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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 The Future Works' approach is involving your people because, for change to work, you must bring people with you.

Why does The Future Works exist?

The Future Works exists to enable effective transformation for your organisation, improving its performance, impact and ultimately the lives of people it touches.

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 we believe in helping organisations to be great at what they do, and great for the people they work with. Because, ultimately, this improves the lives of those you work with and those you serve.

We enable this by helping you harness the wisdom and energy of you and your people. 

 

That means helping leaders and teams:

  • Understand what is really going on

  • Create cultures that support strategic ambitions, performance and wellbeing

  • Bring people together around shared challenges

  • Build trust, alignment and ownership

  • Turn insight into practical action which leads to transformation

  • Learn what is changing, what is working and where to focus next

"Engaging and warm, a positive demeanour, and at the same time
not afraid to challenge" NHS client

Hi, I'm Lydia, Founder and Director

For 12 years, I have supported leaders and organisations through complex cultural, organisational and system change. My work focuses on helping clients understand what is really happening, involve the people whose knowledge matters and translate insight into stronger cultures, more effective leadership and change that works in practice.

Before founding The Future Works, I held senior roles at leading UK-based consultancies, including Culture Consultancy and Kaleidoscope Health and Care. I have also worked for leading consultancies Good Business and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Through these roles, I partnered with organisations across the public, private and charitable sectors - from NHS bodies, fire and rescue services and national institutions to charities, start-ups and multinational businesses. I have worked closely with CEOs, boards, Directors of People and Culture, Chief Transformation Officers and Directors of Strategy on changes that are often complex, visible and consequential.

I bring together rigorous analysis, strategy and programme delivery with facilitation, coaching and a sensitivity to the human dynamics that determine whether change takes hold. My experience spans culture and behaviour change, leadership development, strategy, organisational engagement, research and evaluation. This enables me to move between the wider system, the organisational strategy and the reality of how people experience their work.

I studied Biological Sciences at Oxford University and also hold qualifications in anthropology and creative writing. I am working towards becoming an ICF-accredited coach and integrate systems thinking, human-centred design, behaviour change, participative practice and learning from natural and living systems into my work.

I founded The Future Works to bring these different strands together - the analytical and the intuitive, strategy and relationships, the 'now' and the future. My aim was to create a consultancy that offers the rigour and reliability clients need while approaching change in a way that is more honest, participative and alive. I lead every client relationship and shape every engagement, bringing in trusted senior associates when the work requires additional expertise or capacity.

In its first two years, The Future Works has led whole-organisation culture transformation within the fire and rescue sector and the NHS; reviewed a national approach to change for Healthcare Improvement Scotland; helped a London integrated care board develop a shared strategy and approach to measuring system change; evaluated national and regional health programmes; and created leadership development, coaching and engagement programmes for leaders and teams.

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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.

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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.

How we think change happens

We 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 we 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 we 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:

  • Creating a shared story for change

  • Bringing leaders and staff into honest dialogue

  • Identifying the people who can carry and influence the change

  • Designing small experiments rather than over-engineered plans

  • Creating feedback loops so the work can learn and adapt

  • Supporting communication, engagement and action as the change grows


The aim is to inspire change, not force it.

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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 us

We bring a unique blend of skills, helping to enable effective change.

Our work brings together:​

  • Organisational change

  • Culture change and leadership development

  • Facilitation and system convening

  • Research, evaluation and learning

  • Strategy and sense-making

  • ​Coaching and reflective practice

  • ​Intuition, systems and nature-based thinking


​This combination allows us to work across different levels of change: individuals, teams, organisations and systems.

It also means we can support the whole change journey – from understanding what is really happening, to aligning people, shaping direction, embedding change and learning what works.

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