Tap into senior HR & Coaching expertise.
Hi, I'm Steve Thompson — founder of Encourager. Glad you stopped by.
Encourager is what I built after 25 years in senior HR — a consultancy designed for the kind of work I'd come to believe in. Practical HR that holds both the commercial reality and the human side seriously. Coaching that goes deeper than goal-setting. Advisory work for leaders going through the kind of change that doesn't fit a playbook.
My most formative role was 5½ years as Global People Director at a London AI consultancy. I joined to help build the HR function and stayed to lead it through growth, restructure, and the kind of work that puts a People Director in the room when AI is reshaping how the business operates. The technology was always going to land. The human side was the real work.
That experience shaped what I do now. I help Investors, PE-backed businesses, CEOs, founders, CHROs, and SMEs across the UK. The work takes different shapes — fractional and project HR, workforce transformation, executive coaching, or advisory for investors and CEOs on the human side of AI rollouts. They're different shapes of the same work.
Get to know me better below....
Outside the work, I'm a Crystal Palace fan and England rugby supporter. I also enjoy the gym, running, paddle boarding, and recently turned my hand to salsa and bachata. I live in Horsham, West Sussex — and have two daughters and a patient partner who keep me grounded. Shelby the lurcher reminds me to step away from the desk for a walk!
My faith is part of who I am, and shapes how I approach the work.
I've spent years working on the things leaders quietly struggle with — confidence, presence, the gap between what you know and what you trust yourself to do. That work is partly why coaching matters to me, and partly why I take the inner side of leadership seriously when I'm working on the outer side of HR and transformation.
If you've read this far, thank you. Most of the conversations that lead to good work start with someone genuinely curious about whether there's a fit. If that's you, I'd love to talk.
Book a 30-minute call. No pitch, no obligation.
A focused conversation about what's going on and what you're trying to achieve.
