Clients
Derek Redmond’s contribution helped bring to life why it’s so important for people, and organisations to constantly evolve and not be afraid of change. His speech helped illustrate what it means to move from good to great, and that the smallest change can make the biggest difference. This is the first time we’ve held an all-staff conference, and with Derek’s inspirational input, we managed to engage staff from the outset. Derek’s speech has helped set a good foundation for us to begin embedding the can-do, high energy and ambitious culture throughout the organisation.
Sian Thomas - Head of Communications
I would like to thank Frank Dick for his inspirational contribution to our conference last week. He is a great speaker and really hit the mark.
AstraZeneca
"Steve took around 500 Tesco Dotcom colleagues on an exciting rollercoaster ride into his world as an Olympian. He told his story with passion, humour, and honesty and had the audience back with him at the games, completely captivated. He seamlessly linked how 'raising the bar' for an athlete is no different to anyone in business wanting to stay ahead. The parallels he drew between the key elements of his approach and how dotcommers could think about their success rang true with all levels in the audience - from administrator to IT programmer to CEO. His directness and passion overcame any cynicism. To prepare he had quietly joined us ahead of his session, listened to the messages we were seeking to drive home and adjusted what he said accordingly. This professionalism and tailoring made him stand out.
An enormously engaging, thought provoking and professional speaker."
CEO -Tesco.com
Please pass on our thanks to your speaker for providing a wonderful speech. It was very well received and I have received many positive comments about how impressed people are with his achievements and how it motivated them to reach that bit further in their professional lives.
BAE Systems
"Over the last 2 years Raise The Bar has been instrumental in key parts of our sales, income, customer experience and Premium Banking successes. We have outstripped both internal and external benchmarks and you have played a major part. You have all been outstanding executive coaches."
Regional Managing Director - NatWest Retail Banking
The teambuilding arranged by Raise the Bar has helped the Unilever IT team take a leap forward in unity and strength. The team has been helped to appreciate one another's diverse strengths and personal leadership abilities. They have moved to a deeper level of understanding, personal respect and openness has also been founded within the team too. The impact of the sailing trip could really be felt on returning to the office, where team members continue to share and relive the adventure, creating a natural burst of energy to individuals and a bond within the team from sharing the experience together. "The great thing about our sailing teambuilding was that it was genuine and not artificially induced like being in a hotel conference room. The whole team grew through facing real challenges, some personal and some team based. They had to work through practicalities of sailing and had to hit objectives that were only achievable through supporting one another together as a team". At an individual level, the experience has also meant that many people in the team have had the opportunity to face their fears, do something they have never done before and would not normally do. It has instilled self-confidence in many in the team as a result.
VICE PRESIDENT - Unilever IT Global Services (Europe)
There are a number of things that, in my view, set Raise the Bar apart from most other Leadership, Performance and People Development companies: • The team's total commitment to understanding the business; it's structure, culture, processes, priorities, performance and people, before the work even starts. • Using sport as the inspirational learning model, had worked superbly for delegates - whether they are interested in sport or not. Everyone has found the analogies and the practical techniques employed by top sports people, totally relevant to their own jobs. • The debrief and feedback sessions demonstrate to me the Raise the Bar team's commitment to actually making a difference, and improving bottom-line performance"
Sales & Marketing Director - TMB
Steve Smith was on stage for about an hour and it completely flew by, he captured the audience attention completely and held it all the way through. The mixture of humour, Steve’s personal story and the video clips made the presentation spot on for the audience. A lot of colleagues have said that this was the highlight of their day, and the best motivational speaker that they had heard. Steve’s presentation came across as very fresh, passionate, full of energy and enthusiasm and ultimately inspirational. Exactly what we were looking for on the day. I have already recommended Steve to colleagues in Barclaycard.
Barclaycard Communications Manager
“Many of the team have said to me yesterday and today, how much they enjoyed having you facilitate our meeting. I think the greatest compliment is that they felt you were part of our team, and not an outside trainer”
Managing Director
The Coaching for Success workshop recently provided by Raise the Bar was enjoyed by all and met our expectations. In particular the facilitator was excellent at engaging and enthusing participants and the variety of activities and learning methods was appreciated.
Service Director - Business Transformation
Steve Parry presented at our teaching assistant conference and all the delegates were especially impressed with the way that his effective use of humour could be carried into the classroom to motivate disaffected learners. He also reminded the delegates to keep believing in them selves no matter what, and to have goals to aspire too. I was also impressed with the ideas that he gave the audience for dealing with behavioural issues in schools.
Lyndsey Reeman - Bucks CC Learning and Development Officer - Workforce Development
"This is now our second year working with Raise The Bar and I believe we have built a strong long term relationship. What constantly impresses me is the passion that the team have and their genuine desire to see your people grow and develop as a result of the events they run. The output from their work has alreday helped inform our plans and strategy over the next four years."
Customer Solutions Learning and Development Manager
"The approach used by Raise The Bar provides direction and follow up and has proved to be a catalyst for personal and business change."
Managing Director Abbey Premium & Specialist Distribution
"Steve Smith gave a fantastic input to my staff training day. He was inspirational and even engaged with the most cynical of my staff! They were able to relate to the sporting context and compare their own work and personal motivation in a really interactive and positive way. We would have all been happy to ask questions all day!
Steve's input has had a lasting effect on the morale and feeling of positivity amongst the staff and that was the main objective of the day - they were buzzing the following day and were full of praise for his presentation."
Inspector, Training and Development
"The feedback after our communications event was overwhelmingly positive. Steve is a very engaging speaker and has a fantastic ability to draw parallels between his experiences as a top class athlete and the challenges of the commercial world. He was able to inspire a diverse (and sometimes cynical) cross section of people with everybody coming away from the event feeling energised and motivated. I'm now looking at opportunities to work with Raise the Bar in the future building on the fantastic success of this initial event"
Head of Technical and Consumer Evaluation
"Looking back over my goals both personal and business I am really pleased to say that I have been able to tick off 4 of my personal goals and 3 of my business goals. I am really pleased with this as it has only been just over two months since we met."
Delegate Lloyds TSB Asset Finance
"Thank you for your excellent presentation. Your professional experience and the way in which you shared your ideas and beliefs was extremely rewarding. The feedback from the candidates was very positive."
FA Head of Coaching
"Raise The Bar entered a new industry working with Talisman; with research and discussions they quickly became familiar with our industry, goals and needs. You delivered a thought provoking and inspirational session that closely related to our own focus areas. The session was not only motivational; it was practical, providing us with real tools to better focus our energy. It was the talk of the office the next day!"
Ian Hudson, Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd
Over the last six years I have been involved in a significant number of development programmes as both Head of Learning and latterly Director of Branch Mortgages for Royal Bank of Scotland & NatWest. The delegate feedback from both cohorts of the Building Inspirational Coaches programme has been exceptional and unbeaten in all that time.
I have witnessed an enhanced sense of self-confidence and belief, a determination to lead in a people centric way and an increased focus on coaching. It has also encouraged attendees to step back and challenge their own actions and activity which is a result in itself.
Director Branch Mortgages (RBS and NatWest)
"We would like to pass on our thanks to everyone at Raise The Bar for delivering a series of fantastic and inspiring workshops. The feedback we have received has been superb and we feel that your approach has really motivated staff, providing them with the tools and techniques to succeed in any chosen goal they have."
Events Manager Lloyds TSB
"Using the Raise The Bar team has been a great investment for us and we are expecting exciting results."
Head of Lombard Operations