Rolls-Royce

- Led transformation from a low-performing Scrum team to a highly collaborative, performing team using Kanban.
- Product Owner and Agile Coach of two Software teams developing a Data Platform for the business, initially focusing on maximising engine availability which has currently saved over £9 million for the customer. Created roadmaps and led stakeholder reviews to maintain alignment across teams.
- Coached the team to use a Minimum Viable Product approach in line with the Lean Startup methodology. This resulted in delivering a bespoke software solution in 4 months which saves £70k/year and reduces the manufacturing time of a component by 12%.
- Supporting the wider business adopt a more agile approach to product development, facilitating workshops, writing strategy documents and coaching teams in their transformation.
- Qualified Professional Scrum Master and trained SAFe Practitioner.

Agile Delivery Lead

- Technically lead three component teams through New Product Introduction - developing the component method of manufacture and managing the technical risk.
- Managing the programme management for those components, updating project plans (P6), technical risk burndown using PFMEAs and being accountable for delivery of the production technical packages.
- Specialised in Design for Manufacture - balancing the Design ideals against realistic Manufacturing considerations to meet delivery commitments.
- Responsible for building the team. Hiring, performance management, personal development and coaching.
- Built a culture of continuous improvement, hosting retrospectives to reflect and learn from mistakes before the components went into production. Applied Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma principles such as value stream mapping and statistical process control to reduce waste and variation within our manufacturing methods, improving quality and delivery.

Manufacturing Engineering Technical Lead

- Responsible for managing the existing components through manufacture including managing non-conformance and reworks to maintain Design intent.
- Co-ordinated and led major design improvements with stress, thermal and materials engineers as we re-introduced components into manufacture. Reduced non-conformance by over 50% through these improvements.
- Managed operations stakeholders as the primary contact for Engineering as we balanced the risk of progressing with manufacture vs performing detailed analysis on defects. Strong communicator.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Attained.

Mechanical Design Engineer

Blueprint Leadership Academy

- Coached clients of Small-Medium Enterprises on Transformational Change and business development. Specialised in getting the leaders to empower their teams to achieve ambitious outcomes.
- Focused on setting meaningful goals, using OKRs and aligning the team to collaborate together to achieve them. Supported the planning and execution of these goals through workshops and coaching.
- Devised a goal-setting planner, now available on Amazon.co.uk to help others set personal goals and track progress.

Leadership Consultant

BAE Systems

Spent 4 months on placement in Mechanical Engineering Support. This involved producing solutions to problems with the product. Skills used include; Problem Solving, Engineering Design, Mathematical Analysis and Report Writing.

My second placement on the GDF was in Cost Engineering began in January 2013 and involved working on the bid process for various projects and pricing the labour within the business.

GDF Engineer

Worked as a design engineer as part of the High Integrity Pressure Vessels team within the Nuclear Marine sector. Assisted in the design of a number of components, writing technical reports, working on the design and manufacture of the pressure vessel following ASME codes III and VIII. Techniques used included Design for Assembly/Manufacture, TRIZ and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. SC Security Clearance attained.

Over my time in the Engineering sector, I have witnessed many examples of both good and bad leadership. In 2021, I started working with clients to help improve their leadership, based on empowering team members with effective goal setting, determining where they decide to focus their efforts and developing a framework to support others to get higher performance.

My background, working in some of the best engineering firms in the world, has given me great exposure to "Operational Excellence" - which is what I can work with you to achieve. Operational excellence is the perfect balance of People, Process and Purpose. I have the tools to help you with all three!

People are at the heart of any good business, but you need to get the right ones, develop them and keep them around. I can help you preparing for interviewing new employees, empowering them to love their role and develop them so they can be at their best more often.

Process is often overlooked in leadership, but a great leader understands their outputs and helps their team by removing obstacles so they can deliver. Are your team bogged down or have inconsistent ways of working, with limited tangible results? I am experienced in Agile, Scrum, Lean, Six Sigma, Quality Management Systems and more to help you fix these problems.

Finally, purpose! Tell your team what you need to achieve and let them figure out how to get there. I can help with goal setting, planning for the future and delivering the mission to your team. Without understanding purpose, your team will never be able to reach high performance.

If your organisation is struggling to develop a high performing culture, get in touch and let me help you achieve your goals.

Dan Webb

Kate Waterfall Hill

Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director

Waterfall Hill Consulting Ltd

I help CEO Founders, MDs, business owners and leaders of all sorts stop screaming into a pillow when it comes to leadership. 

Coaching programmes to enhance leadership skills, unlock potential, improve performance, and support teams through change/growth.

Leadership Coach

Stellar Global Ltd

Coaching programme supporting the professional development of head office staff

Executive Coach

Waterscan

Business Advisory, HR, Coaching, Business Improvement

Executive Coach & Non Executive Director

The Network Collective

Member of the Senior Leadership Team, advising on business strategy and HR, and providing executive coaching support.

Fractional COO/HR Consultant/Coach

The Steam Dreams Rail Co.

Strategic HR, Recruitment, People Planning

Director and HR Consultant

BrandRapport

Associative Marketing and Sponsorship Consultancy

Sports marketing, PR, general marketing, HR, Finance, IT

Chief Operating Officer

Craigie Taylor International Ltd

Account Director/Managing Director from 1998

Our Price & Virgin Megastores

PR Consultant (whilst at Craigie Taylor)

Even when you love what you do, leading and managing people can be hard work.

The leaders I work with tend to be a subject matter expert, a high achiever, they own the organisation or run it (or a major chunk of it) for someone else. 

They know what they're doing when it comes to their area of expertise. 

Yet managing people feels like a major headache.

There's either too much drama or too much admin.

There are some tricky under-performers plus star performers who want more.

Some people don't meet expectations or do what is asked of them.

There are people who seem demotivated but don't leave.

There are great people who don't stay.

And it all takes so much time and effort.

That's where I come in.  

We need to talk if you want to: 
✅ Enhance your leadership skills, so you can influence positive change
✅ Inspire, motivate, delegate, and coach others with ease
✅ Navigate challenges without losing your cool
✅ Address communication issues and manage difficult situations, conversations and conflict
✅ Improve psychological safety so your team members innovate, problem-solve, ask good questions and admit mistakes 

Then there's your own personal and professional development. Let's talk if you want to:
✅ Fast-track your personal growth and achieve your professional development goals
✅ Improve self-awareness, self-regulation, self-control and self-esteem
✅ Enhance communication skills, to influence stakeholders and peers
✅ Develop a clear sense of self, your values, your leadership style, and your boundaries
✅ Create a better balance, get out of the detail and set the strategic vision

By working out how best to manage others and manage yourself, you'll achieve your organisational objectives, accelerate business growth and successfully execute your strategy. 

I can help you drive change, develop high-performing teams, implement creative innovation programmes and address challenges in business expansion and team management.

I work with CEO Founders, MDs, business owners and senior leaders. 
I work with teams and organisations.
I offer 1-2-1 coaching, group coaching, leadership workshops and keynote speeches.

And I've written a book too - grab your copy of "How to Lead" now: www.waterfallhill.co.uk/links-li

My weekly podcast of the same name is on all the usual platforms and YouTube. Search “How to Lead with Kate Waterfall Hill”. My character “Linda, the bad manager” shows us how not to lead and then I offer better advice. 

✅ I offer expert support, guidance, accountability, challenge, and professionalism coupled with just the right amount of levity.

Leadership Coach & HR Consultant

I love my job and want to help other people love theirs too.

Working with experienced, aspiring and new leaders in SMEs to enhance performance and improve engagement.

Coaching programmes from CEOs to newly promoted managers, to enhance leadership skills, unlock potential, improve performance, prepare people for promotion and support teams through change/growth.

Fancy me being invited to do the closing keynote speech at this year’s Women in Change Summit!

What a great day. Amazing speeches, panels and workshops. All brilliantly executed. All superbly curated and hosted by Sarah Bar-Lev and Helena Sikk from Women In Change.

Every story shared, every kind word, every nugget of wisdom will leave each attendee changed for the better, I’m sure of it. 

I loved sharing some tools and techniques to avoid being like my character, Linda the bad manager, including:

- How to be more intentional every day
- How to get out of the weeds
- How to influence others and make an impact

Thanks to everyone who made it happen and made it so special. Especially Vicki Knights and Jess Harman for a lovely dinner the night before and lots of moral support!

Sharon Parmar (née Aneja) Angelina Rizza Julie Tague Charlotte Talmage Erica Hodgson Olivia Asiedu-Ntow Dr Susanne Evans Morgan Fitzsimons Caroline Wanjiru Kiunga-Kihusa Sarah Golley Judith Bueving 🌠Anna B. Edna Tarfa Laura J Carter MSc Mary Patricia Ryan Natalie Montagnani Marcelle Jans Liz Kotze

Leadership coach, creator of “Linda, the bad manager”, former marketing agency MD

Over the last few years, I’ve invested tens of thousands of pounds in my own development.

And I’ve only regretted one of those investments.

I knew deep down it wasn’t aligned with my values or the way I work… but the sales guy promised me a “quick fix” to help me build my marketing operation and 5x my revenue. And I fell for it!

Of course, when something’s out of alignment with who you are, it’s doomed to failure! I should have known there is never an easy route to success. Everything takes effort, focus and time - as well as a great guide, a like-minded community and some brilliant tools and techniques. 

But all the other investments, I would make again in a heartbeat. 

- Executive Coaching ILM Level 7 with Charlie Warshawski, PCC at Love Your Coaching  

- Social media training with Kat Coroy

- Presentation skills training with Vanessa Cuddeford  

- Evergreen group programmes with Gemma Gilbert 

- Finessing your messaging with Colette McBeth 

- ICF coaching qualification with Kate Freedman, PCC 

- Visibility strategy with Vicki Knights 

- DiSC profiling with Sarah Owen and DISCsimple  

- Team coaching with Dr Sebastian Fox 

- And the best of all - the wonderful Business of Coaching and then the Next Level Mastermind with Joanna Lott ACC (both highly recommended!)

I thank all these experts for sharing their wisdom and building communities where their clients feel seen, safe and enjoy learning. 

I won’t name the “error” investment, but suffice to say I’ve learned from the mistake and will now only invest in programmes and people who are the right fit for me. 

The 2 lessons:

1. Only invest in self-development when you genuinely like, respect and feel in alignment with the service provider.

2. Invest in yourself regularly and throughout your career (or ask your employer to!). It’s hard doing things alone and the best way to fast track your learning is by doing it with someone who you have a positive connection with and whose community is a good fit. 

—————————————————————

I’m Kate (aka Linda), leadership coach, author, speaker and podcast host (How to Lead). 

If you’d like to accelerate your leadership journey, book a call to see if we’re a good fit here: https://lnkd.in/daggDVkZ

If you’re looking for leadership development for your team, book a call to find out more about my online courses, group coaching programme, one-to-one coaching, and workshops for senior leadership teams and managers here:  https://lnkd.in/daggDVkZ

If you’d like to join a community of like-minded leaders to have weekly peer support and live coaching from me and expert speakers, now’s the time to find out if my Leadership Accelerator programme is right for you by completing a simple online form and submitting your question here: https://lnkd.in/e4uZZzEu

There’s one place left for the December intake (starts 2 December) and two for January (starts 6 January). Prices will go up in 2026, so book now to secure the 2025 price.

Invest in aligned programmes

I was in the eerily quiet City of London today (I'm told everyone was in the office ready to deal with market volatility thanks to Budget Day) to attend a conference that wasn't like a conference at all.

The Learning Unconference, superbly organised and facilitated by Fiona McBride and her co- facilitators, Sukhvinder Pabial  and Anne-Marie Burbidge, was a great day spent discussing the highs, lows, opportunities, trends, threats and future of learning with the great and the good of the L&D world - both in-house and external experts.

An unconference is a brilliant way to let the important topics of the day emerge and be debated freely. My short video of the day gives you a taste of this interesting format.

I came away with a head full of ideas, including a renewed enthusiasm for integrating AI into my coaching practice and ways to instil a more proactive learning culture within organisations.

Not only that, I met a great bunch of people and it was a pleasure to spend the day with them.

Kate Nicholroy Amelia Saberwal, CPCC

Work gets rubbish sometimes. 

Don’t fake-smile your way through it. 

Instead, lead with resilient positivity: acknowledge the challenge, focus on what you can control, and show your team a way forward.

This week's bulletin looks at how to keep going when things feel rubbish - read on for more ⬇️

View newsletter: Intentional Leaders' Bulletin

TL;DR: a quick summary for busy readers Work gets rubbish sometimes. Don’t fake-smile your way through it. Instead, lead with resilient positivity: ac

Open article: Keeping positive when things are rubbish at work by Kate Waterfall Hill • 4 min read

Keeping positive when things are rubbish at work

I'm one of the speakers - that might put you off or encourage you to snap up the last ticket. Who knows?

See you there if you're already booked. It's going to be a great day.

24 hours from now, the room is alive! 🌟

It’s that moment when everyone walks in, takes a breath and realises they’re exactly where they’re meant to be

Tomorrow, the Women in Change November Summit opens its doors, a day shaped by honesty, courage and the kind of conversations that stay with you long after you’ve gone home.

We’ll gather to explore how we show up:
in challenge, in uncertainty and in the quiet moments when resilience has to be rebuilt from the inside out.

👉 You’ll hear from leaders who speak from lived experience:

• stories that steady you,
• ideas that shift how you see your work, your impact, even yourself.

There will be space to meet women who move with purpose.
Space to listen.
Space to say the thing you’ve been holding.
And space to remember that your presence carries weight.

If you’ve been watching from the sidelines, wondering if this year was your year to step in, it’s not too late!

We have 1 ticket left. One seat waiting for someone who knows they're ready.

If that’s you, this is your moment!

🔥 Claim the final ticket here:  https://lnkd.in/eggc-kQh

#WomenInChange #Leadership #Resilience #Values #Visibility #ChangeMakers #WICSummit2025 #WomenInLeadership

If you’re expecting people to “step up” into management, give them the support they need. 

Step 1: Remove some workload to give them time to lead.

Step 2: Provide some training or coaching to elevate their leadership skills, so they can inspire their teams to better performance and drive results. 

There’s one place left for the Leadership Accelerator programme which starts on Tuesday 2 December and two left for the 6 January intake. 

Click here to ask a question or sign up: https://lnkd.in/gsbf7baw

Book now before prices go up in 2026.

I recently joined Paul Bulpitt on The Wow Company's Beautiful Business podcast to talk about one of my favourite topics: how leaders can make work more joyful and productive.

For everyone.

We talked about the realities of leadership – the parts no one mentioned when we were promoted for being brilliant at the doing, not the leading. The awkward feedback moments, the conversations that feel heavier than they need to, and the nagging sense that leadership should feel more straightforward than it sometimes does.

In the episode, Paul and I explored:
- What’s really going on when feedback misses the mark.
- How clarity and kindness work best when they work together.
- Why courageous leadership is something you practise, not something you’re born with.
- And what a “beautiful business” looks and feels like behind the scenes.

If you’re trying to lead with more intention, build a team where people feel safe enough to do their best work, or simply want to feel more confident in the conversations that matter, you might enjoy this one.

It was great to meet Paul at last, having heard so much about him from my long-standing client Kelly Goodship.

Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/efTpSYbg

Get my Feedback Masterclass to help you give feedback that lands well and influences the positive outcomes you want here: https://lnkd.in/eAyfg6qr

When Linda meets Kate…

What happens when a seasoned leadership coach sits down with her own mischievous alter ego?

A surprisingly honest conversation about the habits that help teams thrive - and the ones that quietly kill performance.

In this one-year anniversary episode of my “How to Lead” podcast, I have a conversation with my alter-ego Linda, and unpack the biggest lessons listeners have taken from the show so far:

 • Why clarity beats “looking busy”
 • How strategy only works when people understand it
 • Why team members “quietly check out”
 • The difference between feedback and… sarcasm
 • Trust, appreciation and the tiny behaviours that shape culture

It’s funny, insightful and full of the real-world moments every leader will recognise.

I'd love for you to take a listen, and celebrate this one-year anniversary with me: https://lnkd.in/eeiKsP-y

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The Battle

Dan Webb

Kate Waterfall Hill

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The Battle

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Kate Waterfall Hill

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kate Waterfall Hill's LinkedIn Performance

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