Fresh Thinking
My passion is to see authentic service organizations thrive and flourish in the new paradigm of what we term the Values Economy. This is done by helping progressive leaders to design, implement and improve a brand aligned customer experience delivered by their employees (brand ambassadors). The SERVICEBRAND approach enables significantly better, sustained business performance and I am very proud that projects have delivered measurable business impact across a balanced scorecard of measures and been recognised with industry awards.
I graduated in Hotel & Catering Administration at Surrey University where I have been a visiting lecturer and then enjoyed senior roles at InterContinental Hotels, Whitbread/Marriott and Compass, leading £10-125m revenue businesses with large teams in demanding customer service environments before founding SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL in 2005.
I am an international speaker and published author whose co-authored books about values “THE 31 PRACTICES: Release the Power of your Organization’s VALUES Every Day”, “My 31 Practices: Release the Power of your Values for Authentic Happiness” and “The Values Economy, How to Deliver Purpose-Driven Service for Sustained Performance” have received international critical acclaim. The next book, “Supercharging the Customer Experience: How Organizational Alignment Drives Performance” will be published in April 2024.
I am the Founder of the Global Values Alliance, a director of the UK Values Alliance, non-executive director of BQF, Past President of the Meetings Industry Association, a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and was a global train the trainer for the Marriott International Spirit to Serve programme.
Outside of work, I live in London and enjoy seeing my adult children’s continued growth as wonderful people. Relaxation involves sport generally (watching!) balanced with a love of good food and wine and having fun practicing photography whenever there is an opportunity.
“The practical nature of the SERVICEBRAND approach is summed up by my favourite quote from Yogi Berra “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.”
I have led successful businesses as an operator, in practice not theory, using the SERVICEBRAND approach and know that it delivers tangible results time and time again. If you are a CEO, divisional MD, business unit lead or functional (HR, Marketing, Finance, IT etc) leader and you are interested to know how to deliver significantly better sustained business performance, please be in touch. If you are a management consultant wanting to win more new clients or deepen your relationship with existing clients by using the SERVICEBRAND approach and Values Economy toolkit, please be in touch.
ENDORSEMENTS
Alan’s commitment, willingness to engage and sharp insight characterise the tremendous value he has added as a Non Exec on the Board of BQF.
With the simple and practical 31Practices approach he has created, Alan has found a refreshingly different way to make values as inseparable from the modern mission-based business as the double helices of DNA. Both his speaking style and work style have been a pleasure to experience.
31Practices is an excellent method and has played a big part in LifeSearch’s whole company, long term focus on our culture and values. The bespoke nature means the LifeSearch practices we carefully created remind all ‘Searchers every day of what we are about and why, and the behaviours we need to display to protect more families than anyone ever thought possible.
I describe Alan as the most HR savvy operator I have ever met! What’s more he is great fun to work with.
Alan's support has been instrumental in improving levels of engagement and overall performance, personally and with my team. He is a very good listener, gaining a deep understanding before cocreating an improvement plan. He is also very engaging and easy to work with.
Vision, challenge and strategy allowing individuals to stretch their potential. An inspirational leader.
Truly progressive thinking. The pragmatic approach to providing a customer experience achieves measurable return on investment.
An absolute pleasure to work with. Focussed on ambitious results but does what is right and leads in a truly inspiring way.
Rarely do I come across a book which is as complete as this one. Alan and Alison have left me nothing to say. They have put together an encyclopaedia of understanding about what it takes to build the neural pathways of an organisation.
The best thing about the 31Practices approach is how it energises front line employees and gives them confidence to bring the organisational values to life every day. One of the team in New York said "Our 31Practices is like my bible at work. I read it every day and it makes me a better person". Priceless!
The blend of emotional intelligence and commercial acumen is rare! The dedication to customer service is an example to follow.
Alan used the Servicebrand approach and his almost uncanny ability to engage programme stakeholders to provide Dell EMC with accelerated business impact and sustainable performance - at scale.
In the employee engagement survey, we dramatically outperformed the High Performance Norm.
Our Investors in People accreditation review hit our highest score to date and our bottom line profit rose by 25% over two years as well.
Alan spoke about the Values Economy at the 2nd Global Conference on Creating Value . His brilliant talk was convincing and energised the audience.