One of the UK’s most successful and dynamic leadership consultants.
William Montgomery is the founder and CEO of TEN LTD, which has offices in Bristol and London. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is now one of the UK’s top leadership consultancies. He is a leadership consultant with first class credentials. The former navigating officer of HMS Ark Royal and Head of Strategic Change at Lloyds TSB has since earned an enviable reputation as a powerful catalyst for performance, helping release potential to maximise profit through the creation of a success culture for start-up entrepreneurs to global organisations. He is retained by some of the world’s most respected organisations in the areas of business, media and sport, where he uses his 10 Actions of Effective Leaders programme to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
2004 - Present : Chief Executive of TEN LTD
TEN offers leading-edge training, mentoring, facilitation and consultancy in the profession of leadership. We bring together the key components of strategy – business and operating models, structure, culture, leaders, teams and people – into a clear and practical action plan. Using these, in conjunction with insights based on authoritative research, worldwide experience and expertise, we help clients make better, and more informed decisions. In addition, we also help clients to: assess and develop their leaders; implement talent pools, with regular personnel progress and talent reviews; and with succession management plans to support their long-term organisational performance. We also help clients develop performance cultures, and reward strategies, that mobilise their people towards achieving goals. The company has an enviable list of clients that includes some of the best-known organisations and sporting institutions in the world today. We add value by looking in from the outside and challenging concepts and practices that they take for granted.
2003 : Officer in Charge Force Protection Units
William was recalled as part of Operation Tellic, the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted from the start of the invasion on 19 March 2003. He was the Officer in Charge of mobilising and training the Force Protection Units that were deployed to the Persian Gulf to protect ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. In addition, he was tasked with teaching colloquial Arabic to Royal Navy Reservists deploying to Kuwait. He designed, developed and delivered a bespoke programme to groups of officers and ratings as part of their induction programme.
1994 - 2002 : From Savings and Investment Adviser to Head of Strategic Change
After retiring from active service, William joined TSB Bank and qualified as a Savings & Investment Adviser. After exceeding all sales and service targets, he was invited to join PhoneBank - the first telephone banking operation to be launched by a high street bank - as the Relationship Marketing Manager. He achieved the goal of finding and attracting new customers, nurturing and retaining existing customers and enticing former customers back, whilst reducing costs. This was achieved by motivating people to create effective processes that deliver the desired results. Success came with a promotion to Head of Strategic Change. He identified tactical and strategic opportunities to increase scale and manage risk across the enlarged group of companies comprising TSB, Lloyds Bank, Scottish Widows and Cheltenham and Gloucester. He engaged with key stakeholders to facilitate workshops and provide data to these sessions to enable fact based conclusions to be drawn. He consolidated all the above aspects into concise business cases with clear identification of issues, required actions, costs and benefits, and worked with core teams to meet group strategy, performance and targets. He took early retirement to create his own business.
1978 - 1994 : From Junior Rating to Chief Petty Offer to Commissioned Officer
Having left school with no academic qualifications, William took and failed the entrance examination to join the Royal Navy. However, the recruiting officer noted his potential and made a successful application for him to join. After basic training, he qualified as a Junior Radio Operator before subsequently specialising as a cryptologist. Whilst stationed at Bletchley Park, he mastered the encryption and decryption of secret messages on the original Enigma machines and their modern-day successors. He then trained as an Arabic Linguist with the Army School of Languages before being stationed at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Cheltenham. He achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer by the age of 25. His goal was to become a commissioned officer, but not having 20/20 vision his progress was blocked. Not to be deterred, he initiated an Act of Parliament that resulted in the lowering of the eyesight requirements in the Royal Navy. He joined Britannia Royal Naval College, became a navigation specialist and was eventually appointed to HMS Ark Royal. He retired from active service to spend more time with his wife and one-year-old daughter, but remained in the Royal Naval Reserve for a further 10 years.