Helen Dawson: Success in Transformation Program Rese

Reset your transformation programme for SUCCESS

Experience a recalibration of your strategy and witness a seamless reset for unparalleled success. Bid farewell to obstacles and usher in a new era of achievement. Your corporate transformation begins now

Consulting

Executive Coaching & Mentoring

Host of the Innovation Crowd Podcast

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Brands We’ve worked with

Our Guarantee

We’re committed to delivering tangible results. We will agree on success criteria upfront. We don’t stop until you get there. In return, you and your team play an active role.

Let’s check you’re in the right place

The energy transition is putting more pressure on organisations than ever before. Innovation budgets are squeezed between delivering efficiencies and exploring new business models.

Does this sound familiar?

More than 70% of digital transformations fail, and you’re starting to worry that your programme might be one more statistic.

Corporate bureaucracy is blocking progress at every turn.

You’ve spent a lot on consultancies but are struggling to implement the recommendations.

The business is focused on short-term KPIs rather than transformations or new tech.

The executive team have spent a day with Google/ Amazon/ Meta and are now telling your team to fail fast and be more like a start-up.

Ideas keep flying in, but nothing is being deployed.

You’re worried that your career might not survive this unless you get a win soon.

Senior leaders just don’t get it!

Listen to the latest podcast episode from

The Innovation Crowd

How do we solve your problem?

Clarity that your programme focuses on areas the wider business will get behind, backed up by easy-to-understand strategic rationale.

Give a clear and actionable way forward.

Remove the noise of disjointed initiatives that distract and suck up money and effort.

Turn sceptical colleagues into supporters.

Clarity on how you can work around and work with obstacles to use your company’s size to your advantage.

About Helen

Following a 25-year career in the Energy and Utilities sector, driving global transformations, I now help business leaders deliver real value to the bottom line by setting up their programmes for success.

With a career spanning both blue-chip consultancy (IBM, KPMG) and industry (ExxonMobil and Shell), I have a track record of successfully building project teams and taking transformations from inception to deployment and benefits delivery.

I’ve delivered multiple successful transformation programmes, including capital investments and divestments, reconfiguring supply chains, and, over the last seven years, defining and deploying digital strategy. My most recent industry role was setting up the digital transformation team for Shell’s global retail business. I’ve been there and come with the know-how to handle the challenge of changing a big, successful organisation from the inside out. I learned some of my lessons the hard way, so you don’t have to.

As a Chartered Chemical Engineer, I understand technical complexity, safety and front-line operations. So, there’s no need to explain the basics of your business. Instead you can focus on the obstacles and gaps that are blocking progress.

Our clients have often tried big brand consultancies, conferences, start-up challenges and talking to Big Tech. But they still wonder why this knowledge isn’t working for them. And the reason is that your business context is a huge factor often ignored in generic advice about best practices. Worse still, we often find a strategy gap where the C-suite think they have been really clear, but, in reality, there is only some loose direction talking about Customer First or Generative AI without linking to the company’s overall direction.

I can help you and your team cut through complexity and refocus on the areas that matter. It’s like having an experienced team member parachute in for a short time. I work right alongside you, sleeves rolled up. There are no cookie-cutter projects. All advice is tailored to your situation. And plans are not built in a vacuum — corporate politics and the need to influence are baked into your next steps.

Where we find gaps needing input from other experts, you can access my network of trusted specialists across assurance, joint venture, leadership coaching, data science and technology.

How it works

1 – Health Check

Assess the current state of:

Strategic Alignment

Programme Effectiveness

Environment (Politics, players, vested interests, legacy systems and roadblocks)

2 – Refocus on the Big Bets

Prioritise to fewer more impactful areas. We call this the “Steak.”

Design engagement activities to convert stakeholders and staff into advocates. We call this the “Sizzle.”

3 – Reality Check

Identify the potential obstacles that may get in your way

Develop tactics to address them

4 – Way Forward

Co-create the action plan with the team

Sequence the delivery for highest impact

Sense-check, given the environment and politics to ensure commitments are realistic

5 – Monitor & Adjust

Quarterly check ins to create accountability, challenge and support and be a sounding board for the project lead

Often, Helen stays on the programme board as an external observer

Testimonials

Helen is an absolute pleasure to work with. She demonstrates an agile, mission focussed approach to her work. She has skilfully navigated our path through initial concept phases to partnership agreement in less than 6 months, resulting in significant inward investment. He leadership style is inclusive, inquisitive and approachable and Helen deploys various levers to insure accountability. She sparkles whilst solving complex B2B challenges.“

Programme Lead

Utility Company

Having someone to soundboard my ideas off, discuss questions and work through problems has been invaluable. The greatest benefit I find from my sessions with Helen is she offers a different perspective, which helps me to delve deeper into my actions and at times change course.”

Mentoring Client

Technology Services Firm

I worked with Helen in Shell and would highly recommend her as a passionate, driven and engaging individual who has broad strategic thinking but at the same time can get things done. She and I worked together on a future supply chain initiative which aimed to drive sustainability and digital innovation in the global lubricants supply chain to deliver a superior customer proposition and experience. Helen played an instrumental role in planning and leading the initiative, which generated enormous excitement in the organization through the creative engagement of a broad range of stakeholders and the inspiring vision it set out to achieve.

VP Supply Chain

Shell

It has been a pleasure working with Helen these last 6 months. Anyone looking for a strategic support for their next endeavour would be well placed to reach out to Helen”