Dr Alex Chard, Director YCTCS ltd is a systemic organisational consultant, independent academic and professional author. He has a Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice and is a member of the Society of Authors and the Institute of Directors. Alex manages all company contracts. His knowledge and experience includes:
- Thirty years consultancy in a wide range of public services, having worked extensively with senior leaders in local and national government, he has advised a wide range of public bodies on strategic service development;
- Knowledge of systemic organisational development including organisational change and the creation of organisational and pan-organisational learning;
- Undertaking a wide range of work with leadership teams to assist them to enhance their levels of collaboration in order to achieve organisational goals, this has included working with leadership teams when organisational dynamics and defensive responses were inhibiting the functioning of the team and service;
- Leading the research for the West Midlands that resulted in the report Punishing Abuse and developing the ALTARTM framework which undepinned that research.
- Specialist professional knowledge, developed through practice, research and case reviews, in safeguarding older children and in developing services to reduce the risks to them or others;
- As a visiting academic at the University of Bedfordshire he worked with faculty colleagues to re-validate the Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice, taught systemic practice to doctoral students and designed and taught an MSc module for social work managers;
- Authoring legal texts on criminal and childcare law, a chapter on the effectiveness of public policy on children’s services, a online guide to project evaluation, a published thematic case review, national guidance on work with young people written for government and a national charity, practice improvement guidance for children’s services for the LGA and co-editing an academic textbook on systemic approaches to research.
Dr Alex Chard’s professional roles are underpinned by a passion to promote excellence in delivery of services to vulnerable people and a systemic understanding that excellence can only be achieved when we create the contexts that enable individual and organisational learning.
Key influences have been the work of Peter Senge on the function and focus of teams and the work of both Senge and Donald Schön on the development of organisational learning. Another important influence has been the work of Chris Agyris on the impact of defensive processes on individual and organisational learning as well as the work of Edgar Schein on the significance of organisational culture particularly how that relates to the way risk is managed.
Contact Dr Alex Chard, Director YCTCS ltd, telephone 01883 744239 or email here.