of Strategic Thinking, a two-days course for Purchasing Managers and Senior Buyers. Mark’s other recent projects have included:
•    Design and delivery of a leadership skills programme for senior and upper management teams of a food manufacturer in the UK. Modules included: Tools for Better Planning, Organising Yourself to Lead the Work of Others, Managing (Under) Pressure, Developing Your Team and Practical Tools for Improved Communication. The next phase will focus on Delivering Change as the programme is cascaded to the lower management tiers.
•    Reset, a bespoke management training programme to develop teamwork and leadership skills within the middle-management team of a medical devices manufacturer.
•    Leading an internal cultural change programme for the senior leadership team and over 60 employees at Dunlop Aircraft Tyres. Focused on the adoption of Six Thinking Hats, this also included modules on How to Present Information with Impact and Influencing Change.
•    Facilitation of collaborative working strategy workshops to support the creation of joint ventures and public sector partnerships within the construction industry.
•    Development of eLearning content for an international organisation to encourage cross-cultural alignment in compliance with mandated processes.