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Lead change successfully by starting with people
The Future Works is a consultancy, founded by Lydia Paris, helping leaders transform organisations and systems.
We do this by bringing the right people together for the right conversations, and turning complexity into clear routes forward.
Trusted by a wide range of public services, start-ups, charities and system partnerships
The Future Works is a transformation consultancy created by Lydia Paris.
We support change at different levels - within organisations, across systems, and for individuals.
We do this in four main ways:
Support for individual leaders and founders who want to develop, while staying connected to what matters
Lydia brings together a specialist team of consultants for each project, depending on the project's needs.
Who we help
We work with leaders at turning points - when change is no longer optional, and it really needs to work.
The trigger might be a regulator's review, a national policy mandate, financial growth targets, a new strategy, funding pressure or performance challenges.
You also know that change starts with people, not just process. Your people need to co-develop and co-deliver it, and come with you on the journey.
That means involving staff, leaders, partners or stakeholders - proportionately and meaningfully.
But leading that process well takes time, expertise and holding complexity. You may not have the capacity or specialist support to deliver it alone.
That is where we help.
We create the structure, and provide expertise and practical support, to help you lead change successfully.
Summary: Culture Change
Summary: R&E
Summary: Facilitation
Three ways to work together
Culture change and
leadership development
To improve how your organisation is performing, and when its current culture is blocking success.
We help organisations understand their culture today, and envision and embed an improved future culture which supports their strategic ambitions and works for them, not against them.
This includes:
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Culture diagnosis
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Culture co-design
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Leadership development (1:1 and group)
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Staff engagement
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Manager development
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Bespoke support to help culture change
Best if you want... A high-performing organisation which feels good to work in.
Facilitation and system convening
To tackle a shared challenge, and bring different stakeholders together to do so.
We design and facilitate workshops and events which help you make sense of complexity and solve shared challenges together.
This includes:
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Designing sessions for specific objectives
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Bringing the right stakeholders into the room
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Managing logistics
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Facilitation of the session
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Capturing and translating what emerges into clear, actionable recommendations and next steps
Best if you want... A partner who helps different people contribute equitably, and makes sense of complexity. A partner to help stakeholders build trust, clarity and shared direction.
Research, evaluation and learning
To understand if you have achieved the change you intended, and learn from what happened.
We act as a research, evaluation and learning partner for organisations who want to understand their theory of change, what is working, what is changing and what impact a programme or approach is having.
This includes:
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Designing theories of change
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Evaluation frameworks
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Qualitative and quantitative research
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Learning outputs and reports
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Practical recommendations that help you and others make better decisions
Best if you want... To understand what is changing, what is and isn’t working, and where to focus next.
Summary: Deeper Work
Direct support for leaders and founders
Leading can be demanding, lonely and full of questions that do not have an easy answer.
Lydia provides direct support for people leading organisations, teams and change, through:
What our clients say
Change starts with people
From the leadership team to those working on the ground, it's your people who are key to making change work.
You may broadly know what needs to change. You may even have a vision in mind for the future. But change often fails when designed too far from the people who ultimately make the new way work.
Involving people means giving the right people meaningful influence over how the problem is understood, what the future should look like and how you get there.
That means creating a process which captures your people's collective intelligence purposefully and proportionately, knowing this leads to effective, sustained transformation.
We help leaders design and hold that process - bringing the right people together (from leaders to staff), facilitating honest conversations, making sense of what emerges and turning it into action.
Questions we work through together
The principle behind our work...
The wisdom is already there
The work we do revolves around the principle that the wisdom to help you transform is already there within you and your people. We're here to help you uncover and harness that wisdom through our work.
Whether working with an organisation, system, team or individual, our role is to help surface the wisdom held by the people involved, by bringing them together for honest conversations. We make sense of it, and help you use it to create effective change.
That doesn't mean the work is always easy. Often, it means:
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Creating space for honest conversations about what needs to be different.
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Helping people say what they really think.
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Hearing voices that are often missed.
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Noticing what sits beneath the obvious problem.
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Helping leaders reflect on how they show up.
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Helping hold yourself and others accountable.
And turning all of that insight into practical next steps.
Our guiding belief is that you hold the wisdom and the answers. Our job is to create the conditions for those answers to surface, be understood and be put into action to enable lasting change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are your services for?
I work with leaders, teams and organisations who know that something needs to change, but need help leading it well. You may be looking for clarity, assurance and practical support from someone you can trust.
Does the leadership need to be fully onboard with this before I approach you?
Though it helps if they are, they don’t need to be. Part of the service is helping you to obtain that buy-in from your leadership team and the wider organisation to ensure that the journey runs well.
I have a small budget, is it worth me reaching out?
I charge competitive rates as a small business, and I design and price each project to your precise needs.
How long do your services take?
It depends on the size of your organisation and the service you need. Some programmes take as little as three weeks to complete. Larger, more comprehensive programmes may take a few months.
I'm worried you'll try to change us too much - is there a risk of that?
If some things are working really well, why change them? I work as a partner alongside you, rather than trying to impose anything onto you. This work is always about building on your strengths.
Do you offer one-off workshops and away days?
Yes, I do design and deliver bespoke offsites, workshops and events according to what you need.
Who will lead our project?
I lead each project, but a consultant team may work alongside me if the project requires it.
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