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I'm Lydia. For 12 years, I have helped leaders transform their organisations
From the NHS to Fire & Rescue, start-ups to multinational corporations, I have supported hundreds of leaders who needed to improve culture, embed strategy, facilitate complex conversations and learn from change.
Central to my work is involving your people - because, for change to work, you must bring people with you.
"Engaging and warm, a positive demeanour, and at the same time
not afraid to challenge" - NHS client
My story
I have a simple desire to connect with what is real - people as they actually are, conversations that are honest, insight that reveals something and change that really works.
After studying Biological Sciences at Oxford University, I began my consulting career helping food and beverage services improve their sustainability. That was my first taste of supporting organisations to change.
Since then, I have worked with organisations large and small across the NHS, fire and rescue, start-ups, charities, system partnerships and multinational companies. My work has spanned behaviour and culture change, strategy development, leadership development and wider organisational transformation.
I have worked closely with CEOs, Boards, Directors of People and Culture, Chief Transformation Officers and Directors of Strategy - often when the change they are leading is complex, visible and consequential.
For a long time, however, I didn't fully understand why certain work environments appeared to have something... missing. Why weren't people talking? Why weren't they saying what they really think? Why was there a feeling of fear? Why had some people stopped trying? I was frustrated by the lack of progress and productive energy in these environments.
I came to know - both for me and my clients - the importance of creating spaces where people can fully contribute in honest, constructive conversations. Right people + right place + right environment = right solutions.
This observation was not incidental to my work. It was central to how I helped organisations and people create positive change.
I was drawn to culture change because, at its best, culture work helps organisations become more honest, alive and effective. It helps people speak up, take ownership, build trust, relate differently and create better ways of working. That's a strategic advantage.
Each client and setting may be different, but the deeper work is often the same - helping people uncover what's really happening, voice it constructively, make sense of it together and use that understanding to create change.
That is the thread running through everything I now do through The Future Works.
I am also a yoga teacher, nature-lover, party-planner, weekend-hiker and Chair of Trustees for a youth charity in South East London.
I am based in Peckham, South East London.
Things people say about me:
"Accepting and steadfast"
"Finds joy in the detail"
"Dedicated and thoughtful"
"An amazing collaborator"
"Effortlessly brings people together"
"Reads the room"
"Calm and curious"
My strengths
Structure and rigour. My scientific training shapes how I think. I take things that feel tangled and find the patterns within them - turning them into clarity and routes forward.
A facilitator at heart. I bring people together in ways that help them speak more honestly, listen more deeply and understand each other better.
Joy in quality and detail. I care about the quality of the spaces and outputs I create – whether that is a workshop, report, framework or strategy.
A generalist who can move between roles. Facilitator, strategist, researcher, writer, evaluator, coach, sense-maker, project manager. I shape my support around what the client needs.
I bring a holistic lens to understanding change. Natural systems, anthropology, competitive sports, yoga teaching, social movement theory and spirituality all shape how I think about transformation. I integrate this into what I do.
There is a playful part of me which likes to question and help gently push boundaries, helping clients find braver, more creative solutions in pursuit of their goals.
Change. Why do we do it?
We change so that we can improve our impact, our performance and, ultimately, our lives.
As people, organisations and partnerships, we strive to improve. That involves the need to change.
That's what The Future Works is here to enable: Effective change, achieved as smoothly as possible.
Why? Because I believe in helping organisations to be great at what they do, and great for the people they work with. Because, ultimately, this improves lives.
I enable this by helping you harness the wisdom and energy of you and your people. That means helping leaders and teams:
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Understand what is really going on
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Create cultures that support both performance and wellbeing
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Bring people together around shared challenges
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Build trust, alignment and ownership
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Turn insight into practical action
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Learn what is changing, what is working and where to focus next
My work is about making change real so you can be better as an organisation and, ultimately, improve the lives of the people you serve.
How I think change happens
I do not believe meaningful change can be forced from the top.
It has to be created with people.
That does not mean change is vague, slow or overly consultative. It means that the process has to build the conditions for ownership, trust and movement.
The way I work is shaped by a few core change principles:
Change as a movement, not a mandate.
A lot of change work fails because it tries to force movement by imposing plans.
But people do not usually change because they have been told to.
They change because they can see why it matters and because they feel part of it.
That is why I take a participatory approach to change.
This means working with the energy and influence of people already in your organisation or system. It means creating building ownership, learning as you go and helping change spread through real people and real work.
In practice, this might mean:
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Creating a shared story for change
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Bringing leaders and staff into honest dialogue
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Identifying the people who can carry and influence the change
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Designing small experiments rather than over-engineered plans
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Creating feedback loops so the work can learn and adapt
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Supporting communication, engagement and action as the change grows
The aim is to inspire change, not force it.
Achieve buy-in by bringing leaders and staff into the conversation
Co-create the change you need with the stakeholders involved
Experiment with changes and iterate/evolve as learning emerges
Maintain the momentum by supporting changes to embed and continuing comms and engagement
What you get when you work with me
I bring a unique blend of skills, helping to enable effective change.
My work brings together:
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Organisational change
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Culture change and leadership development
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Facilitation and system convening
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Research, evaluation and learning
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Strategy and sense-making
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Coaching and reflective practice
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Intuition, systems and nature-based thinking
This combination allows me to work across different levels of change: individuals, teams, organisations and systems.
It also means I can support the whole change journey – from understanding what is really happening, to aligning people, shaping direction, embedding change and learning what works.
My work is often delivered in partnership with other experts.
I work with a trusted network of consultants, facilitators, coaches, evaluators and subject specialists.
The team is built to ensure each project's needs are met.
If you're a consultant and think we could work well together, please get in touch.
Is my support for you?
My clients are usually...
1. Leaders at a turning point - change is no longer optional, and it really needs to work.
2. They know the change cannot happen in a vacuum - and therefore want to engage stakeholders in the change.
3. They don't have capacity or specialist expertise to deliver it alone.
Clients range across:
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Public services e.g. Fire and Rescue and the NHS
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Start-ups and growing businesses
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Charities and social impact organisations
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Partnerships and system-wide programmes
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Individual leaders and founders
If you need:
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A clear process for bringing about change in your organisation, system or yourself
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To gather input from a range of voices
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Someone who can hold complexity
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Tangible outputs and outcomes
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Someone grounded and not overly 'corporate'
That is where I help.
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