Jon Wellman
Partner
Top 3 Skills
About Me
My career (if I can call it that) has been very much serendipity and taken me on some interesting journeys, both in work and in lifestyles. I’ve spent a lot of time travelling in the developing world, building up resilience and soft skills that have helped me out of a number of predicaments. I joined the military late in life and fell into a role I loved in the Army Reserves, working in logistics as a Movement Controller, being responsible for ‘making things happen’. I found the role fascinating, and it gave me a very wide insight into how the military fits together. I did tours in Bosnia and in Afghanistan which widen that insight further.
I, almost naturally, became mentor to younger recruits and also an Adventure Training Instructor, due to a sideline I was already developing taking students on overseas expeditions, which brings together a number of my skills.
My wider interests are in sustainability and in the environment and wildlife in general. My most recent ‘paid’ job was working casually at a canal marina, which I described as my ‘wellbeing job’; outside, water, wildlife, helping people off on their holidays and a bit of exercise jumping from boat to boat and humping gas bottles around.
Qualifications & Accreditations
I am a member of the Association of Business Mentors and of the Enterprise Nation Coaching and Mentoring Community
I have mentored in the military and across the business environment.
I am University of Life qualified, experience over theory, and spent large parts of my life speaking Truth To Power trying to prevent mistakes that are all too obvious to those doing the work.
I have a particular interest, and deliver programmes tailored to your business, in Social Value and how this links to Workplace Culture and Leadership, which in turn leads to improved Motivation, improved Recruitment and Retention and improved Innovation. Basically, how soft skills benefit the bottom line.
I have an unusual personality profile, in that I understand data, processes and policies, but I also understand that they need to work for the people that use them. I help improve stakeholder engagement, communications and processes across all stakeholders to deliver more effective outcomes and more efficient and happier workplaces.
Getting stakeholder engagement right reduces risk, waste and pain.
It may sound daft, but I genuinely get great pleasure out of making peoples life easier and solving their problems or in putting a process in place that saves hours of work.
Rather than being a specialist, my value is in my breadth of experience. I will always bring a fresh viewpoint to a problem or situation and act as a sounding board to challenge current thinking, processes, and even goals. .
As a natural Systems Thinker, and with experience in the widest range of sectors, I understand how the systems within the business work, and regard continuous improvement, and the support of those involved, as integral to success.
I am interested in looking holistically at your business and am happiest when I am engaging with business owners to look afresh at the business and consider alternative ways of doing things.
(Sectors I have extensive experience in: Retail, Catering, Hospitality, Tourism, Logistics, Defence, Adventure Training, Knowledge and Information Management, though reluctant to call myself an expert).
I don’t have all the answers, or all the questions, but I have a fresh approach to thinking that could well be the critical friend you are looking for.
I solve congestion. Congestion in thinking, in processes, in workflows and in communication. I work with you to identify how to remove bottlenecks, streamline processes and smooth workflows so they work for those who have to use them.
I bring collaborative thinking inside a business. My experience allows me to look at businesses objectively and consider where improvements could develop the bottom line, or improve ways of working for the benefit of all. I am a natural Systems Thinker, seeing a business holistically as a series of relationships, recognizing that these relationships are more than contractual and that partnering and cooperation are the key to business success. I understand how the systems within the business work, and regard continuous improvement, and the support of those involved, as integral to success.
Don’t do it all alone, and don’t leave it too late.
No-one is an expert in everything. Although just about every business has an accountant, the idea of bringing in outside expertise just doesn’t seem British. As part of Khensu, I want to normalise the idea of businesses having access to advisers and mentors.
If you are looking for a consultant in a suit and tie and with loads of letters after their name, I’m not that person.
If you would like a conversation with someone who has a huge breadth of experience across a wide range of sectors, who genuinely loving finding improved ways of doing things and gets a genuine buzz out of solving problems for people, I could be that person.