Champion of the Week
Meet our Champion of the Week: Deborah Brown, Founder at Motion HR
I’m Deborah Brown, founder of Motion HR, an independent consultancy focused on practical, shop‑floor‑ready people solutions for manufacturers and multi‑site operators. After leading HR and employee relations functions across food manufacturing, large retail and logistics, I bring that experience together to help leaders fix root‑cause issues quickly, build confident line managers, and create fair, simple processes that people use.
What is your organisation looking forward to? How are you set to evolve?
Motion HR is building modular services that scale with a client’s journey. This includes policy and process alignment to ACAS standards; line‑manager capability programmes, ER triage and case management, and short, high‑impact projects like absence reduction, skills‑matrix roll‑outs, and engagement forums. Over the next year, I’ll expand our template library and toolkits – covering investigations, probation frameworks, and suspension and appeal documents – so clients can embed good practice quickly and consistently.
What makes Chesterfield and North Derbyshire a good place to work?
This area is a manufacturing heartland, with people who take pride in making quality products. The workforce is practical, straight‑talking, and resilient, which lends itself perfectly to continuous improvement. Strong supply chains, local training routes, and close community ties make it easier to turn ideas into everyday routines on the shop floor.
Who has provided advice or mentoring, and how has it helped your organisation?
I’ve benefited from entrepreneurship and leadership networks over the years, alongside mentoring from women in business. These experiences shaped Motion HR’s coaching‑first approach: upskilling managers to handle conversations confidently, simplifying documentation, and keeping leaders focused on outcomes rather than bureaucracy.
How are you supporting young people?
I support clients to design early‑career pathways that work on the shop floor- clear SOPs, skills matrices, buddy systems, and regular check‑ins that make expectations visible. Young people bring energy and fresh ideas; Motion HR’s role is to turn that into capability quickly through simple training plans and fast feedback loops that reduce attrition and speed up proficiency.
How are you, your organisation or your team supporting our communities and improving our quality of life?
Good jobs improve lives. Motion HR supports clients to run fair processes, plan work predictably, and listen to their people through engagement forums, safe‑to‑speak cultures, and wellbeing signposting. Personally, I’ve volunteered as a school governor in Derbyshire, and that community mindset underpins how I approach HR: practical, ethical, people‑first.
How would you describe Chesterfield and North Derbyshire, using only three words?
Industrious, welcoming and grounded.
What experiences would you recommend sharing in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire, and why?
I’d recommend walking through our countryside and exploring our market‑town heritage, then spending time with local makers and food producers. Seeing how things are crafted here explains our pride in quality – and why continuous improvement feels natural to local teams.
What does being a Chesterfield Champion mean to your organisation, and how do you actively promote our town?
For Motion HR, it’s about showcasing local talent and opening doors – connecting employers with people, supporting skills growth, and sharing what works between businesses. Day to day, that shows up through better onboarding, smarter training, and celebrating teams that deliver great products safely and consistently.
What is your vision for Chesterfield and North Derbyshire in 2030? What do you think the town needs to achieve this?
A skills-rich, quality‑led manufacturing hub that attracts and keeps talent. To get there, we need clear routes from school into industry, confident line managers, and practical forums where firms share best practice – from safety and ethics to productivity and wellbeing. Motion HR’s contribution is simple: turning strategy into everyday habits that lift performance and help people thrive.
Motion HR is one of over 200 Chesterfield organisations that are proud to support the local economy, working closely with Destination Chesterfield to showcase Chesterfield and North Derbyshire as a destination to live, work, visit and invest.
Find out more about our Champions network.
