This may be a delicate question for some, but we will ask it anyway! Which generation do you belong to? Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millenium (Y), or Generation Z? Age should be irrelevant in the workplace, with everyone being treated equally. But in reality, there is...
The Importance of Coaching How do you manage the individuals in your team? Do you instruct, or do you inspire? We wholeheartedly believe the latter is more effective. However, inspiring managers are more often the exception as opposed to the rule, as evidenced by...
After our blog that discusses the psychological, social and biological factors all working against humans who wish to make a change, this begs the question of why and how anyone ever makes a change. Tony Robbins put it best when he said: ‘Change happens when the pain...
In the ever-shifting landscape of business, one truth reigns supreme: change is inevitable. From the tides of technological advancements to the ripples of shifting customer demands, organisations must navigate the tumultuous waters to adaptation or risk being swept...
Change in the business world can sometimes feel like convincing your stubborn teenager to try a new cuisine. Challenging, to say the least. But fear not, esteemed business leaders! Understanding the quirks of human psychology, biology and sociology behind our...
In our last post, we looked at management soft skills, the fact they are being overlooked in favour of ‘hard skills’, and the potential reasons why. Now, we are looking at signs you are lacking soft skills in your company, the impact this has on the organisation, and...
Responsibilities within MIM:
Elysia having successfully completed her law degree at Aberdeen University and her Masters in Management at St Andrews University, has taken a full-time role, after working part-time throughout her university career.
Now, her role involves creating and executing our marketing strategy for MIM, MIM LaaS and our various other digital products e.g. Johari 360. Through her skilled writing, research capabilities and Gen Z lens, she has brought a fresh perspective to our content marketing strategy. Moreover, using data analytics to inform the direction of our online presence on LinkedIn, Elysia has grown our MIMs page doubling organic impressions and almost tripling our average monthly engagement rate.
What gets them up in the morning:
Coffee, dogs and writing her opinion.
Who are they outside of work:
In Elysia’s free time, she enjoys typical Gen Z stuff e.g. using her ‘fun’ social media (TikTok) rather than her ‘work’ social media (LinkedIn). She currently splits her time between Glasgow and Manchester, enjoying the opportunity to explore a new city and to upgrade from the 2nd rainiest city in the UK to the 8th (small victories). She also enjoys exploring new countries having spent three weeks interrailing around Europe pre Covid-19 and visiting Cuba last summer, spending a week in Havana and a week in Varadero.
Stephanie Orme
Responsibilities within MiM: Steph is a facilitator and coach at MiM. From international development and criminal defence law through to leadership consulting, her career has been a twenty year adventure focused on People. Whether they find themselves living at the sharp end, or sitting in a boardroom, Steph works with individuals and teams to discover, consider and embed the changes that are most needed. The world of work might be evolving fast but human nature and needs aren’t – Steph’s ability to deeply listen, open spaces for conversation and think strategically enables clients to join the dots and find efficient solutions. She is an accredited Let’s Go facilitator and currently completing her Masters in Organisational Psychology.
What gets them up in the morning: A strong cup of Assam and the unwavering belief that – if we’re brave enough to engage with our humanity in all its glorious, messy moments – we can achieve incredible things together.
Who they are outside of work: Steph lived off grid in a yurt on an olive farm for five years, deeply immersed in nature and the elements. She’s passionate about the transformation that comes when we rewild ourselves – so you’ll find her hiking, star gazing or in the water any chance she gets. Back in the city, Steph loves heading to a gallery or her nearest dance class, or rewatching the West Wing (and explaining to anyone in earshot why they should lead like Leo).
Gail McPake
Responsibilities within MiM: Gail is one of our associates. With over 20 years HR generalist experience in financial services and contact centres; and leading people change and transformation, she considers herself a people expert and is now focussing on designing, developing, and delivering people projects for MiM with the view to enhance, engage and excite the people she is delivering for. Her ethos is always to start with self and build from there. Pushing people out of their comfort zones so they can grow, and she does this through the facilitation of having ‘real’ powerful conversations. She also runs her own leadership development company that focusses not only on leadership capability but also building super teams, personal resilience, and proactive wellbeing at work as well as building HR capability, all of which she uses with her work with MiM as well.
What gets them up in the morning: Gail’s passion is people and getting the best out of them. She loves nothing better than seeing people being successful and having lightbulb moments that change the course of their lives for the better whether professionally or personally. She made a promise to herself that she will only do things that bring her joy and happiness as life is too short to be anything else. Her positivity is infectious.
Who they are outside of work: Gail is an action-packed single mum of two girls. If she is not dragging her kids up a mountain somewhere then she is probably with friends and family enjoying some downtime. She also has a small wellbeing and reiki business that allows her to continue her work to help people grow and thrive but in an alternative way. She is a walking and talking self-help and self-development book, we wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t write her own book!
Alan has 40 years’ business experience, mainly at board-level in financial services, and has advised, trained and coached over 2,500 executives and senior managers in significant organisational and cultural change. He is now managing the integration of the Venturehaus business into the Masters in Minds group.
Alan was the founder, owner and Managing Director of Venturehaus, a specialist training and management consultancy firm based in the City of London, which was acquired by Masters in Minds in September 2019. Venturehaus worked with banking, insurance, investment and other financial services organisations to deliver tangible and rapid improvements in Operational Excellence, which has been Alan’s passion throughout his working life. He defines this as the simultaneous achievement of best-in-class customer experience, cost management, and operational risk mitigation, whilst ensuring that business success is sustainable through the continuous positive engagement of a company’s people.
He was the CEO, Deputy CEO, or Director of various Citibank businesses during an accomplished 22-year international banking career. For the bank he developed a track record in building, re-structuring and managing businesses in UK, European and offshore markets. He also acquired extensive change management, operations management, business improvement, and performance assurance expertise. His financial services experience covers all aspects of wholesale and retail banking, securities, insurance and investment management. He has also worked with most other industries and in the public sector.
This background allowed him to establish Venturehaus in January 2002 to bring his experience to a wider audience of organisations and managers together with other specialists and experts. During the 17+ years since then, he has led Venturehaus’ engagements with over 60 clients in the UK, Continental Europe, CEE, Canada and USA, Asia and the Middle East, at both an executive and a delivery level. He has helped to guide institutions such as ABN Amro, AEGON, Aviva, Barclays, Capital One, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Canada, Santander, Standard Life, UBS and UniCredit, and he has also trained managers at other management consultancy firms and in Government departments. His work with clients has included programmes of business transformation, organisational re-design, business separation and/or integration, target operating model design, and improvements in customer service, product delivery, operational efficiency and cost management.
Outside of work he is mad about rugby (unfortunately no longer as a player but now as a juniors coach) and enjoys the good life. And both inside and outside the office he is known for his strong sense of humour!
Darcie McCann
Responsibilities within MiM: Darcie is our e-learning course curator, learning the ropes and providing cheerful support to the team. She is also studying Accountancy at Aberdeen University. She manages to spot where improvements can be made and could be a budding Lean CI expert in the future. She also keeps the team supplied with cake recipes. A young entrepreneur, Darcie also has ‘Wakey Cakey’ her baking business.
What gets them up in the morning: Rowing, rowing, rowing – and it does have Darcie up at the crack of dawn each morning. She has trialled for Team GB and rowed for her country. In her final year of Junior rowing, her crew won Gold in the Women’s Henley Regatta, and National Schools Championships and won Silver at British Championship in a four and an eight. She also competed at the world-renowned ‘Henley Royal Reggatta’ to complete her junior career.. and If she’s not on the water, she’s on an ergo, she is in the gym.
Who they are outside of work: As above, apart from walking and playing with her beloved dogs, Bailey & Shelby,(both mad Gordon Setters), darcie is rowing and baking, with any downtime spent watching the Sidemen.
Julie McCann
Responsibilities within MiM: Julie is the Founder and Managing Director of Masters In Minds, previously a successful board director, change leader and facilitator who spent over twenty-five years responsible for delivering results in sales and service in the BPO outsourcing, consultancy and training market. Julie spends much of her time leading transformation and change, collaborating with clients and colleagues to design, implement and deliver results that help both the people and therefore the organisation to thrive. #Hearts&MindsForScale. Having specialisedin this field through practical hands-on business leadership whilst studying for an MSc in Change Strategy and Facilitation Skills, business realities and academic theory have been truly tried, tested and optimised. Julie’s work is international and she works with many different cultures to assist her clients to achieve their aims. This includes EMEA, US (North and South), Asia-Pacific and across Africa.
What gets them up in the morning: Julie gets to live her ‘why’ every day, founding Masters In Minds because she believes that business can positively contribute to society through creating a workplace culture that people can thrive and grow in. She has a passion for helping women in business and has created the ‘Sisterhood & Stories’ community.She’s known for bringing direct, honest and supportive challenge to those she works with. Mixed with a healthy dose of humour – essential!
Who they are outside of work: Family & Friends all the way – a reader, learner & music lover (‘before Elvis there was nothing’ – then came punk, George Michael & jazz), a Gordon Setter lover, Bailey Boo, we love you 😊 and a believer that the Universe is an amazing place full of adventure, opportunity, miracles, magic and love. MCTHP.
Responsibilities within MiM: As a Director of Masters in Minds since 2014, Stephen’s passion focuses on how he can help people be the best that they can be and grow and develop in a business environment. Before this, he was a Founding Director of a publishing company at the age of 24 and built, developed the business for 17 years before a successful trade sale in 2019. Stephen’s role is varied and includes innovation, launching products, creating new markets, and taking our clients along on our exciting journey.
What gets them up in the morning: Stephen studied the best educational course – life. At the forefront of a small business where every penny counts and profit is everything. This taught him that you would reach the level of success you desire by looking after and investing in your staff. As he says, “without your staff, you are nothing!”. This philosophy and his strong people focus ignites his passion and reinforces that the work we do at Masters in Minds is perfect for him.
Who they are outside of work: Outside of the business, Stephen enjoys cycling, fitness, cooking and spending lots of time with his wife and two girls travelling (when they could) and exploring the world together. Stephen is also the owner of two regal Gordon Setters who vies for his attention!
Rachel joined MiM as Project Co-ordinator in October 2019 and since then has enjoyed watching the business evolve at an exponential rate. With a BA (hons) in Social Sciences, majoring in Psychology and Sociology, Rachel has a keen interest in the human experience and how we interact with one other. She is now channelling this interest through her writing, in her current role as Content Developer, creating scripts for our learning as a service courses, and writing any other pieces required by the company. She also ensures our ISO9001 integrated management system is maintained to ensure we have the highest standards of compliance. This includes onboarding new members of the team, among other things.
What gets them up in the morning:
Being part of a like-minded company who are making a positive impact in the business world and getting great results, excites her. It is nice to feel motivated by what you do on a personal level. Rachel has worked for Newsquest Herald & Times, HMRC & Q Hotels to name a few.
Who they are outside of work:
A busy mum to three young children, Rachel doesn’t get a lot of time to herself, but when she does, she enjoys swimming, going for walks, visiting the theatre (she is a big fan of the musicals) and dabbling in basic level horse riding from time to time. She has also recently re-discovered a love of oil painting as a form of relaxation, and her family and friends have been politely receiving her homemade gifts!
Angella is recognised for her work in talent and performance management. Either directly managing and mentoring teams or working as a consultant and coach helping organisations evolve inclusive cultures, teams and competencies.
During her thirty-year career, Angella has gained a reputation for making things happen by supporting people on their journeys of learning and development. She excels in helping them discover and quickly adopt new mindsets and behaviour. Often in the context of an overarching customer/member/employee experience strategy. Angella’s core approach is to discover and deliver Win-Win outcomes for all parties.
Angella has worked well in a range of sectors – Higher Education, Financial Services, IT, Telco, Energy, Retail, Travel, Utilities and most recently in membership organisations. Organisations include Heidelberg, Centrica, NUS, OU, USS, Dixons Carphone, Co-op, Lloyds Banking Group, Halifax, Barclays, Eon, Good Energy, Love Public Speaking.
When not otherwise engaged in making the impossible happen, Angella is a devotee of music, swimming, playing her part in an international family of strong-minded individuals, creating fabulous fun events for her wider family and friends, and is appreciated for some great cooking skills, especially soul pleasing soups. She is also lay trustee of Warwick Student Union since 2018.
Stephen O'Neill
Responsibilities within MiM: As a Managing Partner at MiM, Stephen takes the lead on our sales transformation work across B2B organisations. His global and cross-sector experience in professional services, customer engagement, omni and digital channel development and outsourcing has given Stephen a broad and deep experience set.With a background in financial services and communications he has managed and led teams and businesses both small and large, advised business leaders and government organisations, and worked extensively with a global remit.Clients included Global Airlines, Banks, Oil and Gas, Healthcare, Technology and Manufacturing.
What gets them up in the morning: He has a passion for getting businesses and individuals to be the best that they can be. He works with organized enthusiasm and has the knack of making simple, understandable visuals out of complex situations. He values individuality, professionalism, energy and passion, and businesses that truly value their customers and people.
Who they are outside of work: Outside of his business role Stephen is a life-long rugby fan and is a trustee and treasurer of the Child Brain Injury Trust.
Responsibilities within MiM: Kevin is a Senior Facilitator with over 20 years’ experience across all areas of Learning & Development, Management Development, and Organisational Development.With a background in Sales and Operational Management, Kevin has fully rounded experience and understands that all facilitation should be in line with business objectives and must enable and encourage change that will make a measurable impact on business and individual personal growth.With experience across sectors including Outsourcing, Contact Centres, the Motor Trade and Construction; Kevin designs, delivers and embeds high impact Leadership and Management programmes that challenge individuals, teams and drive performance. Kevin is an accredited practitioner of D.I.S.C through Thomas International and an accredited Assessor and Verifier with the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). In addition to traditional classroom delivery, Kevin is an insightful Coach and a skilled Facilitator of learning through the Virtual Classroom.
What gets them up in the morning: Kevin confesses that it took him a long, long time to realise that doing a job he loves will help him succeed – and it took him even longer to work out what it was that he loved doing! However, in his role at MiM Kevin is encouraged to express himself, be creative and help others make a genuine and measurable difference to what they do. Also, he has the opportunity to help others get to a role and position that they love – and he firmly believes that this makes a positive difference to the life that people have. Those things make Kevin happy (and, as he says, it helps pay the bills and keeps him in wine!)!
Who they are outside of work: Formerly known as “Kevin Hadden, Senior Facilitator/L&D Professional”. he now goes by Kevin Hadden, Sam & Jake’s Dad, followed by Senior Facilitator/L&D Professional! Most of his time is spent with his family and keeping his kids safe, well, and entertained. Kevin also loves and enjoys sport – particularly football, golf, cycling, and a splash of swimming thrown in for good measure. An avid petrol-head, Kevin also has a keen interest in classic cars and is the proud owner of his own little bit of history… an ‘old’ Mini Cooper! While he admits that his mechanical skills are “poor at best” he can see and appreciate the beauty in the design and feel of a classic car.
Responsibilities within MiM: Kerry is both our PMO and a Process Consultant with MiM. When wearing her PMO hat she keeps us organised and on target and ensures that deadlines have been met; when wearing her Process Consultant hat she, and the rest of the Process team,will help you to understand the causes of business problems and how best to tackle them. From designing training to running interventions on your behalf they will assess the problem and work with you and your team to get to the root cause before selecting appropriate solutions and delivering them.She has over 13 years’ experience in delivering change and training new process engineers. Having worked in Financial Services, IT, Utilities and Hospitality as a process consultantshe brings a wealth of experience from a wide variety of organisations and fields with equally diverse problems to solve.Kerry has worked in the UK, Belgium and Hong Kong as well as delivering projects and Lean Six Sigma training in Ireland, Germany and Sweden so she also has a wide experience of working in different culturesand has learned new things in each place.
What gets them up in the morning: Data, spreadsheets and graphs are one of Kerry’s happy places and she loves to get into the weeds with the data and use it to help identify where the problems lie.
Who they are outside of work: Outside of work you can find Kerry in her wellies chasing after her two small children, sewing clothes they will both refuse to wear and reading books which, frustratingly, her husband has always read first! She is also currently attempting to teach herself to draw after starting rock painting with her son during lockdown.
Responsibilities within MiM: Kevin has over 35 years of global experience in the oil and gas industry, working globally in Operations, Major Capital Projects, Enterprise Risk Management, HSE, Process Safety and Leadership Development. Kevin uses a high degree of emotional intelligence to help teams navigate through change and has developed a reputation for being a change champion. He has a proven history of establishing safe high performing teams, driving continuous improvement and implementing industry leading practices. Kevin is keenly aware of the critical importance of top-level leadership and views leadership capacity within an organization as a source of competitive advantage. Constantly taking stock of his own leadership development, Kevin easily helps others on a path forward to leadership success by helping them to focus inward. Demonstrating an uncanny ability to remain calm during a crisis, Kevin has helped many leaders to focus on purposeful resolving action when under duress.
What gets them up in the morning: Kevin has a unique personal statement that he believes in and focusses on through all his work: “I am passionate about helping people to tap into their full potential and realize the effectiveness of their true leadership ability. Strong processes, coupled with unified teams and a belief in what they are doing, can produce extraordinary results”.
Who they are outside of work: Married with three boys, Kevin has been an active multi-disciplined Martial Artist for over 40 years. Actively involved with other senior Martial Artists in the physical and mental development of others through the unique attributes of a traditional martial arts system.
Elaina brings over two decades of coaching and consultancy experience and is known best for designing, implementing and embedding high impact, deeply personal development journeys for leaders and coaches.
Infused with humanistic principles, Elaina’s work encourages mutual respect, trust and personal responsibility. Through a combination of support and challenge, she is able to be a catalyst for change as individuals and teams embark upon courageous transformations. Her enquiring mind leads Elaina to understand the outcomes of the work she is involved in.
Throughout her career, Elaina has been fascinated by the process of transformation and growth. Playing a role in the development of people, teams and organisations is something which continually inspires, nourishes and motivates her. Elaina places great emphasis on seeing people as being the greatest asset in any organisation.
Her work is designed to support her clients to achieve the best, most fulfilling careers possible and to use their gifts to positively affect the lives of their colleagues, stakeholders and communities, whilst achieving outstanding personal and professional success.
Over the years, Elaina has developed tools and methodologies to enable the assessment of interventions and track how behaviour, performance and relationships are impacted over time. She believes that there are few more rewarding moments in life than seeing the powerful ‘ripple effect’ of a successful intervention and experiencing its legacy years later.
Elaina has a deep love of learning and passion for continual personal growth, which has led her to explore and develop her own capability and potency as a consultant. Given that she believes she’ll never be the ‘finished article’, her development journey is an ongoing process. She has studied with institutions such as Surrey University, Blanchard Training, CIPD and the Associate for Coaching to name a few. She is currently engaged in a three-year Organisational Transaction Analysis programme exploring organisational systems, culture and change with TA Works.
Elaina is committed to continually learning – she also has an amazing smile.
Sorcha O'Connor
Responsibilities within MiM:
Sorcha is an accredited transformational coach who helps leaders and emerging leaders deliver results for their organisations and themselves. Sorcha has over 25 years of business experience and has excelled at senior levels in multi-cultural and multi-jurisdictional environments. This positions her perfectly to support senior leaders in businesses globally. She has been there and understands that world. She has also successfully launched her own businesses giving her insight into the unique demands of the entrepreneurial world. She has run a successful crowdfunding campaign and private investment round, secured international patents and launched products into over 15 countries globally. She has even survived the scrutiny and stress of a visit into the Dragons’ Den on BBC. Sorcha is a hard hitting and future-focused coach, helping her clients understand their patterns and blocks and ensure they move forward and enjoy great results.
What gets them up in the morning: Sorcha’s loves helping people break out of their own limiting beliefs and be more amazing then they ever thought they could be. She is happiest when deep in one to one coaching with clients, helping them achieve their ‘a-ha’ moments and witnessing the unparalleled benefits of individualised coaching to bring about transformation. She brings humour and disruption to her sessions and is energised and inspired by the fabulous results she sees her clients achieve.
Who they are outside of work:
When not at work Sorcha is an unpaid taxi service for two teenage children, a dog walker/cuddler for her gorgeous cockapoo Dusty and a fully paid up member of the Peloton fanatics club. (Indoor cycling but so much more)
It is best not to approach her until she has had her morning Peloton fix followed by a perfect cup of coffee.
Responsibilities within MiM: Janey is a MiM Associate, supporting leaders to achieve their goals. Janey brings a wealth of experience leading complex transformation programmes, from culture change to digitalising businesses, delivering great customer experiences. Over 30 years experience with big brands in Retail, Financial Services and Banking. She has led P&L businesses and support functions spanning Operations, Cost Transformation and HR. She holds a Masters in Training and Development and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD. By combining theory with practical experience Janey helps clients realise their ambitions by releasing the potential of their whole team. Adopting a can-do mindset, Janey helps businesses turn their vision into actionable plans, overcome obstacles using strategic risk management and build capability to deliver sustainable outcomes in complex, ambiguous and challenging circumstances.
What gets them up in the morning: Janey loves nothing better than helping clients achieve seemingly impossible goals. Working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders is a key strength, ensuring everyone can contribute. Janey brings focus, energy and fun to any assignment and sets herself the challenge to create value for any business she works with.
Who they are outside of work: When not at work or enjoying time with her family, you’ll find Janey cooking, enjoying a movie, or writing children’s stories and poetry for friends and family members’ special occasions.
Responsibilities within MiM: Craig is the Operational Excellence Specialist at MiM. With 20+ years’ experience managing operations at a senior level, he delivers creative and cutting-edge solutions to deliver exceptional business outcomes. Craig believes that creating the right working environment and providing individuals and teams with the right tools are key to the success of any operation. Communications, detailed planning, development of success-criteria, as well as high level coaching, provides individuals and teams with the roadmap required to deliver against key objectives. Throughout his career, Craig has worked with Blue Chip clients delivering Lean operational solutions in Outsourcing and Inhouse environments by heading up large scale projects. He has also overseen the transfer of businesses on and offshore and delivered start up solutions throughout various industries.
What gets them up in the morning: Craig loves nothing more than working with people, supporting them through a journey to deliver their goals and to achieve something special. He brings a high level of enthusiasm to every project, which is very infectious, and he lives to see projects deliver.
Who they are outside of work: When not at work, Craig is often found on lengthy walks with his daughter and highly energetic labradoodle. He has also been nominated as ‘driver’ to his keen footballer son, taking him to training and games all over central Scotland. Craig also supports a housing charity dedicated to providing homes for disabled tenants and says there is nothing better than providing support and independence to some of the most vulnerable within our community.
Find out more on LinkedIn:
Alan Gillies
Responsibilities within MiM:
At MiM, Alan is helping clients achieve their strategic ambitions and solving problems along the way. He uses his commercial and business acumen coupled with his Global mindset and experience to help shape and deliver the art of the possible. Using a highly pragmatic and customer-oriented lens he ensures that goals and outcomes are delivered in a way that is focussed and practical. Alan believes in the power of the collective and that working together as a team will ensure higher likelihood of success as well as some fun along the way. Alan has over 30 years of working in large corporates, SME enterprises and as a consultant and facilitator for clients across Asia, Europe, Middle East, and North America. During his varied career he has held Senior and Executive Leadership positions with a focus on Commercial Excellence, Sales, Strategy and Strategic Account Management. He has been responsible for designing and implementing Global Account Management strategies, SalesForce and Commercial strategies and helped organisations scale and grow.
What gets them up in the morning: Alan loves variety and a challenge, he is at his best when he has a problem to solve, he enjoys working within high performing teams and with individuals where together they are greater than the sum of the parts. While enjoying the intellectual challenge and rigour that problem solving requires, he is known for his (sometimes) self-deprecating wit and humour.
Who they are outside of work: When not at work Alan enjoys investing in the Stock Markets, is occasionally to be found exercising, skiing or Mountain biking and more frequently indulging his passion and interest for wine, travel, and good food.
Responsibilities within MiM: Melanie is Head of Marketing Impact at MiM. Mel and the team blend behavioural and mindset know how with creativity to supercharge communications that will break down barriers and turn thinking into doing.Mel believes great communication has transformational powers and is an important key differentiator in making a project or program a success. She is a highly experienced marketeer with a passion for helping businesses take their ‘why’ and translate that into messaging that builds fans and sparks engagement.Mel has 25+ years of working with both big brands and SME enterprises. In her career she has run and built businesses as well as mentored and consulted for start-ups pitching for angel investment. Mel isa pragmatic strategist who knows the importance of delivering actionable insight, not over engineered theory, to unlock positive outcomes.
What gets them up in the morning: Mel shines when tackling hard to fix problems. Working collaboratively is a key strength enabling all to come up with the smart answers needed to get the job done.Mel brings a great energy and buzz to whatever is thrown at her and is quick to find the funny side of things to put a challenge into perspective.
Who they are outside of work: When not at work Mel is likely to be found pitch side somewhere supporting her 3 children (often too loudly), running (not very well), or out on a long walk with her lab (preferably in the Highlands). Mel is rarely still and often having multiple DIY or renovation projects on the go much to her husband’s chagrin!
Lean Sigma Master Black Belt & Operating Model Specialist
Louise is experienced in designing and delivering transformation initiatives crossing different industries and functions in large and medium scale organisations.
She brings together the people, process and technology change required to deliver true transformation. Her track record is second to none which is why she is in great demand.
If you are lucky enough to get Louise on your team you know you’ll be delivering demonstrable success whilst having some fun along the way.
Oh, and just in case that’s not enough, she has a First Class BSc Hons in Mathematics for Business Analysis. She describes herself as a slight geek, albeit a very sociable one!
William Galton
William has over 20 years’ experience in customer management environments designing and implementing a wide range of measurable organisational change and improvement initiatives.
William’s expertise includes change management, training design and implementation (with evaluation and measurement) and programme management. He is skilled in supporting and facilitating change at all levels within an organisation for accelerated adoption and commitment. Adept in developing people’s core influencing competencies, such as communicating more powerfully and effectively, William enhances skill levels for in-house training and learning resources and teams so that they can be even more effective within their organisations.
William has designed, implemented, managed and delivered a variety of organisational and training initiatives, with evaluation mechanisms, both nationally and internationally (e.g. South Africa, Portugal, Bahrain). He has also held roles that focused on market research, account management, direct and telephone marketing, copywriting and coaching/team leading. His experience spans training and development consultancy for both new and existing ventures.
William holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies from the University of Surrey and a Diploma in Performance Coaching from Newcastle College.
William’s successful consulting approach will evaluate training needs, requirements and gaps; formulate relevant behavioural frameworks for organisations to ensure that their people are delivering to a high standard and consistently; catalysing people into entertaining and defining a wider range of options when it comes to managing and working with people to ensure high levels of productivity and creativity, and strengthening management competencies, especially with respect to coaching and development in relation to direct reports.
William is a natty dresser and has great charisma.
Susan Dodson
Susan has 25 years’ experience as a coach, consultant, facilitator and project manager, working in a change context for many blue chips with a spectrum of leaders, from board to front-line staff.
With an express focus on releasing human potential, Susan believes that there is always an opportunity for any leader to learn more and grow again – to miss that opportunity is to miss the point of leadership.
Susan describes her work by asking: “What are we without our relationships? And what of our ability to serve, source, empower, influence and enjoy these relationships through who we are, what we bring and how we communicate/relate?” She describes this as her love, fascination, passion, curiosity and her own life-long learning journey, one that she doesn’t ever expect to be ‘done learning’.
Susan’s approach brings together the two ends of the spectrum, where at one end is the ability to be authentic, real and present, and therefore powerful and causal in relationships with others. At the other end, the goal is improved performance, measured as productivity, quality, engagement and/or C-Sat. Through innovative, deep, realistic interventions that provide practical tools, release energy and optimism, build self-esteem and develop relevant skills, Susan brings together the ends of the spectrum, building trust, and widening and deepening self-awareness. She will help to set up the conditions for relationships to be career enhancing and create meaning.
She has led projects that have achieved both a National and Regional Training Award. She is currently working towards being a Certified Transactional Analyst, applying these theories in her current coaching and facilitation work.
Susan’s industry experience spans the UK and India, often in contact centre environments. Her clients include Barclays, BBC, British Gas, Nationwide Building Society, Standard Life Healthcare, Carole Nash insurance, Principality Building Society, OneTel and Hutchison.
Susan’s work is always well evaluated, with the aim is to be cost neutral within 6 months, although she hopes the significance and meaning of the learning lasts a great deal longer.
Susan is happily married to Martin – they have twin teenage daughters, who keep her nicely occupied!
Scott Hay
Scott Hay is a highly regarded facilitator, consultant and fully qualified life and workplace coach. He has a passion for helping individuals and organisations to be the best they can be.
Scott’s work includes over 16 years’ experience with large organisations working in and supporting leadership, customer service, sales, marketing and learning and development. He has worked with organisations across all sectors. Given his broad range of experience across divisions and management levels, Scott is able to understand situations from different perspectives and tailor his approach accordingly.
As a National Training Award winner for the creation and leadership of high performing teams, Scott is passionate about working with leaders and their people to help them achieve positive outcomes. He is supportive, empathetic but also challenging when it is required to bring out the best in people.
Starting out as a graduate trainee with the National Australia Bank, Scott moved to Standard Life to develop his leadership and people development skills. He soon developed a passion for coaching and creating high performing teams, supporting other leaders within the organisation to maximise team performance.
Scott is a fully qualified workplace coach, life coach, youth coach and member of the International Coaching Federation. He has been featured in various media outlets including BBC Scotland, STV and Radio Clyde.
Scott is also a successful social entrepreneur running a community interest company that helps vulnerable young people to step into their true potential and create bright futures.
Margaret Davidson
Margaret is an experienced and trusted learning consultant, coach and facilitator with a particular expertise in leadership, team and personal development and change.
Recognised for approaching situations from a commercial and customer focused prospective, and ensuring return on investment, Margaret operates her work at all levels, which includes directors and executive teams through to school students.
Her recent work has included working with organisations experiencing acquisitions and mergers, where she has led the learning proposition with a particular focus on cultural change.
To complement Margaret’s extensive experience she is a qualified Myers Briggs (MBTI) practitioner (Step one and two). Her client feedback illustrates that she operates with integrity and sensitivity, while maintaining a challenging approach to help individuals and teams maximise potential.
Margaret was awarded the Standard Life Chairman’s Award for contribution to education in the community and was also awarded the Standard Life Bank Gemstones Award on two occasions for supporting the success and growth of SLB (nominated by peers).
Christine Swift
Christine is a passionate, highly experienced performance improvement consultant, trainer, facilitator and coach with particular expertise in management training, executive coaching, personal and team performance development.
Christine has provided inspiration for businesses and their people to implement culture change and create higher levels of performance in leadership, customer service and sales by instilling self-belief in people and providing them with the practical skills to achieve outstanding results.
She believes that potential and performance is a combination of beliefs and habits. Christine sees the best in people and supports people to ensure that their beliefs and habits represent the best that they can be. As a coach Christine is dedicated to creating and practising new habits with people to create different and better outcomes.
After achieving a degree in International Business Studies, Christine founded her own company, Company Vision, which focussed on evaluating and improving the customer experience for businesses. She was responsible for the business set up, marketing and service delivery for Company Vision.
Working for Company Vision provided Christine with an opportunity to ‘cut her teeth’ in the contact centre industry working for NTL Teesside where she initially delivered customer service and sales and progressed to become the lead training consultant for Customer Operations. Fourteen years on, Christine now designs and delivers programmes in culture change, leadership development, coaching and performance improvement.
Her clients include First Direct, British Gas, Virgin Media, Orange, Royal Sun Alliance and Barclays. Christine is real, authentic and sincere in everything she does, which makes her a natural facilitator and inspiring communicator. Her self-diagnosed purpose and mission is to leave everyone that she works with, inspired, moved and more capable. Making a difference to people and facilitating growth in people is a huge value of Christine’s and drives all aspects of her work and life.
Christine is trained in NLP and is a qualified coactive life coach.
Anna Bell
Anna is an experienced coach and consultant with a passion for people development and supporting people and organisations to thrive through change.
With over 20 years’ experience in the corporate world and more recently working across different sectors, Anna brings a versatile blend of experience and capabilities and has a talent for spotting and unlocking potential.
Her first management role came through leading a team in a large financial services company (Scottish Provident) at the age of 18 and she has thrived on building and leading high-performing, motivated teams since then.
Fifteen years of experience in change management, engagement, coaching and learning projects at Standard Life has deepened her specialism for understanding how people think, feel and behave, and how to tap into this effectively to create a shift in individual and collective performance.
Anna is now working as an associate as well as running an independent coaching and consultancy business. She supports her clients by drawing on learning from her personal life as a mum and carer, as well as a range of tools and techniques from her professional life. Her qualifications include accreditation as Master Practitioner of NLP, Prosci Change Management Practitioner, and CIPD Level 5 Diploma in HR Development.
Anna believes in empowering clients to create their own way forward with purpose, clarity, and accountability, especially when there’s a ripple effect that benefits other people and brings business results that last.”
Anthea Christie
Anthea is a marketing and business development expert that specialises in working with companies in the financial services sector.
Anthea gives practical help to businesses to get to the right insight and to align their proposition, messaging, communications and customer experience with what their customers need.
Clients range from small advice, research and consultancy businesses to global technology and financial services providers.
Anthea has spent over 20 years in a large corporate environment. She has held senior leadership roles across a number of functions, building expertise in marketing, product and proposition development and customer operations. Having led multiple teams – many cross functional – Anthea knows what it takes to get people working well together.
Anthea understands the interconnected nature of business functions and is experienced at helping businesses break down silos to deliver an insight driven, joined up customer experience and commercial success.
Lauren Robinson
Lauren is a chartered marketer with expertise in internal communications, employee engagement, branding, change communications. She has senior level experience of internal and external communications in large, complex organisations going through significant cultural and organisational change.
With hands-on experience in effectively using a wide variety of internal and external media, Lauren is adaptable to changing structures and a proven ability to develop and motivate staff. Her excellent project management skills are coupled with experience in managing and coordinating across a wide range of stakeholders including internal departments, employees, clients, channel, agencies and suppliers. Skilled in employee engagement with a strong interest in Corporate Social Responsibility gained whilst working in a broad range of companies of varying sizes, from six to over 120,000 employees. Part of the Engage for Success Core Team (www.engageforsuccess.org) between September 2013 – March 2015 and a current volunteer and a member of the CIM Surrey Branch.
Lauren can help you develop your long term marketing and communications strategy, deliver your tactical marketing and mentor your employees to deliver your marketing objectives. With a proven ability to develop your marketing team, Lauren can act as your virtual/part-time marketing director, take responsibility for specific projects or provide ad-hoc marketing advice and support as required.
Ailsa Chambers
Ailsa draws on over 20 years of strong business performance, extensive experience working at senior levels and understanding of the nature of complex, large organisations to create strong relationships and trust; resulting in success for her clients.
Alisa sees her role as a “thinking partner” and is inspired by seeing her clients succeed and realise sustained, positive change that will often go much wider than the original objectives.
Her approach is highly pragmatic, empathetic, client centred and results-focused. She is valued for her positivity, proactivity and warmth whilst maintaining the ability to constructively challenge her clients.
Ailsa specialises in 1:1 Women’s Leadership Coaching. As someone able to bring her own experience in senior business roles, in a male dominated business to bear, along with extensive experience in developing strong client relationships, Ailsa is well qualified to inspire female leaders to realise their full potential and achieve real, tangible results.
She demonstrates energy and commitment to working with women, as a ‘thinking partner’ seeking to inspire them to lead with the highest levels of confidence and to succeed as a female leader, especially in male dominated sectors.
Prior to becoming an executive and women’s leadership coach, Ailsa worked for BT in senior client centred business roles. She has extensive experience in developing and managing executive level relationships and understands the nature of complex and large corporate organisations. Having been motivated by delivering for her clients throughout her career, Ailsa made a natural progression into executive coaching and retrained prior to setting up her own practice.
Over the years, Ailsa has worked with a wide range of clients, which include a number of organisations in the financial sector, NatWest/RBS, VISA, American Express, a number of central government organisations such as DEFRA, DWP and numerous NHS trusts.
Qualifications and Training
Alisa has a Diploma in Performance Coaching, is an Accredited Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and an Engage Accredited Coach for Mindset testing for readiness for change/personal development. She recently attended a Women In Leadership programme and is currently enrolled on the International Teaching Seminars (ITS) and ICF accredited Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Neuroscience Programme.
Ailsa loves to travel for new experiences, is a recent ski convert, a keen reader of all things from fiction through to psychology and women in leadership and loves to learn – whilst looking after two young and very energetic children!
Eriko Kopp-Makinose
Eriko is a talented trainer, facilitator and coach with over 20 years’ experience. Her comprehensive skill set spans all market sectors from within a number of different organisations.
German-born of Japanese heritage, Eriko is multi-lingual and her consulting approach of systemic change and people development within the context of diversity and intercultural dynamics, makes her skill-set extremely valuable to clients with a global reach.
Her consulting expertise is demonstrated through her work and includes the alignment of leaders and teams, focusing the mindset and implementing cultural change.
Team building and development, executive and team coaching, potential development, managing change and resolving conflict are major focus areas for Eriko.
For 10 years, she was the chairman of the board, Freie Aktive Montessori-Schule Kraichgau in Heidelberg, Germany. Her past clients include German blue chip multi-nationals, city administrations and ministries such as BASF, Ascent AG and SAS Germany.
Eriko co-wrote “Ein-Stellungs-Wechsel” (the German version of “Check Your Attitude at the Door”). She has also written and produced many video documentaries on corporate change processes.
Eriko has studied and is certified to practice, “Process Facilitator & Coach”, Organisation and Management-Service GmbH, NLP/Hypnotherapy Master, TMS and Future Conference.
Married with two children, Eriko enjoys meditation, singing and dancing, and thrives on learning new skills and life experiences. She is one of life’s learners and experimenters!
Thomas Klaholz
Thomas is a talented consultant, facilitator and coach with over 20 years experience in many different organisations and a vast skill set across all business sectors.
Native German, Thomas is multi-lingual in English and basic French. His approach to consulting is through process and experiential learning techniques focused on internal communication, focusing the mindset and implementing cultural change. Team building and development, executive and team coaching, process development and change, resolving conflict management, presentation and self presentation and Train-the-Trainer are just some areas of his vast expertise.
His past clients include Ascent AG, Evonik AG, Human Internet Consult AG, Nufarm AG and ThyssenKrupp Xervon GmbH, amongst other blue chip multi-nationals.
Thomas has studied and is certified to practice, “Process Facilitator & Coach”, Organisation and Management-Service GmbH, NLP/Hypnotherapy Master, Management Trainer and Change Manager.
Thomas has a great sense of humour – the German ‘Mr.Bean’!
Sanja Kerzinger
Sanja is a multi-lingual consultant and trainer with a vast amount of experience in cultural change and leadership.
Working across management and work councils to new start-ups, she has trained a diverse set of companies and people.
Passionate about making a difference to the way people think and behave, Sanja encourages her client’s to live the change they want to see in the world.
Qualified as a NLP Trainer, hypno master and with a diploma in Psychology, Sanja has an impressive range of skills. She is also trained in Rational-Cognitive Training, Psychophysiology, Crisis-Management, Voice and Speech Coaching and relies on these and many other coaching methods to help her clients reach their business or leadership goals.
Outside of her work, Sanja practices yoga, meditation and singing, as well as spending time to learn new skills and explore the great possibilities that life has to offer.
Dr James Peal
James has extensive global experience that spans across the Pharmaceutical, Biotech Technology, Manufacturing, and Retail industries.
Jim has served as a project manager for major change initiatives and leadership training programs in a large variety of multi-national companies. His reputation as a powerful natural master communicator who is dynamic, multi-talented, fun and inspiring is the trademark of his career spanning more than 20 years.
His areas of expertise include the integration and alignment of leaders and teams, team based strategy development, culture integration in mergers and acquisitions, architecting and managing organisational change. He also has expertise in transforming dysfunctional teams into productive teams, resolving conflict, as well as executive coaching, developing and leading executive impact and presentation skills programs.
He has trained thousands of executives and health professionals and worked with hundreds of corporate teams from around the world. Jim has been instrumental in empowering business to make quantum increases in their productivity. He expresses the depth of his understanding of human beings and systems in an elegant, practical speaking and teaching style that enlightens and promotes long lasting changes.
Jim’s degree from Baylor Medical School, doctoral degree and certification as a NLP master trainer and Tilt 365 coach, demonstrates his ongoing commitment to education, creativity and excellence. His tenure includes serving as the executive leader of Sage Seminars, the Resource Training Institute, Integrative Therapy School and the NeuroSomatics Institute.
He served on the faculty of Pacifica Graduate School and was the Chair of the Diversity Committee. He has also served in executive positions with his partner organisations since 1997. Jim’s published works include: Check Your Attitude at the Door (English and German), Daring to Have Real Conversations and Power Tools for Business Success.
You can see Jim in action in his TED TALK – he is likely one of the coolest dudes you will ever meet.
Zemo Travathan
Thoroughly grounded in the inner workings of trust-building, communication, and collaboration, Zemo creates an environment in which individuals and teams move forward to succeed with the concrete tasks and challenges before them.
Zemo specialises in making the impossible happen, eliciting from individuals and teams skills, solutions and visions they didn’t know they had. Seminar participants have said that they left feeling completely understood and deeply challenged, with a new appreciation of their own brilliance.
As much as Zemo shines in his ability to win over sceptical or resistant seminar participants, his real expertise is in executive coaching, a setting in which he is able to create for his clients an experience of being both totally responsible and totally capable.
His research and seminars have led him to Asia, Africa, and Central America, and have also resulted in publications. He brings to his work a diverse background in teaching, conflict resolution, cross-cultural studies, human resources, and sales and marketing. As a trainer, he has designed and led programs for groups as diverse as entrepreneurial business owners, corporate teams and medical centre patients.
Zemo received his Bachelor of Science with Honors in Psychology at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington, and has since trained and facilitated in various national and international schools and systems, including certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
His client list ranges from local and state-wide political campaigns to midsize organisations like the Duke University Medical Center, Jay Alix and Associates, and Sloan Financial Group, to blue chip companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, American Cyanamid, Transcocean, Merck, and ConocoPhillips.
Zemo’s coaching clients are often heard saying, “I couldn’t have done it without him.” – He is the Johnny Cash of the facilitation world!
Simon D'Arcy
Founder of ‘Next Level Culture’, Simon is a thought-leader on organisational culture with more than 18 years’ experience on six continents as an organisational development consultant and executive coach.
Simon offers his clients a competitive advantage by bringing culture-building to the centre of their operational strategies. Integrating sound assessments, expert facilitation and leadership coaching, clients rely on Simon to increase employee satisfaction and engagement while developing resilient, effective and dynamic leaders and teams. His approach results in increased trust and motivation, more effective decision making processes, faster execution and thriving workplaces.
Known for bringing even the most dysfunctional teams and organisations together, Simon embraces paradox, calls forth strong leadership, ignites engaged participation, and articulates the ineffable. These qualities, combined with a B.A. in macro-economics, extensive training with experts in group dynamics and human systems and a dedication to growth in all areas of his life, reliably result in Simon being a catalyst for powerful and sustainable change in the organisations he works with.
Throughout his nearly two-decade career, Simon has consulted with hundreds of senior leaders, helping them create high-performing, dynamic, and fulfilling work environments. During his 10 years as a senior consultant at Malandro Communications, he worked with leadership teams inside Fortune 1,000 companies to change their corporate culture from a command and control environment to a high-performance culture based on partnership, trust and 100% accountability. His recent clients include ConocoPhillips, USG Corporation, Phillips 66, EKS&H and DCP Midstream.
Simon recently guided a two-thousand person IT organisation of a global energy company over three years to design and cultivate a high-performing culture through a series of leadership summits, leadership team interventions and supervisor-led training modules. He has also helped a new CIO successfully transition into a new role, building effective relationships with his senior and extended leadership teams, while increasing capacity in the face of mandated budget cuts. Another assignment of note was Simon’s facilitation of an administration, faculty and board of a private school to heal a decade-old rift and begin a transition to new level of cohesion within the organisation and community.
Guided by his core values of authenticity, accountability, community and life-long learning, Simon currently leads a research project on corporate culture building. His aim is to uncover, organise and communicate the essential aspects of integrated high-functioning corporate cultures, so that they become less the exception and more the rule. His purpose is to put culture on equal footing with the financial and physical dimension of how business is done in the corporate world.
Simon lives with his wife Tamra Rutherford in Santa Barbara, CA, where his passion for culture-building inspired him to co-found an intentional community 15 years ago that is still thriving, and is a model for similar communities across the country.
Andria Reid
Senior Transformation Consultant
Andria is a Master Black Belt and Agile Trainer, with extensive experience in establishing continuous improvement within organisations in a number of industries. Her ability to focus on driving improvements through enabling people to see what an organisation does through the customer’s eyes, whilst training and coaching people to be empowered to deliver the needed changes themselves. She ensures rapid improvement and a longer term change in culture.
She is recognised for her ability to help organisations realise the change they want and to start seeing results quickly. Her mantra is ‘do the right thing, the right way’ and so focuses her work on enabling this through working with all levels across an organisation to:
– Identify the business problem via the voice of the customer and the business.
– Identify the root causes, not jumping to solutions.
– Focusing on what matters most.
– Designing the right solutions.
– Delivering the changes, improvements in the most efficient way.
Oliver Morris
Facilitator & Colours Insight Practitioner
Ollie is an enthusiastic and motivated facilitator, with the ability to work with various people across diverse environments. He is passionate about his own development and is always working on himself to improve so he can then pass his learning to others. He creates business improvements though creative initiatives. He has extensive experience in delivering across global organisations, including the implementation of a 360 degree feedback initiative, leadership courses for 600 leaders, and succession planning programmes, which improved internal promotion and reduced external recruitment (that organisations’ requirement). He also initiated a coaching culture through a top down approach via the delivery of advanced coaching to 150 managers.
He is an accredited insights discovery practitioner.
When he’s not doing all of that he is cycling around the globe, playing stocks and shares and listening to music!
