Meet your trainer
Steph Millward
A learning and development professional specialising in conflict resolution.
“My mission is to empower leaders to adapt, grow and overcome workplace challenges.”
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Early in my career, I recognised that creating strong relationships is essential for building trust and positively influencing behaviour. I have trained hundreds of professionals to develop successful workplace relationships, and resolved thousands of individual workplace disputes before they’ve had a chance to escalate – including averting collective industrial action in an NHS Trust. I hold qualifications in careers guidance and coaching, conciliation and mediation, and training facilitation.
I want leaders everywhere to have access to the essential relational skills that I use every day, which is why I’m dedicating my time to training others in the art and science of relational capability and conflict resolution. Married for 30 years, I cherish family time with my two daughters and one granddaughter. I love giving back to my local community, which is why I co-founded and chaired the Ilkley Cycling Club in Yorkshire – the UK's largest cycling club with over 1,000 members, 40% of whom are women.
I’ve experienced my own share of professional challenges too. Back in 2011, I was the managing director of a plastic injection moulding manufacturing company. Like many businesses, we faced extreme pressure to survive the economic downturn, and I knew we needed to expand our wholesale marketplace to include direct sales if we were going to make it. I had to convince my business partner that this was achievable, and we implemented the change on a small scale at first, bringing in new sales channels and managing hundreds of new customer relationships.
By being responsive and relational in customer service and delivery, we were able to establish a solid customer base and build a good reputation. By 2013, retail sales accounted for 45% of overall turnover, and the company had returned to profitability.
Being relational and capable of influencing decision-making was crucial here, because my business partner was also my husband – and he still is! This is just one of many challenging learning experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today.
I want to share my expertise through OnePlusOne’s evidence-based Relational leaders training, so that you can overcome the challenges you’ll face, and achieve your own successes.
Steph Millward
