About us.

I started in business by driving a van around Nottingham, selling Onion Bhajiis and Samosas - first week’s turnover was £411. Over the next 20 years, as Managing Director, I grew a family business to be a multi £m business supplying customers like Sainsburys and Wetherspoons. We  employed over 100 people, producing over 50m products per year and winning 11 major awards.

Two huge lessons on my journey  – firstly I tried to do everything myself and became the glass ceiling on the business. So I learnt to recruit, manage and coach people well. 

Then I got stuck. The market had commoditised and I needed to transform the business. So I learnt how to both lead and grow a business properly, resulting in the business trebling in size in 3 years.

I qualified as a coach and developed myself by taking on Non-Exec Leadership roles at EMB Ltd, D2N2 LEP, Chair of the D2N2 Growth Hub and the Food & Drink Forum. This is where I learnt how to guide, empower and help business leaders find their own voice.

In 2016 I started 3w Growth with Helen, my wife. We simply use our understanding of business and people to help others run their businesses better. Our family of clients are at the centre of everything we do, so rather than me telling you about our business coaching and mentoring, why not see what they say here!

Starting my career in the Banking sector,  I quickly learnt my gift was in developing others and moved into Senior Learning & Development Roles at Skipton Building Society, Nottingham Building Society and Nottingham Trent University.

My passion is coaching, I love the moment I enable someone to flourish and allow themselves to excel. 

I am a coach on the Inspirational Leadership Retreat and I enjoy designing and delivering practical and experiential workshops and programmes for 3w Growth.

I have experience at delivering large Learning and Development projects and set up the Coaching Academy at Nottingham Trent University, creating a successful culture of coaching through introducing a network of internal coaches that all leaders can access.

I’m a qualified Mediator and am very experienced at helping resolve conflict between both individuals and teams.

Qualified to ILM level 7 in Coaching Supervision, I am a qualified psychometric practitioner and an Associate member of CIPD. I won the Golden Arrow at NBS for my work on transforming the leadership capabilities of the senior team.

The exact moment 3w Growth was created – on a beach in 2016! Why 3w? It represents the W in Williams of me, my wife and son – we are a family business. It reminds us when we see the 3w logo that:

• To be happy in our work we need to be doing what we are good at and we enjoy

• That it might be time to put the work down and do something else that’s fun together

Family businesses are important, there are over 5 million family businesses in the UK employing 14 million people - that’s over 50% of private sector employment. Longer term planning, values led and resilience are rewarded by customers and team members alike – over the recent challenging times of Covid, the family business sector significantly outperformed their non-family counterparts.

But there are challenges that come with it. Non-family businesses have shareholders and the business itself. Family businesses can have an additional layer of complexity, with family members who are share and non shareholders, and are in and out of the business. This can cause challenges:

• The founder, being successful and good at what they do, ending up running a bigger business they really don’t feel equipped to (or may not even want to)

• No obvious family member to take on the running of the business and no exit plan

• The next generation feeling like they have to “do it the way of the parent” but it’s not their way

• Always working in the business rather than on it,  and struggling to get the work / life balance right

• Conflict – which is stressful for the family and can be bewildering to a non-family team member

• A lack of external view and accountability 

We have been running and working with family businesses for over 20 years, so whether it’s getting the family and business aligned, reducing conflict, upskilling the next generation to find their voice and place in the business or helping you create a plan to exit – please do get in touch for a chat.