Bruce Christie

"What jobs did you do before moving to consultancy?"
Before graduation in 1988 I worked in a bank for a year, tended bars, worked as a hotel porter, and cleaned swarf from lathes.

Once I had graduated and could no longer stave off finding a "proper job", I worked in the HR side of car manufacturing with Peugeot - graduate training, compensation and benefits, industrial relations, and recruitment and development.  After 5 years or so, I left to join the global engineering firm Schlumberger.  I held a series of increasingly senior positions in manufacturing, R&D, graduate recruitment, and generalist HR based in the UK but often with a wider geographical spread before finally moving back to Aberdeen in 2000. My final position before leaving Schlumberger was Organisation Development Manager for UK and Ireland.

"Why did you decide to become a partner at Facilitators?"
To be honest, my own consultancy work was going well but I missed the day-to-day banter of a busy office, and I really missed being a part of the management of a diverse and dynamic business.  By the time I was beginning to reach these conclusions, I was an Associate of Facilitators and was finding that work coming through Facilitators was the largest part of my portfolio - so when I was invited to become a Partner, everything seemed to slot into place.

"What are your areas of expertise?"
All things People! Obviously I have a strong leaning towards HR, People and Organisation Development, and the classic HR activities like motivation assessment and enhancement.  I really think, I have a real strength in getting disparate groups to work together, and in helping organisations get to high quality solutions to their problems, whatever they may be.  This variety is really great, but if I could only do one or two things they would involve helping organisations understand just how they shape up against recognised best practice in Organisation/People Development, and helping new and existing groups really motor towards becoming a high performing team. 

"What kind of work have you done with clients as a consultant?"
I have been involved in a really wide range of activities, from working with multinationals right across to helping a 4-person press agency set standards of performance for a new journalist, and pro-bono work coaching an HR person in a charitable organisation!

-Coaching a leadership team of a technical group spun out from an Edinburgh University incubator - I'd like to feel that I contributed in a small way to the success that led to them being bought for $275M, 4 years after startup. This makes Number One because the four main leaders in the management team shared $24M between themselves - real proof that good guys win! (Should have asked for a Gainshare!)

Managing a team of top flight trainers to be an "in-sourced" non-technical training department for an Oil & Gas service company with 9,000 staff across their Europe, Africa, Russia, and Caspian Sea region - and really integrating ourselves so that the client considers us as members of her team.

Mentoring a young manager to help him develop a winning professional BTCC saloon car racing team, and delivering a training programme to help them to develop professional, media, fitness (honestly!) and PR skills amongst young professional racing drivers.

"Do you have any qualifications that help you in your line of work?"
Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Hons Degree in Business Studies
Postgrad Diploma in HR Management
Level A/B British Psychological Society certified

"What do you do when you're not working?"
Play with my son Cameron, and try with him to understand the cultural complexities of Thomas the Tank Engine

Travel around Europe to see Scotland's national football team be beaten by (supposedly) lesser nations

Get into trouble for looking at my Blackberry on late evenings and weekends

"What's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given?"
I'm an HR guy, don't try to narrow me down :

If it is to be, it is up to me

Nobody on their deathbed ever thinks, "If only I'd spent more time at the office"

Only work with people you can trust and respect, and if that they trust and respect you

"Who do you most admire?"
No one person, to be honest. So many spring to mind - Nelson Mandela (his biography "Long Walk to Freedom" is fascinating!), Richard Branson, Mohammed Ali, Steve Redgrave, and Mikhail Gorbachev. My father, for coming from a working class background to being awarded an MBE.

Mike Sheppard, a Schlumberger Fellow - one of the most spectacularly intelligent, nurturing, and humorous people I have ever had the honour to meet.

I also used to swim with Neil Cochrane, who won an Olympic Bronze in the Freestyle Relay. It takes a hell of a lot for a teenager to get up before dawn to swim for miles. That may be dwarfed by Mandela and the like, but really well done. Neil!  And, of course my wife Tracey, for her (hopefully) unending patience!

Please also see other People in our team.