About The back to work company

Our staff work with a team of associates who each bring specialist knowledge, skills and experience to our assignments

The company's core staff includes:

Paula Grizzard - Principal Consultant & Managing Director

Paula has extensive experience of work in the field of social and economic inclusion. She has worked with a wide range of clients across the UK with frequent projects in Central and Eastern Europe. She is also a graduate from Manchester and London Universities, a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, is an advisor to the Department of Communities and Local Government, and a visiting lecturer and Business Centurion at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Previous work has included:  

• Designing and implementing regeneration plans and training senior staff in public and private sector organisations in the development of more effective approaches to managing change.
• Managing the Rotherham Economic Partnership, one of the leading edge private/public partnerships in the UK.
• Setting up and running the Inner City Task force (economic regeneration in Bradford) as part of Central Government.
• Developing a raft of projects aimed at regenerating urban areas.
• Carrying out a range of projects to drive improvement in the poorest neighbourhoods, as a national Improvement Advisor to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Contact: Paula Grizzard

Contact: 0113 2684119, or contact form

Our team of associates:

Liz Bavidge

Liz has extensive experience of work in the field of social and economic inclusion specializing in diversity. She has worked with a wide range of clients across the UK with frequent projects in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a Board member for a range of voluntary organisations. Awarded the OBE in 1997 for services to women’s issues.

Previous work has included:  

• Designing and delivering training programmes on mentoring, appraisal and diversity for public and private sector organisations.
• Developing strategies for change in the voluntary sector and not –for –profit sector
• Designing and delivering leadership courses for women
• Leading on projects on age management and age employment issues
• Writing resource material on diversity issues
• Keynote speaking nationally and internationally

Rob Broad

Rob Broad is an experienced training and development consultant who has worked extensively in the public and private sectors in the UK, Europe and Africa.

His experience has ranged from advising organisations on the development of their learning strategies to the design and implementation of specific interventions. These have included corporate mentoring schemes, management development programmes and diversity training.

Rob is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an Associate Tutor of the National School of Government.  

Mandy Coles

Mandy Coles is a freelance trainer, facilitator and coach.  She has worked with the backtoworkcompany on equality, diversity and respect issues since 2004, and has a passion for this agenda. 

Mandy also delivers training in the areas of coaching and mentoring skills for managers and staff, effective communication, and managing challenging conversations and situations.  Mandy is experienced at facilitating team building, team development,action learning and business planning. She delivers both personal and professional development coaching, in corporate settings, and with private clients.

Mandy is qualified in NLP as a Master Practitioner, and is a certified NLP Coach (qualification accredited by the International Coaching Federation).

Mandy also has an interest in social housing, and has been a member of the board of Coast and Country since 2005.  She is Chair of the Audit Committee, and Equality and Diversity champion for the Board.

They have expertise in a range of different topic areas including: