Kevin Hughes

I am a co-owner and Director of Arwel Douglas Limited, who specialise in working with blue chip businesses to support their organisational development and performance.

Prior to this I was a Director of a well-established UK based Organisation Development consultancy and have held a leadership role in a UK division of the world’s largest multi-national. This followed several years as a Senior Lecturer at a UK university.

In their different ways each of these career phases had at their heart an interest in developing people and the improvement of organisational performance. I hold post-graduate qualifications, including an MBA, and am a trained Executive Assessor.

I currently work across whole organisations, intact teams and with individual senior leaders to
• Establish what is most important for them to achieve
• Build clarity and commitment to what it will take from their leadership
• Support them to thrive in complex, challenging and continually changing environments.
Typical Consulting Assignments
• Working with the Group Board and top 150 leaders of a global Financial Services organisation to develop and embed a High Performance Culture across the Group, and to build the commitment, capability and contribution of the leadership population to deliver it.
• Supporting the senior executive team in an international manufacturing business to determine how they need to lead in a way that builds the engagement/commitment of their managers, and to equip them with the confidence and skills to execute against an exacting and politically challenging programme
• Working with senior leaders and internal specialists in a leading Utilities organisation to build and maintain a vibrant coaching culture aimed at rapidly accelerating leadership and organisational performance.
• Partnering the CEO of a market leading financial services business to review the leadership contributions of each of his Board team, diagnose how they can enhance their impact and mid-term growth, and to work with them to support their leadership development.
• Working with senior teams in a global manufacturing business to diagnose the effectiveness of their contribution relative to their purpose, to help them to address the main blocks to progress and to develop plans for continued development.
• Supporting the transition of various senior teams from internal ‘support service providers’ to ‘influential business partners’
• Addressing conflicts between two teams so that they can agree a joint purpose, share better understanding of each other’s needs, and find constructive ways of working together.
• Helping leaders in newly acquired businesses to address cultural and structural integration issues.
Typical Coaching Assignments
• CEO of a leading financial services business who wants to develop a more facilitative and engaging style of working with peers to encourage a more open and supportive Board team.
• European Vice President who is transitioning the business Group to focus on organic growth and strategic alliances, which needs a shift in leadership focus and influencing style
• Senior leader in a global role, who wants to ‘take stock’ of her leadership purpose and impact, so that it more fully aligns with what she wants to contribute and achieve long term.
• Finance Director whose interest is expanding to focus more on the strategic direction of the business and needs the skills and strategies to maximise his impact
• CEO who needs to have rigorous development conversations with his team, and to follow up with coaching, feedback and support as part of role modelling good leadership
• Senior leader in a corporate role who needs to strategically influence with more impact and immediacy across a matrix environment in order to deliver to a challenging agenda
• Customer Service Directors who need to maintain their distinctive quality of customer support while finding ways to work within challenging budget/headcount restrictions
• Supporting various executives to be clear about what is important to them (professionally and personally), to develop their leadership impact, coaching and influencing skills, and to support them to operate in ways that balance their competing priorities.

I was born and raised in North Wales and, having lived in various parts of the UK, have settled happily in North Yorkshire. I’m married to Caroline, and have 2 young, energetic children, with whom I enjoy spending most of my non-working time. Other passions include outdoor adventure sports and keeping generally active outside. I’m also doing my best to resist a growing enjoyment of golf.