David Wales

Founder at SharedAim

Haywards Heath, England, United Kingdom

The relationship between organisations and people is one of the most influential and yet under-appreciated factor in organisational performance.

“Why don’t they just do as they are told?”

In 2009 this question sparked an interest and passion that continues to this day, and marked the start of a new direction for my career. One focused on helping organisations to improve their performance by understanding people as they actually are, and not as they wished they would be.

The question was posed during a management team meeting, by a colleague wondering aloud why customers were not following our advice. A simple query, but one that turned out to have an important and surprising answer.

I have spent the years since 2009 answering that question in different scenarios in a wide range of different sectors. As a result, I have become ever more aware of just how important, and misunderstood, human behaviour, motivation and experience is in most organisations. And how that can undermine their strategic intentions and investments.

Following my colleagues query, I instigated a pioneering and award winning study of human behaviour (when encountering a fire in the home). Over the course of the next six years I led this from a local research project to a national survey in conjunction with a university.

During that time I gained invaluable experience as I presented emerging insights to leaders across the UK and authored related articles and academic papers. Our research provided multiple new insights, and was the catalyst for a range of service improvements and new initiatives. Which is perhaps why it remains influential on international thinking and practice.

I was subsequently appointed as the first ever Customer Experience (CX) Manager in a Fire and Rescue Service (FRS). Over a two year period, I led a project to introduce a CX culture, capability and initiatives. A challenging but very rewarding role.

By then I had developed a strong interest in research, the role of evidence and how it informs decision-making. As such, I was delighted to be offered a voluntary role as the International Research Lead with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC).

Perhaps enthused by my experience of research, I decided to return to formal studies and successfully completed a MSc with the University of Leicester.

In 2019 I founded SharedAim Ltd, an international consultancy focused on helping organisations to work with and not against human behaviour. Through this I have been fortunate to work with organisations spanning multiple sectors. Typically the focus is on how to create the conditions for different teams to work together, how to avoid the cost and disruption of unexpected behaviours and how to scale or automate without losing the essential human elements.

My work through SharedAim Ltd is underpinned by a unique framework I developed, known as ‘The HOG’ (Human-Organisation Gap). After many iterations, this finally encapsulated what I have learnt through my many years of research and experience. A long overdue book sharing this framework is slowly working its way up the ‘to do’ list.

I am also the Founder and a Director of a young not for profit company called Purposefully Human. This provides a global forum for anyone interested in the benefits of human ways of working. It is an exciting and timely venture.

Available For: Advising, Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking
Travels From: London
Speaking Topics: An introduction to working with, and not against, human behaviour. How to scale or automate without losing the human touch. Managing the cost and dis