Information About James - Walsingham trainer

Personal Description:

Having served as an army officer for four years, I completed my first degree in Economics and Politics, during which time I served as a leadership instructor for Oxford University Officer Training Corps. I then gained commercial experience in management within a tech start-up enterprise, before going on to teach for two years in an international school in the UK and for seven years in British public schools, teaching A- level Economics, Politics and Business Studies. Following my teaching career, in 1997 I joined a commercial learning and development consultancy, conducting training, coaching and assessment of executives at all levels in a variety of management and leadership skills. I then gained my Masters degree in Organisational Behaviour and a diploma in Performance Coaching. As a business psychologist, I now own and run my own consultancy which I have been doing since 2015, providing management development and assessment services, including career coaching, to multiple private and public sector organisations. I have worked with a wide variety of sectors, including banking, pharmaceuticals, engineering, energy, construction, government and professional services.

Training Specialisms:

I focus on leadership and team development, especially problem solving and strategy creation, but I have extensive expertise in management skills. In particular I am experienced in personal effectiveness (communication, presenting, influencing behaviour; conflict management; decision-making) project management skills and change management. I also have good experience in performance management, managing effective meetings, motivation skills, negotiation skills and coaching and mentoring skills.

I am qualified to conduct psychometric tests (personality and cognitive ability tests) as well as Assessment centres to identify management competency. I provide career counselling and job search advice and I am a qualified and experienced coach.

Training Methods:

My approach to training is simply to help the client discover their own latent abilities in their management and leadership skills and once discovered to nurture and develop their talent. Most of our potential lies hidden inside us and my role is to facilitate clients' confidence in their own abilities. I can provide a more directive approach but this is not usually as effective in developing management skills, as a clients' own experience in their workplace can provide huge insights to them. Hence I use more of a coaching role.

I use my expertise in organisational psychology but I do not deliver theories, preferring an approach of practical application of ideas that have worked well based on experience.