RLT Associates

Personnel Advisers

Roy Lecky-Thompson

"As independent advisers and external business partners, the practice provides support to UK and international blue-chip clients in knowledge based service organisations and in government agencies. Working within a partnership, and with experienced associates as required, my colleagues and I focus on business strategy/organisation development; mergers; change processes; grievance investigation and mediation; senior level coaching/mentoring; quality benchmarking; customer care; Personnel department positioning/audit; policy review - and practical implementation of changes - to meet best practice standards. Reviews may cover all aspects of staffing activity within rapidly developing legislative requirements and a volatile world economy.

"We believe it is essential to encourage effective people policies and practice as key contributions to organisational success: those enterprises that make the most of their prime asset in uncertain times and when under pressure will achieve competitive advantage. We advise on how this can best be done to meet broad strategic and operational objectives, and then help clients as needed on delivering change. This may require support for their often overstretched resources.

"My practice was established in 1996. The competitive edge my colleagues and I offer is flexible and tailor-made responses drawing on sharp end line and advisory experience of organisational realities. Unlike major consultancies, we do not rely on theoretical approaches or MBA driven solutions that are unrealistic.

"Clients say they value the professional input, high level diagnostic skill, and the lack of any preconceived models. All projects have agreed expected outcomes including a financial return, usually on the basis of a fixed fee quote for services. With the key investment in IT (this was one of the first independent practices to have a website and email), we are in close contact with all clients and are available out of hours. The practice works with a limited number of concurrent clients to allow rapid and personal service. For example, we have, where necessary, worked through weekends to deliver on a Monday an urgent service commissioned on the previous Friday.

"A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and of the Royal Society of Arts, and IoD member, I write and lecture extensively on people topics. My book on constructive appraisal for line managers was published in May 1999.

"After graduating from Oxford, I joined the British Petroleum group as a commercial trainee, taking the requisite examinations to become an IPD member. My early postings included general human resource assignments in London and the Middle East; work in an agrochemicals and animal nutrition company where I helped merge three companies and set up the personnel function; and a new BP company in mainland Europe where I established and ran a personnel, public relations and office services department.

"I was seconded to BP's Corporate Planning department in the early 1980s for three years where I had the responsibility as an analyst for critically reviewing the company's minerals investments, advocating and agreeing a strategic re-positioning. I also began to consider the impact of effectively linking people planning to business strategies within the BP Group.

"Following an assignment as a BP Senior Policy Adviser on remuneration and benefits, I moved to the knowledge sector for ten years as the Personnel Director of accountants Arthur Young (now Ernst and Young); law firm Cameron Markby Hewitt (now Cameron McKenna); and the Bank of England, with a focus on strategic, quality and organisational development issues. For example, I was responsible for achieving both a National Training Award for innovative management development in 1991 and, in 1994, the Investors in People (IIP) quality accreditation.

"I have been a council member of Business in the Community; a Board member of the East London partnership, a director of the London Human Resource Group, a governor of Hackney Community College and an expert personnel witness in a lengthy litigation case. I am a member of Capital Quality London's IIP Recognition Panel."