About Us
We want organisations to thrive on the value & uniqueness of their people
ProAction HR is a team of experts who deliver positive change across all aspects of your organisation related to your most precious asset, your people. We are your change management partners, focused on guiding, supporting and advising so you can implement change to achieve your commercial and people-related goals.
We support organisations to thrive through the quality and uniqueness of their people. This means supporting businesses with everything to do with your employees; HR Support, Managing Change as well as individual and team Learning & Development, especially leadership, management development and coaching.
The ProAction HR Team are:
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Commercially Minded
Definitely not just tea and sympathy – we support good people but not at the expense of the needs of your business.
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Strategic
We are not here just to save costs. We are here to plan and act to make sure your organisation & your people are future-fit.
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Driven by Results
We don’t hang about. We know you want something to change within your business and we help you do it properly.
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People Focused
We treat each individual with respect and make sure they have the tools and skills to take their best next steps.
Meet Our ProAction HR Team
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Martin Nicholson
Managing Consultant & Coach
Martin is the Co-founder & Director of ProAction HR. He has 15 years’ experience working with senior management teams and a wide variety of commercial clients, in the UK and internationally.
Martin has a strong desire to place people at the forefront of a business’s success which enables him to focus on the people agenda and realize opportunities for efficiency and better practice.
A Prince 2 practitioner and qualified performance coach, Martin brings rigour and challenge to any client’s business to enable them to achieve their goals. Specialities: Values/Vision, Senior objectives and strategic goal alignment, Performance Coach, Change facilitator.
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Joanne Hobbins
Learning and Development Consultant & Coach
Joanne is Co-founder and Director of ProAction HR. She is a MSc qualified Occupational Psychologist who works to optimise; leadership and management skills, employee wellbeing, and individual differences. She is a licensed practitioner for Insights Discovery, DiSC and Myers Briggs Personality Type Inventory.
Joanne uses a variety of tools through training and coaching to help people reach their aspirations. She has a commercial focus on the bottom line and a proven ability to deliver customer needs at required costs.
After starting her career in psychology research for University College London & the British Psychological Society, Joanne applied these skills in financial services managing insurance products at The AA and ING banking. Specialities: individual differences, wellbeing, return to work, coaching, resilience, motivation & leadership development, imposter syndrome and neurodiversity.
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Andy Cast
Associate Director & Coach
Andy began his 30 year career with over 15 years’ retail management at Marks & Spencer & the John Lewis Partnership. Putting his customer service and commercial experience to good use he moved into HR, partnering with senior leaders in the Private, Public & Not for Profit sectors, helping to create and implementing their People strategies.
An accredited mediator, coach and counsellor, Andy has a passion for helping people achieve more, both in their professional and personal lives. Specialities include: Individual & Team Leadership & Management Development, 1-2-1 Executive Coaching, Group Coaching, Employee Engagement, Health & Wellbeing, Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity and Learning strategy creation & implementation.
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Jo Moore
Office Manager
Jo has over 30 years' experience in a variety of roles in industries including telecoms, publishing, video games and aviation.
Having worked as a Trainer, Documentation Manager, Bookkeeper and Office Manager, she brings a broad knowledge and the ability to adapt to deliver the required results. Bringing a customer-service focus to a diverse range of jobs throughout her career, Jo is always looking to deliver a professional and efficient service to ensure that things run smoothly for both our clients and the ProAction HR team.
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Camilla Cooper
HR Consultant
Camilla is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with a breadth of experience across various business sectors ranging from small start-ups to large global organisations.
With over 14 years’ HR experience, she enjoys coaching, guiding and supporting both new and experienced managers on best practice.
A Certified Professional Behaviour (DISC) Analyst, Camilla has a real passion for recruitment and utilises her instinctive aptitude and knowledge to assist businesses in effectively hiring their most valuable asset, their people.
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Colleen Bloomfield
Assistant HR Advisor and Partner Specialist
Colleen has over 16 years’ experience gained across Co-ordinator roles in HR and Management roles within Payroll.
Her career started off working for Medirest (a major food supplier for the NHS) and then directly for the NHS before working within various well known accountancy firms. In her most recent role she took the business from start up and built it to a successful bureau company with over 50 clients within a year.
Colleen is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She understands how important the role of HR is in a business and works with each client to achieve their vision.
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Beth Glass
HR Administrator
Beth has over 7 years’ experience working within HR.
Her career started working in HR for a Local Authority and she then went on to work within HR for a leading manufacturing company. She has experience working in administration and co-ordination roles.
She understands what a key role HR plays within a business and enjoys being able to work with businesses to help things run smoothly and to help them achieve their goals and thrive.
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Myfanwy Williams
HR Consultant
Myfanwy is an HR generalist with over 20 years’ experience working within both the public and private sectors. She has Chartered membership status of the CIPD and is passionate about everyone's wellbeing!
As a mental health first aider and member of a great HR team, Myfanwy focus is on supporting clients to successfully manage their HR issues during our challenging times. Myfanwy is also a volunteer with a local charity supporting people with learning disabilities to lead independent, happy lives.
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Ria Bristol
HR Consultant
Ria has over 20 years’ broad and extensive HR related experience, working with a variety of large and small businesses, start-up and global.
Commercially astute with strong business partnering skills and an understanding of what a business needs coupled with a ‘can do’ approach.
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Sara MacDougall
HR Consultant
Sara is a generalist with over 20 years’ experience working with large and SME private and public sector clients. Sara’s recent experience involves supporting small IT/Software startups, as well as providing a full generalist service to larger software houses, to support them as they grow through talent acquisition and TUPE. Sara possess a good understanding of the challenges often faced by this sector, as well as a passion for supporting and coaching line managers to achieve successful outcomes with their employees.
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Alex Duggan
Health & Safety and Sustainability Consultant
Alex, with over 30 years’ of experience gained both in the UK and overseas, is a highly experienced Health & Safety. He has worked across a range of diverse industries including oil and gas, manufacturing, commercial and construction in the UK and in the Middle East, Africa, and Australia.
Experienced in conducting risk assessments, developing and writing policies & procedures, developing customised training programmes, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Passionate about safeguarding both employees and organisational assets, Alex is dedicated to promoting a culture of safety and well-being in workplaces through proactive measures and effective communication. Ready to collaborate and support organisations in achieving their health and safety objectives.
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Diane Ward
Talent Attraction Consultant
Diane is a recruitment professional with 20 years’ experience helping shape the way organisations attract, hire and onboard their workforce. Her experience focusses on designing and implementing resourcing solutions for large and small organisations spanning the globe.
Diane has implemented resourcing solutions, at times with a blank canvas, in a number of organisations to improve overall efficiency and improve employer brand. Innovation & streamlined operating procedures have always been at the forefront of her planning and she has experience influencing key stakeholders, as well as designing & delivering the solution.
With an appetite for continuous professional development, Diane graduated in 2008 with a Masters in Business Administration specialising in developing business and is also a qualified Change Management Practitioner.
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Richard Pheasant
Training Consultant & Coach
Richard has over 16 years’ experience training others in leadership and management, in both the UK and internationally, as well as over 30 years’ experience in education and training. He moved from head of department for computing training in a university, where he also lectured in leadership for six years, to a corporate training position in Dubai. He has a strong focus on developing and expanding managers’ leadership competencies through knowledge, understanding and practice.
Over the past 10 years he has had the privilege of training and coaching several thousand managers in the UK and abroad to improve and develop their leadership and management knowledge and skills. He is now based in the UK. Specialities include: Developing Leadership and Management Skills, Strategic Thinking and Planning, Managing Change, Planning and Organising and Train the Trainer.
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Julie Leach
Training Consultant & Coach
Julie is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and since graduating in Business Studies, has had a 20 year career within global Financial Services. Her roles included Learning & Development, HR Consultancy, Business Management, Internal Communications, Cultural Change & Event Management, many of which were with global teams across different cultures.
Julie also spent 2 years working in Hong Kong where she delivered the people strategy across Asia Pacific for a global bank. After having her children, she joined another global bank, responsible for the design, delivery & evaluation of personal, management & leadership development workshops. She also delivered a company wide client service & cultural values programme to over 500 employees as well as a Senior Management Development Programme. Her passion is design & delivery of development programmes that help grow the confidence of employees and equip them with the skills to be successful.
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Chris Tattersall
Training Consultant & Coach
Chris’s focus with ProAction HR is on training, particularly in intercultural management, team building, and coaching.
After 25 years in banking, covering Operations and IT, Chris moved into Financial Services before setting up SMART UK in 2006, which he grew to a financial services consulting unit of 35. When the business was sold to Grant Thornton in 2011, Chris became their Head of Financial Services Business Consulting. He then moved to their Global Financial Services, helping grow the capability of the organisation in key global financial centres before becoming their Global Leader, Industries, with responsibility for implementing the strategy of the entire global organisation, as well as growing the financial services business globally.
From early 2017, Chris has taken his wealth of international commercial, financial, management and consultancy experience and worked as a senior advisor, director, coach and trainer to a range of organisations, ranging from professional services firms to start-ups and charities.
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Jane Hodgson
Training Consultant & Coach
Jane is a learning and development professional with 19 years’ industry experience. Specialising in leadership and management development she became a consultant in 2016 and has worked in 16 different countries across 4 continents, working with healthcare, finance, life sciences, IT, waste management and facilities management.
Jane has been a coach for over 10 years and has coached at all levels, from first-time supervisors to director and C-suit level executives. Whilst she is passionate and very serious about learning, she doesn’t take herself too seriously and likes to create a relaxed and informal setting where learners can truly be themselves and feel safe.
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Claire Buckley
Coach
Claire is a Member of the ICF (International Coaching Federation) with a Diploma in Transformational coaching with Animas Centre. With over 20 years’ experience in Australia and the UK, Claire has lead & managed teams, delivering projects & worked at all levels of organisations, in corporate and higher education. She is driven by helping people discover their strengths, gain clarity on goals and increase their confidence.
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Andrew Gordon
Employee Engagement Consultant
Andrew has a career spanning 30+ years including sales, sales management & training, and his passion has always been personal development.
He focuses on developing & delivering improvement in employee experience and engagement. His ‘hands-on’ approach covers data collection, analysis, strategy, implementation of initiatives, data collection & measurement. Many organisations claim people are their greatest asset, yet there seems to be a gap between what organisations say, and what they do, so Andrew helps you close this gap. He collaborates to build a more positive, productive & enjoyable place to work. His planning & implementation deploys skills from HR specialists, change facilitators, coaches, trainers, facilitators, psychologists, and many more. His approach is a blend of ‘do it for you and do it with you’.
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Mark Mowbray
Client Engagement Lead
Mark has over 30 years' experience in the retail sector in various roles for national and more local organisations.
With a strong focus on exceptional customer service for internal and external customers, Mark has helped create products and services that encourage excellence in both the workplace and the customer offering.
Mark is passionate about people, how they thrive as individuals and the value they can bring to any business. Using his experiences and learnings Mark has had the privilege to build new teams, providing complete strategic solutions for individual and business growth.
Our Services
HR Support
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Many small to medium-sized businesses run more efficiently with some level of HR in place, but most do not need a full-time in-house resource. Our flexible HR Support range of pick and mix services can prove invaluable to you. Discover more
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Getting payroll right is vital for the most valuable asset in your organisation…your people! Our outsourced payroll management service will save you time and free up resource, for as little as £50* per month. Discover more
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Managing your HR with software is the perfect solution for keeping on top of your day-to-day HR tasks, centralising data, and maximising your employee engagement. We partner with BreatheHR. Discover more
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If you are an SME, recruitment is a real resource drain as people are pulled away to focus on the time-intensive aspects of recruiting. This can mean a drop in productivity & added pressure for your staff. It doesn’t have to with our range of recruitment options. Discover more
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Mediation is a tool to resolve workplace conflict or disputes. Often described as an alternative or informal dispute resolution, it's less formal than grievance and discipline procedures and employment tribunals whilst still following a structured approach. Discover more
Developing People
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Bringing Learning to Life for Your People. Training designed to increase the knowledge and develop the skills of your people to enable them to perform their jobs effectively. Our focus is on People Development to elicit the success of your organisation. Discover more
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Developing You, Developing Your People, Developing The Future. The last few years have seen the landscape of the world of work change and challenge us in a way nobody could have predicted. Here at ProAction HR we believe that the changing environment now brings with it a need to embrace new ways of managing people. Discover more
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Flexible 1-2-1 options for positive change. Coaching allows your people to unlock their potential to maximise their performance for the benefit of all. Coaching supports an individual at every level in becoming who they want to be. It ultimately builds awareness, empowers choice and leads to change. Discover more
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Our suite of Power Skills is designed to bring out the best in your people, giving them the skills & confidence needed in today’s world. Suitable for managers, leaders and anyone wanting to further their career, these skills are all about working with people. Discover more
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Recognising and embracing neurodiversity in today’s workplace creates an inclusive & diverse culture for business success. This enables individuals to perform at their best at work whatever their neuro processing needs. Discover more
People Change
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Do you need to make a change in your business to sustain growth or scale? Change comes in many forms and is often met with resistance, fear, and uncertainty of the outcome. Many see change as unnecessary or threatening. Many also pay it lip service so it never happens or is seen as an unsuccessful drain on both resource and budget. Discover more
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The world of work and the expectations of workers has changed in recent years. Striking a balance between what your business needs and what employees now want and expect is the key to engaging and retaining your people in such a way as to create a healthy and productive workplace culture. Discover more
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Your people are your company’s greatest asset and what the pandemic showed us all is that their wellness is paramount. Wellness is not just about ticking a box; it is about doing what is right and demonstrating the importance and value of that asset within your organisation. Discover more
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People are at the heart of what we do and nowhere is this more evident than our flexible Outplacement Programme. Always with a commercial focus and a drive to create proactive change for the benefit of your company, we are equally focused on seeing employees as people, and managing their experience at what can be a distressing time. Discover more
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If you are a business owner looking to grow through acquisition or looking to sell your business, or you take on new business from competitors then you should be aware of the employment law regulations TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations). ProAction HR can support your business at times of change. Discover more