Karen Walls

Karen Walls

Me: I have a first-class degree in Economics and Business Studies from Edinburgh University. I began my career as a graduate trainee with the Ford Motor Co, working at both the Dagenham factory and in Head Office. I left to join Accenture in their Change Management Division and subsequently spent seven years with Hay Group before setting KWA Ltd.

My approach: My approach is always constructive, honest and motivational. Supporting senior leaders requires a reasonable insight in to a business and its culture, but more than that it requires a great insight in to an individual - done well it means never to make assumptions but to ask questions that enable me to understand motives, values, personal fears or inhibitors and aspirations. I always agree upfront issues around trust and confidentiality and my approach is premised on trust and mutual respect as well as creating a positive chemistry.

My aim: I established KWA in 2001 to combine strong business acumen with a profound understanding of human behaviour. Everything I do is about people - most pieces of work don’t fall in to neat categories but include leadership and organisational development, board and top team facilitation, assessment and talent management and executive coaching. Professional skills and expertise: Qualified as an Executive Coach through McBer (part of Hay Group) I am accredited to use a range of psychometrics, including the Hogan suite. I have designed and implemented behavioural change, leadership, OD and top team effectiveness interventions and coached and facilitated at Board, executive, senior and middle management level.

My clients: Arriva, The British Council, The Cabinet Office, Barclays, AXA, Thomson- Reuters, IHS, Anglo American, Virgin Atlantic and Whitbread. Here’s a flavour of what they say about me…

“Karen asks the difficult questions rather than what she believes the client wants to hear but always acts in a very supportive manner. Achieves the ideal balance between being challenging and supportive, in a calm, reassuring way. She has a strong commercial understanding – can appreciate the broader strategic issues facing senior leadership. Unlike most HR consultancies that tend to be fairly one dimensional. She’s able to construct a highly tailored answer to the brief. And she helps you grow as an individual – important element of informal coaching.”

Stuart Price

CPO, Virgin Care

Virgin Care

“Karen is one of only a few consultants I have worked with who can demonstrate breadth and expertise across a number of aspects of a change agenda. Karen has enabled me to bring work together in a coherent and effective manner and supported senior teams in turning their ideas and strategies into successful organisation designs and plans. Karen works with clear positive intent using a supportive and constructive style which builds confidence from her clients in her work. She has supported me through a number of busy and challenging assignments and I trust her implicitly, considering her to be a great colleague.”

Melanie Whitfield

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office

“Those that choose to work with Karen Walls had better be ready for the question she usually asks when first starting with an organisation… “How does this organisation make money?” Notwithstanding the many qualities, skills and experiences she brings to business consulting, her commercial astuteness is not to be overlooked. An economist at heart, Karen’s ability to ask the “So what?” question at the most crucial juncture indicates just how commercially sharp she is and how much value she generates for organisations that call for her help. I would have no hesitation in recommending her for the value she brings to consulting engagements and, quite frankly, because it’s great fun to work with her.”

Archie Lightfoot

SVP, Amarada Hess

Amarada Hess

“Karen has worked with me on a variety of assignments at Sainsburys, Virgin Atlantic Airways and LV=. She has been involved in design and implementation of a number of assessment, development and talent management projects. These have all been delivered with customer focus, passion and expertise. Karen is always keen to deliver value to the bottom line and in Sainburys her work resulted in us being able to develop 60% of talent in house - resulting in significant savings and increased internal HR and line capability. She is committed to building capability of client teams and is very generous in sharing skills and expertise. She is an experienced Executive coach and has worked with a number of very senior executives with clear results. Her integrity and discretion is unquestionable. She can be challenging but will do so constructively. I have always found her to be supportive and responsive - often delivering to tight deadlines.”

David Smith

Group HRD, LV=

LV=
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