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Managing Director

Sarah Stevens

As one of the founding owners I stepped (full time) into the role of Managing Director in July 2023. I am a highly motivated and experienced HR professional with a reputation for combining strategic thinking with detailed delivery. CIPD qualified with a strong track record of achievement in start-up and large corporate organisations, I have experience in all aspects of HR management including resourcing, training & development, project management, expatriate management and generalist administration.

I enjoy my role as a calm supportive advocate for colleagues and team members, motivating and inspiring them to deliver. As a highly networked HR professional, I have built my skills and experience within both public and private sectors in a range of industry sectors including Banking & Finance, IT, FMCG, Healthcare and Consultancy, as an employee and as an independent professional.

I have used my calm and supportive skills to further qualify as a Mediator. Quite simply because I love a tricky situation.  The role of the Mediator is not to provide the answers or solutions, but to simply guide and facilitate the arrival at the point of consensus agreement. When an agreement is reached by all parties it’s a great feeling. 

I bring my experience from managing complex projects (at all levels), for companies including; HSBC, PwC, Coca-Cola, and Cadbury Schweppes.

Q. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?

A. Hiring a car in Swaziland and driving across the border into South Africa – without telling any friends or family where I was or, what I was doing!

Q. Who or what makes you laugh?

A. Michael McIntyre and LadBaby.

What our clients are saying

  • “

    Sarah allows our business to concentrate on the jobs we set out to do, and not have to worry about the HR input, with a highly professional service that she provides. 

    ”

    Stuart Barr, Director – Barr Group, Thame

  • “

    We have been using Breathe over the last term to track our staff holidays. This is a great system as it highlights different cohorts of staff and when is free for others to book on the calendar. This has supported our ratio requirements and helped us to track holiday entitlements.

    We like the system so much that we have extended it to using the staffing schedules to log staff attendance and hours needed to be processed for payroll. Sharon has been so helpful in helping us set up different employees work patterns and it has been really effective for our nursery needs.

     

    ”

    Phillipa Arnold – Operations Manager. Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries – Cambridge Franchise

  • “

    ​I found working with SYLO incredibly comfortable.  They helped me to define the real issues and then guided me through figuring out a solution. This resulted in a huge shift in the workload I was carrying to manageable levels, greater and welcomed empowerment for the talent in my team, and a manager (mine) who was fully up to speed on what was actually going on.

    ”

    Georgina Carey, Senior Manager – Transport For London

  • “
    SYLO Beyond HR delivered a series of seven Manager Skills sessions for our leadership team between October 2024 and early 2025, delivered through a blend of face‑to‑face and online workshops.
    The programme covered essential topics for our managers, including Being a Role Model, Communication Skills (Parts 1 & 2), Empowering Others, Basics of HR, Techniques for Handling Difficult Situations, and Giving and Receiving Feedback.
    The training was practical, engaging, and tailored to our organisation. Our managers particularly valued the real‑world examples, the safe space created for discussion, and the actionable tools they could use immediately in their roles.
    We have already seen a positive impact in how our managers communicate, set expectations, and handle challenging situations with greater confidence.
    SYLO’s facilitators were knowledgeable, supportive, and highly engaging throughout the programme. We would happily recommend SYLO Beyond HR to any organisation looking to strengthen their management capability.
    ”

    Petrova Caldecourt, Lightfoot

  • “

    Thanks to Jilli Broadhurst from SYLO | Beyond HR for visiting the Richardsons’ office last week for a CPD session with the team.

    She led the Richardsons team in a session that covered adapting their communications approach to have the best possible interactions with colleagues, peers and clients.

    The session also covered other key skills such as tactics for providing constructive feedback and effectively delegating.

    Here at Richardsons, we’re proud to be an experienced training firm – and an important part of that commitment is offering our team these kinds of opportunities to learn the skills they need to grow their careers and better support our clients.

    Thanks again to Jilli and SYLO HR!

    ”

    Jemima King, Partner, Richardsons

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