Thank you for reserving 3 places on our open masterclasses. You will have been directed to this page by a member of the team. To make your payment, please click on the “Buy Now” button below and follow the instructions. We’ll be in touch when your payment has been processed.

Costs: 3 x £495 = £1,485 + VAT = £1,782.

Thank you for reserving 3 places on our open masterclasses. You will have been directed to this page by a member of the team. To make your payment, please click on the “Buy Now” button below and follow the instructions. We’ll be in touch when your payment has been processed.

Costs: 3 x £450 = £1,350 + VAT = £1,620.

Exclusive Discounted Rate

Thank you for selecting 2 places on our open masterclasses. You will have been directed to this page by a member of our team. Please click on the link below to make your payment.

Cost:

2 x £450+VAT = £1,080.00.

Thursday 20th June 2013

Thank you for selecting High Performance Coaching on Thursday 20th June 2013. Please  click on the “Buy Now” link below to make payment. If you wish to receive our discount by booking multiple places for alternative dates,  please contact us on 0203 137 7353.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

Book your place now (£495+VAT = £594.00):

Exclusive discounted rate:

If you would like to take advantage of our discount and book 2 places at £450+VAT per person on this and/ or any of our masterclasses, please call the team in the office on 0203 137 7353.

Please note, payment can be cancelled and refunded up to 30 days before the masterclass. If you need to cancel your place within 30 days of the masterclass date however, the fee will be non-refundable.

Wednesday 17th July 2013

Thank you for selecting High Performance Coaching on Wednesday 17th July 2013. Please click on the “Buy Now” link below to make payment. If you wish to receive our discount by booking multiple places for alternative dates,  please contact us on 0203 137 7353.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

Book your place now (£495+VAT = £594.00):

Exclusive discounted rate:

If you would like to take advantage of our discount and book 2 places at £450+VAT per person on this and/ or any of our masterclasses, please call the team in the office on 0203 137 7353.

Please note, payment can be cancelled and refunded up to 30 days before the masterclass. If you need to cancel your place within 30 days of the masterclass date however, the fee will be non-refundable.

Thursday 18th July 2013

Thank you for selecting Influencing and Powerful Communication on Thursday 18th July 2013. Please click on the “Buy Now” link below to make payment. If you wish to receive our discount by booking multiple places for alternative dates,  please contact us on 0203 137 7353.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

Book your place now (£495+VAT = £594.00):

Exclusive discounted rate:

If you would like to take advantage of our discount and book 2 places at £450+VAT per person on this and/ or any of our masterclasses, please call the team in the office on 0203 137 7353.

Please note, payment can be cancelled and refunded up to 30 days before the masterclass. If you need to cancel your place within 30 days of the masterclass date however, the fee will be non-refundable.

Wednesday 19th June 2013

Thank you for selecting Influencing and Powerful Communication on Wednesday 19th June 2013. Please click the “Buy Now” link below to make payment. If you wish to receive our discount by booking multiple places for alternative dates,  please contact us on 0203 137 7353.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

Book your place now (£495+VAT = £594.00):

This masterclass is designed to develop and increase confidence and self-belief to become a powerful communicator. For managers and non-managers alike, being influential is an essential part of business today; and the masterclass will give you the knowledge and skill required to vastly improve influencing and communication in your business interactions.

• Improved presence, influence and impact through exploring “Personal Brand Identity”
• Discover how to build strong relationships, influence assertively and handle objections successfully
• Exploration of powerful models of influencing and communication to build confidence
• Action planning: how to put this into practice day-to-day

Who should attend?

This masterclass has been designed for anybody who feels that improving their influencing skills would benefit them in their everyday communications. Do you find yourselves in situations where you just can’t get your message across? Do you feel that you could have more of an impact?

Course content:

Using a blend of trainer presentation, group activity, case studies, models, video footage and practical application, the masterclass covers the following themes:

• What does influencing mean to you?
• What is Personal Brand Identity?
• Authority, Presence and Impact Model
• Reframing Communication
• Tools of Influence
• Techniques to Handle Objections
• Call to Action

Dates and Locations:

Wednesday 19th June 2013, De Vere West One, Central London.

Thursday 18th July 2013, De Vere Holborn Bars, Central London.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

To book for Wednesday 19th June 2013, please click here.

To book for Thursday 18th July, please click here.

Cost includes:

Full day masterclass with a subject matter expert, course materials including delegate handbook, refreshments throughout the day, buffet lunch, and Raise the Bar’s quarterly inspirational ezine following the masterclass.

This is all about engaging with your team on an emotional level in order to get best out of them. It’s about preparing them for success, having meaningful career conversations, setting the benchmark and truly supporting them in their day to day roles.

Who should attend?

Whether you have a team of 1 or 100, you’ll know that coaching is an essential and everyday requirement of your role. You should attend this masterclass if you want to inspire the people around you to be the best that they can be.

Course content:

Using a blend of trainer presentation, group activity, case studies, models, video footage and practical application, the masterclass covers the following themes:

• High performance coaching
• The coaching toolkit
• Extended coaching practice
• Difficult coaching situations

Dates and Locations:

Thursday 20th June 2013, De Vere West One, Central London.

Wednesday 17th July 2013, De Vere Holborn Bars, Central London.

Cost:

£495+vat per person or £450+vat per person if you book 2 places at the same time, on this and/ or any of our masterclasses – click here to see more.

To book for Thursday 20th June 2013 click here

To book for Wednesday 17th July click here

Cost includes:

Full day masterclass with a subject matter expert, course materials including delegate handbook, refreshments throughout the day, buffet lunch, and Raise the Bar’s quarterly inspirational ezine following the masterclass.

Influencing and Powerful Communication (1 day)

• Wednesday 19th June 2013, De Vere West One, Central London.
• Thursday 18th July 2013, De Vere Holborn Bars, Central London.

Click here for more details and to book

High Performance Coaching (1 day)

• Thursday 20th June 2013, De Vere West One, Central London.
• Wednesday 17th July 2013, De Vere Holborn Bars, Central London.

Click here for more details and to book 

We are delighted to be holding an exclusive evening with world renowned psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters. British sport is currently experiencing some of the best results in its history and Cycling has led the way – Steve has been fundamental to its success.

Known as the ‘mind mechanic’ he has worked with, amongst others, Sir Chris Hoy, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton. He has recently taken high profile roles in UK Athletics and Liverpool Football Club and his best-selling book The Chimp Paradox brings his work to life for the business community with huge implications to high performing teams, psychology and coaching.

Aimed specifically at senior leaders, the evening will be a unique opportunity to hear from one of the most in-demand individuals in the business community, whilst networking with other senior leaders from across sectors.  This event has attracted huge demand, but a number of complimentary places are available.

Click here to register your interest for this central London event.

Location: De Vere West One, 9 – 10 Portland Place, London, W1B 1PR

Date: 21st March 2013

Timings: 6:30pm for a 7:00pm start.

Format: Networking, presentation, Q&A; followed by drinks.

We all know people buy people and our interactions are crucial but one of the more difficult challenges we face is handling objections.

There are many ways to handle objections and in this article I thought I would share one extremely effective idea with you that can be used in any situation – it will give you the power to obliterate objections…

Read the full article here

To learn more about how our skills masterclasses can improve your team performance here. Our team are available to offer more information on 0203 137 7353 or email learning@raisethebar.co.uk

Marcus Corah offers a wealth of knowledge, helping companies communicate more effectively and persuasively with their customers. His book “The Persuader” was published in 2012.

To book a workshop with Marcus Corah, view his speaker profile here, or for more information, contact the Speaker Team on 0203 137 7353 or email speaker@raisethebar.co.uk

The Sales Cycle has been developed to apply in different sales scenarios; telephone sales (including in-bound customer service), as well as field-based salespeople in face-to-face meetings. It is a simple yet effective 7 step process:

• Step 1 – Preparation
  How to plan ahead for great results through researching the customer, its people, the organisation, the business environment, and having clearly defined objectives.
• Step 2 – Make Contact
  What first impressions do you want to create and what’s best for your customer?
• Step 3 – Establish Needs
  A structured approach to asking open and probing questions will help to identify the customer’s needs whilst building the salesperson’s credibility in the customer’s eyes.
• Step 4 – Listen and Confirm
  Showing the customer that you have listened, genuinely understand their key requirements and can demonstrate empathy with the customer.
• Step 5 – Sell
  Showing the customer how your offer adds value and matches their needs. Nothing more and nothing less.
• Step 6 – Handle objections
  Objections can arise at any point in the Sales Cycle, so salespeople need to be armed with a technique to diffuse objections smoothly.
• Step 7 – Close
  The best closing is not pushy, it is simply finding the right way for the customer to agree the next steps in moving forward with the sale.

For more information on our Sales Cycle Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Click here to view a case study

Masterclass headlines:

• Personal Brand Identity
  Recognising our own brand and how it aligns with our values
• Authority, Presence, Impact
  Authority - Capabilities and results, what I know and have achieved and experienced
  Presence - Commanding respect, building rapport and relating well with others
  Impact - Clear goals, shifting agendas and mindsets and creating emotional shift in others
• Building rapport
  Strategies and techniques in understanding and building rapport through developing skills around the 3 roles of; talking, listening and observing.
• Tools of Influence
  (based on the work of Cialdini) exploring what helps you to be at your best as an influencer:
  Reason
  Emotion
  Reciprocity
  Authority
  Liking
  Ethics
• Story-telling
  A key aspect of being highly influential is to master story-telling.

For more information on our Influencing and Powerful Communication masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Delegates leave with an understanding of how they can generate leads and play a key role in the overall growth of the business.

Workshop Headlines:

• The customer lead pipeline and you
• Understanding how we communicate
  How to build rapport quickly and take the conversation in the right direction
• Mapping out the customer experience
  How to identify potential new opportunities with every customer you meet
• The art of internal networking
  How to effectively influence your network to leverage internal resources

“The workshop has been great – practical, commercial and really interactive session, I know have a clear plan of action and the motivation to smash my target!”

 

For more information on our Building the Sales Pipeline Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Masterclass headlines

• What is mentoring and how does it relate to other roles
• The mentoring contract
  Key techniques to ensure the mentoring relationship begins on the right note
• The attributes of a great mentor
  Using the RADAR model.
• Exploring core mentoring skills
  Rapport building and neutral listening. We explore the importance of “chemistry”  and creating trust.
• Effective mentoring questions
  How to generate awareness and responsibility in others.
• Tell or suggest
  Achieving an effective balance of “ask vs tell”
• Being an Inspirational Mentor
  How to incorporate inspirational story-telling into mentoring conversations – sharing experiences openly and creating a powerful message.

For more information on our Mentoring Success Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

In this ground breaking masterclass, we  enable delegates to hone their abilities as a coach to achieve high levels of performance in others

Masterclass headlines:

• High Performance Coaching - Introduction to High Performance Coaching (based on GROW model)
• Coaching toolkit part 1 – Exploring open and closed questions, identifying ‘good questions’ in a coaching context. and neutral listening
• Coaching toolkit – part 2 – Introducing Solution Focused Coaching
• Extended Coaching Practice – A practical opportunity to practise the coaching skills covered so far
• Difficult Coaching Situations – Thinking through the toughest situations and how to maintain a coaching approach and mindset.

“It was great to learn about coaching in the real world. This session wasn’t just about me, but about how people I coach can reach potential. It’s now down to me to make it happen!”

For more information on our High Performance Coaching Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Masterclass headlines:

• Defining the power and purpose of great feedback
• The feedback game
  A practical exercise to bring to life the difference between “clean” (effective) and “dirty” (ineffective) feedback.
• Feedback Frameworks
  Comparing different feedback models and defining the most effective way to ensure feedback is listened to and acted upon.
• Feedback practice
  Using the tools learnt to re-script live feedback delegates are finding difficult to deliver. This involves peer practice in triads.

“Great workshop with plenty of new tools and techniques that I can use when giving feedback to my team, and my peers. Powerful stuff”

For more information on our Mastering Feedback Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Led by a highly qualfied expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and multi level communication, the session involves a dynamic combination of advanced and ground breaking theory, stimulating accelerated learning methods and frequent opportunities for practical application of new techniques to create a truly high impact development experience.

Masterclass Headlines:

• Developing your communication brand
  Analyse and understand your personal communication brand and how this might impact the way their communications are received.
• Adapting your communication style
  How to adapt your communication style in order to ensure your message resonates with every listener.
• Understanding different perspectives
  How to transmit tough messages  clearly and with impact.
• Communicating with emotional intelligence
  Exploring the concept of emotional intelligence and the powerful part it has to play in successfully inspiring others even when delivering difficult news.
• Listening
  The levels of listening and the listening traps we must avoid in order to be a truly inspirational communicator.

“This was a great session! Not only did the trainer give me some really useful tools and advice on my own communication style and personal brand, but tips on how to understand other people’s listening styles and how to best adapt my style to suit them.”

For more information on our Inspirational Communicating Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Key to the masterclass is the use of highly relevant and challenging role play scenarios throughout the day to enable the team to practice and apply new techniques and gain feedback on their personal strengths  and development areas.

Masterclass headlines:

• Planning for negotiations
• Creating a win-win approach to negotiations – perceptual positioning
• Exploring different negotiation strategies
• Developing value propositions, variables and concessions
• Objection handling tactics

For more information on our Collaborative Negotiating Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Click here to view a case study

Masterclass headlines;

• Tailoring your message
  The fundamental research that must underpin every successful presentation
• Adapting your message
  How to adapt your message in order to resonate with every type of listener and to ensure maximum impact.
• Communication Preferences
  We will look at how to harness the concept of communication preferences in order to connect strongly with any audience.
• The Art of storytelling
  Sharing some simple tips on how to make your presentation come alive.
• Making an impact
  We’ll look at delivery skills and the use of voice & movement. We’ll also explore how to create visually daring presentations.
• Feel the Fear
  We’ll introduce innovative techniques from the dramatic arts to look at ways to channel nerves & create confidence
• Handling questions and the audience
  Some powerful tools to enable confident audience control.

Delegates are filmed to enable them to evaluate their own performance in light of the techniques they have learnt.

“This was a really powerful session and has given me some really valuable techniques to improve my presentation style. Since the masterclass, I feel much more confident and can relate better to my audience. Giving presentations doesn’t seem so scary anymore!”

 

For more information on our Powerful Presenting Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Click here to view a case study

Masterclass headlines:

• Behaviours and strengths
  Understand and analyse your innate responses to change in order to provide insight and a clear pathway for development
• Emotional intelligence
  Understanding what drives us to respond negatively to change and practical techniques to translate this into a positive response
• Attitudes to change
  Looking at techniques to promote a focus on positive outcomes
• Beliefs about our change capability
  Exploring the need for an open mind in the face of change
• Practical coping mechanisms

“This masterclass really helped me, not only in dealing with change, but giving me some really useful tools and techniques to guide my people through a challenging time in a positive way.”

 

For more information on our Embracing Change masterclass, please click here to contact us.

The fifth and final of our networking events in partnership with De Vere took the theme of ‘Inspiring Peak Performance – Good To Great’ and was held at Holborn Bars in Central London.

Senior delegates from sectors including I.T., professional services, telecommunications, financial, pharmaceutical and retail gathered to network with their peers and be inspired by Olympic Coach, Dr Frank Dick.

Having coached some of the world’s greatest sporting talent – Daley Thompson & Boris Becker to name but a few, Frank combined his wealth of knowledge and experience of individual success and team performance to deliver a hugely thought provoking and motivational presentation that inspired the guests to reflect on how they could apply his best practices with their teams in their own workplace.

‘‘Tonight’s event gave me the opportunity to take time out and reflect on how my team and I can achieve peak performance. The evening  allowed me to network and discuss business related topics with other senior leaders and also listen to one of the country’s most inspirational speakers, Dr Frank Dick. I would certainly recommend any senior leaders serious about developing and improving their individual/team performance consider engaging with Frank and Raise the Bar.’’

Fantastic events with world class speakers delivering in stunning venues, we have received great feedback from attendees across each of our Power of Five events

The team at Raise the Bar will be happy to discuss any requirements you may have so please do not hesitate to contact us on +44 (0) 203 137 7353 or by clicking here

To see a video please click here.

Our May event took the theme of “Driving Continuous Improvement” and was held at Brigade Restaurant near London Bridge.

World class sports performers are always looking for areas of improvement when training to be the best so this month’s venue had a perfect link into our theme. A joint venture between De Vere, Price Waterhouse Cooper and Chef Simon Boyle, Brigade trains disadvantaged individuals to be the best that they can be, providing them with an environment to grow, and a trade and qualification for their ongoing careers.

We brought the Olympic theme to life with a presentation from Olympic Bronze medalist Steve Smith.  Steve had to drive continuous improvement throughout his

career and he talked about focussing on what really matters, controlling the controllables and adapting to change.

Click here to see what the event looked like.

The final event in this pre games series will be delivered by one of the best speakers of the last 10 years.

To request your complimentary place for Frank Dick – “Inspiring Peak Performance – Good to Great” click here.

For our third event in our Power of Five series we moved to Canary Wharf, home of some of our key clients. The event was held at West Ferry, De Vere’s exclusive venue and the only purpose built meeting place in the Wharf.

Senior leaders this time focused on developing talent; a crucial part of engagement and a vital way to recognise our most gifted people whilst giving them the tools to take the next step. We heard from the brilliant Katharine Merry on how elite level performance is nurtured in the world of sport, and then participated in round-table discussions sharing best practice on talent management. As always, West Ferry served up a fantastic breakfast.

To be part of next month’s event at London Bridge, don’t hesitate to drop us a line and request your complimentary place. 

To see photos from the event click here.

Our second centre of London networking event was fully subscribed and focused on mental resilience. To bring this event to life, Steve Parry delivered an excellent presentation that was both humours and engaging but also had a glimpse into his mental resilience both in and out of the pool. A hugely important topic in an environment where we are asked to raise the bar again and again, delegates from the banking, pharma, and retail industries looked into the lessons they could use to produce sustained performance over a consistent period.

Steve’s story was particularly apt as he told the story of turning round an awful 9am into a world class finish to the day.

As always, De Vere served up an excellent breakfast to give our delegates the perfect start to the day.

“This session was perfect for me to take time out and reflect on how I can produce consistent performance – breakfast events work perfectly for me and I now feel ready and motivated to tackle the challenges of the coming week”

To be part of next month’s event, this time in the heart of Canary Wharf, with the brilliant Katharine Merry, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Lisa is a highly experienced learning and development professional. With a proven track record in increasing sales and customer satisfaction across a variety of different environments, her passion lies in people development and coaching.

Lisa’s specialties include management and leadership interventions, sales and service excellence, and relationship management.

             Derek Redmond

To see a video, click here.

The first of our events was held in the west end of London at De Vere’s West One. Attendees from organisations as diverse as Expedia, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte and Atos heard a fantastic presentation from our very own Derek Redmond.

Derek’s theme was gaining the competitive edge and his story of four individuals who changed strategy to gain the edge and win a gold medal at the 1991 World Championships provided the backdrop for roundtable business-focused discussions on how we can do the same.

Numbers were limited to 50 senior leaders and was seen as a huge success. With topics discussed ranging from talent management, strategy and organisational differentiators, it was a great opportunity to share best practice.

As one delegate put it, “the chance to hear Derek speak in Olympic year was fantastic but the main benefit for me was networking amongst like-minded individuals and taking away some great ideas to build my competitive edge – and the breakfast was fantastic too! I can’t wait for the next event”. 

To be part of next month’s event, again at West One, this time with the brilliant Steve Parry, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Tiffany has a unique ability to empathise and to challenge clients to help them to live with inspiration, both personally and professionally. Her passion is to connect people to their own “Inner Genius”, so that they can add huge value in their professional and personal lives at little or no cost to themselves.

She has strong sporting connections as her brother, Ben Kay, represented England at Rugby Union earning 62 caps. Although not quite reaching world cup status, Tiffany did represent Merseyside at Athletics and continues to play tennis in the highest club divisions!

Rachael brings passion, energy and an infectious enthusiasm to all her training, coaching and consulting. With a successful background in the challenging and competitive arena of pharmaceuticals, she had held both sales and leadership positions.  These have included first line sales professionals to sales management, training and marketing.

Rachael has facilitated skill development across the spectrum within companies, from front line sales individuals, to international director level. She inspires others to recognise and maximise their own potential and drive performance by adopting a high performance attitude.

Jos has particular expertise in both sales and management development. His key focus has always been to ensure complete engagement with participants and their organisations for improved effectiveness at all levels, creating environments in which talent can flourish.

Jos has designed and delivered a wide range of  innovative training courses for some of the UK’s leading businesses. His warm, credible and highly engaging training style ensures he creates a highly effective learning environment which is also challenging and stimulating.

Outside of work Jos is a long distance runner and while not running all over the countryside, he taps into his creative side performing live music, drawing and sculpting.

Jaqui is a fully qualified coach and trainer, a member of the Association for Coaching (MAC), Master Practitioner of NLP (INLPTA), MAP accredited assessor, Future Basing Practitioner, Rickter Scale Practitioner and a member of the Institute of Directors.

With over 10 years commercial management experience and 16 years experience specialising in executive coaching and recruitment Jaqui has a wealth of management and business experience, including general management, coaching and mentoring, training and development, HR, operations, recruitment, and sales.

A positive, confident and energetic individual with a direct and focused approach, Jaqui believes in challenging and pushing her clients to fulfil their potential. Her coaching style utilises a variety of tools and proven techniques to enable clients to work through any limiting beliefs and obstacles to ultimately achieve their objectives and reach peak performance.

His unique interpretation of the latest NLP thinking offers organisations a cutting edge solution that is grounded in highly practical advice.  He can produce fast, practical results easily tailored to business strategy and organisational needs.

Kirsty Mac is an entrepreneur, author, speaker and coach. Her specialities are that of leadership, psychology of the mind and coaching. Kirsty works with top entrepreneurs and executives to transition them to their next level of success.

She is a certified trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming, NLP Coaching and CYF (Creating your future) technologies. A practitioner in Spiral Dynamics – a tool of significant change in values transition she uses in working with executive teams and individuals. Her passion, enthusiasm and humour add a dynamic to the field of training as she dejargonises the brain and NLP.

Damian is a former England schoolboy footballer, Manchester United football coach, and Unilever’s youngest ever Human Resource Director. He delivers workshops on subjects such as Leadership, Coaching, Individual Performance and Change Management, helping a wide range of individuals, teams and industries achieve greater employee engagement and success.

Damian is the author of a number of best-selling books, whilst also holding down roles as change management consultant and sports psychologist for the England and GB Rugby League teams, and performance coach for the Warrington Wolves. He also runs a Manchester inner-city youth club, Collyhurst & Moston, which has helped many individuals to find a purpose in their lives, from stopping crime to winning Olympic medals.

Steve enjoys running, snowboarding and music festivals – a survivor of five Glastonbury Festivals – when he can fit them into his kids’ busy diaries.

Claire is an Events Coordinator at Raise the Bar. She looks after the logistics for our speakers events, ensuring the client’s brief is adhered to and the events run smoothly.

Claire is a very keen cyclist, competing in time trialling and sportives. As part of her training she often cycles the 28 miles to work and then cycles home again…although Claire says her real talent lies in skiing – well the après side of the sport!

Out of the office, Daniel continues to pursue a number of sporting interests. Occasionally he brings himself out of retirement for a weeknight 5-a-side or in the summer (and when the sun comes out!), he can be found on some of the country’s finest tennis courts in a bid to one day secure a place at Wimbledon!

Kathryn is the Executive Assistant to the Directors and also Office Manager at Raise the Bar. She previously worked in the financial services sector where she held many client facing and support roles and therefore brought with her a wealth of experience which she uses to ensure the Raise the Bar office runs like clockwork!

Away from the office Kathryn enjoys most sports and is a keen golfer and skier. She and her husband keep a herd of Scottish Highland Cattle as a hobby!

Lee is a Training Co-ordinator within the Learning & Development team at Raise the Bar.

He has developed a passionate interest in L&D following the completion of his Masters degree in Occupational Psychology where he gained experience and knowledge of training programmes, psychometrics and statistical analysis amongst other things.

Having lived in Somerset, Sheffield and Manchester, Lee now considers himself to have dual-nationality (both Northern and Southern). Now settled in the North; Lee drinks quite a lot of tea, aims to visit one new country each year from now on, and would very much like a pet penguin.

Gina is a Training Co-ordinator at Raise the Bar and loves how her job fulfils her 2 main passions – L&D and organising things! Driven by seeing success in individuals and teams, Gina gets most satisfaction in seeing our programmes delivered with excellence and leaving every client and delegate feeling valued. She loves exceeding expectations and when team effort results in tremendous outputs.

Gina has an honours degree in Organisation & Management Studies and worked in various L&D departments in the North West before joining Raise the Bar in 2008. After searching for an L&D organisation that had a completely unique offering, she was delighted to become part of the team at Raise the Bar.

Outside of work, Gina is very family-orientated and loves nothing more than spending time with her 2-year-old daughter Hannah and husband Pete. She is north-west born and bred and in her spare time she loves to keep fit by walking and swimming, although admits that her fitness levels are mostly maintained these days by keeping up with a busy toddler!

Outside of work, Gayle sets herself regular physical challenges, raising money for charity on the way. These have included running a half marathon and the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge. Having completed the gruelling Sandhurst commissioning course to become an officer in the Territorial Army, Gayle is also no stranger to the world of obstacle courses and survival in the great outdoors.

At home, his two children keep him busy and when he’s not swimming, cycling or running, you will probably find him at Old Trafford supporting Man Utd – He’s a season ticket holder!

This process would initiate right at the start of the research phase, where we would explore with you in depth the following:

• Your organisation’s strategic goals
• Your overall people and leadership agenda
• Existing performance metrics and tools (including your PDP processes)
• Existing vs Required behaviours and performance levels
• Potential additional performance measurement metrics which could practically be introduced

From here we would work with you to develop the appropriate tool kit to enable meaningful evaluation of learning and return on investment. For example, we might design a series of performance assessment questionnaires which both the delegate and their line managers would complete before and after each module in order to identify qualitative performance and behaviour changes. Alternatively, we may identify new qualitative performance metrics and provide you with tools to measure and report back on these metrics.

Key to note here is that, as with the programme itself, the ROI/learning impact evaluation toolkit would be fully bespoke and designed in collaboration with you to ensure practicality and relevance. Our intention would be to create a tool kit for you which enables us to support you beyond the scope of the programme itself, and also allows you as an organisation to continue to reinforce the learning and effectively evaluate ongoing performance change long after the programme has finished.

Line Managers:

We can work with you to explore ways in which the line managers of the target population can be involved in the learning process in order to equip them to follow up and reinforce the learning. This might mean providing an induction session for line managers to give them an overview of the planned training, or involving line managers in the workshops themselves, or providing line managers with a toolkit to support them in following up the learning.

Peer learning reinforcement:

We can work with you to devise ways to drive continuing learning and ensure learning impact outside of our workshops, from setting up peer coaching initiatives, identifying “Behaviour Champions” and using online forums to encourage legitimate discussion about key learns and sharing of success stories.

A senior member of the Raise the Bar team will be identified to lead each project and work in partnership with you to ensure that our solution is powerfully tailored to your needs and meets all of your learning objectives.

A highly qualified and experienced Raise the Bar Facilitator will lead on the design and delivery of your workshop, or if a programme,  the entire programme with you. This will ensure consistency and cohesion throughout the entire programme and beyond. We work with you in the early, scoping stages to identify the best person to take on this role with you.

We will work in close partnership with you to provide an exciting, challenging and highly flexible programme which is also extremely well managed and efficiently run. The Raise the Bar training coordination team will oversee and manage all of the logistical aspects of the training, including delegate coordination, materials management and administration of the online portal.

The system allows delegates’ line managers to review coursework and use confidentially as a discussion tool in their ongoing personal development plan. Our clients benefit from comprehensive Management Information reporting on delegate uptake and completion of activities by agreed deadlines. Other benefits include support for action learning sets, personalised company page including latest news, RSS feeds, forums and blog, delegates’ live-chat facility, straw polls, feedback and more.

The Raise the Bar online portal encourages delegates’ ongoing commitment to their programme, provides a simple tool for managers to track and support their delegates, and reduces the need for masses of paper-based resources.

Speakers are only involved where we feel they will add genuine value to the learning experience based on your learning needs and objectives. We ensure speakers are carefully and exhaustively briefed so that their contribution to the day is totally relevant and relates directly to the overall learning goals.

Click here to see a full list of our motivational speakers.

Click here to view a recent article on this subject.

Where we are delivering a programme, we take a modular approach. The number of modules will be dependent on the findings from the research phase and can be adapted to suit learning needs and budget. We facilitate and support applied project work after each module of a programme. This brings together delegates in smaller project teams and encourages them to apply key techniques and approaches in the real environment of their roles. Projects are not too onerous and are always relevant to BAU responsibilities.

For every learning event we design bespoke learning materials such as workbooks and delegate packs. These will always be branded according to your brand guidelines and have a cutting edge and high quality look and feel.

We are different. We first look to assess engagement levels and then develop an approach that motivates and inspires employees to take the lead role in their own development. We see learning as a journey that needs a genuine desire for continuous development. This can only be achieved when individuals and teams are in the right mindset to embrace learning.

With our focus on mindset change as a first step before moving onto exploration of new skills and techniques, we will develop a programme which will tackle the full range of skills and attitudes needed as identified through the TNA (training needs analysis) and scoping processes. Key to note is that our design will tackle the material in an innovative, exciting and challenging way which will ensure that every one will come away inspired and armed with an array of new and highly practical techniques and strategies.

Our programmes bring together our sporting and business expertise, to deliver a highly interactive learning experience that builds on existing expertise and provides extensive opportunities for delegates to apply the learning in practical ways. We will always recommend an approach which will ensure a fully tailored, versatile and high impact programme that responds to the needs of the organisation, supports your strategic goals and helps drive the broader leadership and people agendas.

We would want to quickly and unobtrusively deepen our understanding of your business to make sure we have a full grasp of all the issues and challenges, fully understand the roles everyone performs and can speak the right language to credibly engage the entire audience.

If we are working with you to develop a programme or series of workshops we’d do this in 3 ways

1. Scoping meeting with key senior leaders and L&D team

We would want to meet with the HR/L&D team, key stakeholders and senior leaders to understand their vision for this programme and gain insight into their overall leadership approach. This also builds the expectation that senior leaders will be involved in the programme from the outset, to ensure maximum business impact and lasting behavioural improvements. By involving senior leaders this will help them to lead from the front, model positive behaviours and effectively support their people on their development journey. This would also help the senior leadership team to develop and promote a consistent language, values and behaviours throughout the entire organisation.

2. Attend a management team meeting (where relevant to the programme aims)

3. Shadow a selection of people – Observe and ask questions

We would want to spend a minimum of one day shadowing a number of people from across the business and at different levels or in different roles. This will enable us to get a deep understanding of the business, the culture, the leadership culture, the language used and also to gain insight into the roles of our target population. This will also enable us to support you in refining and finalising the training need.

Briefing Meeting

We would then deliver an extensive briefing session to key stakeholders from HR/L&D and the business to agree content and identify programme KPI’s. We will provide an overview of what can be expected within each workshop, our methodology and reasoning behind our approach and more importantly we will discuss how we will measure ROI and the effectiveness of the programme throughout each of the key stages.

Networking is more than handing out business cards; we have to connect with people and most often it will take longer than a two minute conversation. This highly interactive workshop will give you practical skills to use straight away, build confidence to network in any situation, show you how to build rapport with a total stranger, and how to make a powerful instant impression!

Click here to view a case study

Masterclass headlines:

• Developing your existing networks (internally and externally)
• Harnessing the power of your networks including social media streams
• The art of building a global presence online to create maximum impact.
• Identifying networking opportunities
• Making a powerful first impression
• How to walk away without losing rapport

For more information on our Expert Networking masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Please click here for a full list of our speakers.

We understand the value and the impact that the right speaker can have on your learning event. Our expertise and down to earth approach enables us to work closely with you to understand your needs, and then provide you with the best option from our extensive range of sporting and business speakers.

Our aim is to ensure your event has maximum impact and delivers exactly the right message. The right speaker can add power and impact to a workshop and ensure a memorable and inspirational experience for all the delegates.

Many of our clients come back to us time and time again; we pride ourselves on delivering great customer care and your Raise the Bar experience is really important to us.

Please click here to contact us.

We work closely with organisations to design innovative skills masterclasses which are delivered by true experts in their field and so have real and lasting learning impact. Having identified key skills gaps which are causing barriers to business success, we will develop the ideal solution to address that gap and enable you to move your business forward in the direction you need it to go.

Whether it’s providing an element of a broader programme, addressing a one-off training need or supplementing your in-house learning offering, our masterclasses are aligned to your wider learning environment whilst providing an aspirational and ground breaking experience provided by an expert external partner.  We create sessions which are hugely engaging, interactive, lively and enjoyable, and provide strong return on investment.

We will design and deliver a masterclass according to your needs, whether it’s a group of 8 or a group of 50, whatever the mix of skills and ability. We’ll first work with you to understand your strategic learning objectives, and then create a solution in close partnership with you.

For more information on any of our masterclasses, please click one of the links on the right or click here to contact us.

If senior leaders are to successfully enable their organisation to sustain a competitive edge they must have a clear vision, a broad perspective and a great deal of insight. Even the most seasoned of executives can benefit from support to help them gain that personal insight, learn from other senior leaders, find new and innovative ways to lead their organisation to growth and profitability and to build a high performing team.

Our experienced executive coaches and business leaders work with senior executives to give them increased confidence and broader vision, enabling them to lead strategically in every area of business.

• Fit for Leadership
• Inspiring Through Change
• Multi-level Communication & Public Speaking
• Executive Coaching

For more information on these programmes please click one of the links on the right or click here to contact us.

Recent research has shown that anything from 50% – 70% of performance or engagement  issues relate directly to the leadership population, particularly line managers. Your managers and leaders therefore have the ability to significantly influence  engagement levels and performance across the business. The key is to do this in a way which is both effective and innovative – inspiring people to great performances takes effort and imagination.

In a volatile economy employees need to trust that their leaders have the capability to drive organisational success whilst also making them feel valued and inspired. Our approach aims to develop a rounded leader who has the ability to win hearts and minds to drive engagement and performance, as well as the skills to effectively communicate organisational strategy.

Whether it’s first line leaders as part of your succession plan or established senior leaders, neglecting their development is often the most expensive option of all.

Our approach can involve a one off workshop or the development of a full programme, focusing on three key areas;

• Coaching – Building Inspirational Coaches in your organisation.
• High Performing Teams – Helping your leaders to create a high performance culture.
• One to One Coaching – Supporting your leaders to help them manage stress and achieve more.

For more information please click one of the links on the right or click here to contact us.

With our expertise in changing hearts and minds as well as skills development, we work closely with our clients to develop bespoke talent programmes which motivate, inspire, inform and invigorate. Key to this is the involvement of elite performers from the worlds of business and sport who share their experiences in the context of the specific needs of your business.

From Sahar Hashemi, lawyer turned entrepreneur who founded the multi-million pound Coffee Republic chain, to Steve Peters, Forensic Psychiatrist and Team Psych for the highly successful GB cycling team, we bring in individuals who have something exciting and powerful to add to the overall content of each session. Usually a programme will run as a series of one day interventions throughout the year, each session tackling a topic which is critical and relevant to your organisation’s overall strategic goals.

Topics covered might include:

• Entrepreneurial Agility
• Communicating with Impact
• High Impact Networking
• Leading with Drive
• Performing at your Peak

Click here to see an overview of one of our Talent Development Programmes:

For more information on these programmes please click here to contact us.

As we use both sporting and business success as the catalysts for personal change we are perfectly placed to drive engagement and motivation. Our focus is on increasing self belief and confidence, before giving delegates the skills to perform their roles to the best of their ability. This approach is brought to life by involving world class motivational speakers in every session.

A programme normally comprises quarterly training sessions and is designed for a maximum of 50 delegates in each programme. There is an intensive managers briefing session, shadowing session and induction session prior to the commencement of this programme to ensure the experience is tailored and relevant. During the programme we provide extensive management information to illustrate the levels of engagement of both the delegates and their managers.

Topics covered within this programme include:

• World Class Behaviours – Adapting to Change
• Communication – Making an Impact
• Innovation – Creative Thinking
• A Winning Mindset
• Goal Setting
• Working to Strengths – Understanding your Differentiator
• Consistent Performance – Fit for Business

Each programme is supported by a dedicated online portal through which delegates will access  pre course reading, session summaries, coursework, MP3 and video downloads and a Quarterly Development e-zine. Through this portal we can also create an online community and encourage discussion forums and action learning sets.

For more information on these programmes please click here to contact us.

Successful Leaders have:

• An ability to develop clear visions derived from an in-depth analysis of the
  market place, translating into effective measurable business strategies.
• The ability to inspire teams to deliver, borne out of exceptional coaching and
  facilitation skills underpinned with the ability to negotiate success.
• The ability to establish far reaching business wide frameworks to effectively
  monitor project progress.
• The ability to think creatively and improve processes and operations whilst
  demonstrating the necessary financial competence to ensure the secure
  financial footings of the organisation.
• An ability to inspire and communicate, managing clear communication
  channels within the organisation and with external suppliers and customers.

Executive Coaching is driven by the needs of the client. It is about exercising the
potential of you, the team and the business.

Our objective is to improve performance, increase profitability and enable change.

The process starts with an initial diagnostic discussion with your coach, who will
assess your current professional situation, and guide you through an in-depth
process to explore the options and clarify the desired outcome. An action plan will
be designed to develop your skills and move you forward.

Executive coaching has a positive impact on work and personal performance.

Delivered by highly qualified experts in the fields of NLP and multi-level communication, this session enables leaders to analyse their existing communications strengths and weaknesses through the use of video analysis and peer feedback. Then, referencing the very latest thinking and theory, leaders explore new ways to master even the most difficult messages and to develop subtle variations to their communications portfolio to enable them to communicate with resonance in all situations.

Public speaking

We also work with executives to build on their public speaking skills and help them to create powerful and high impact presentations. Involving an expert in the biodynamics of communication and body language, Alex Caan is both a RADA trained actor and an athletics coach. He brings together theory and practice from these two diverse disciplines to show skilled presenters how to take their presentations to another level again, to speak with confidence and authority and to inspire with charisma and self belief.

A highly challenging and interactive session using video analysis allows leaders to understand their current skills status and identify specific actions to further develop their public speaking expertise.

If your business isn’t changing, it isn’t growing. But change requires significant adjustments in how work gets done, at the individual, departmental and organisational levels. Leaders need the buy-in and commitment of the people who are being asked to change. They also need to approach change with the right mindset themselves.

People often say that change is never easy. A high percentage of change efforts fail or are derailed. This can have huge implications for performance, productivity and morale, staff retention and growth.

Inspriring through Change is led by the change guru, Damian Hughes. An expert in occupational and sports psychology, author of 6 bestselling books on change and leadership, performance coach for a number of high profile sports teams including the England Rugby league team, and a specialist in performance coaching, Damian’s hard hitting and down to earth approach challenges leaders to confront how they respond to change, and how they lead their people through change. Drawing on the latest thinking and theory, Damian’s pragmatic approach enables executives to consider new approaches to embracing change and they will develop their own practical and powerful tools which they can put in place immediately to help them successfully drive through and inspire change in their organisations.

Executives will be introduced to sophisticated technology that is being used by many of the world’s leading sporting organisations and understand how it is being used in the world of elite sport to enhance the performance of athletes.  Leaders complete their own personal “Performance Diagnostic” looking at the seven pillars of personal performance.

• Psychology / Mindset                  
• Environment
• Recovery & Recuperation
• Food & Fuel
• Organisation
• Responsibility
• Movement

In addition, leaders have to option to use a Performance & Lifestyle heart rate monitor. Leaders wear a monitor for three consecutive days and nights and a report is produced to analyse the relevant stress levels. They subsequently receive one to one consultation on the monitoring results and coaching to help identify areas within their life in which to set goals.

By the end of this intensive and unique programme senior leaders have a personal understanding of how to cope with stress and how to perform at a high level.  They take away immediate strategies to action that provide increased resilience and improved performance.

Please download one or all of our free Ezines, listed below:

• Powerful Persuasion
• Performance Insights from the Games
• Psychology of Change
• Coaching for Success in Business
• Become the CEO of your life
• A Switched On Entrepreneurial Mindset

Subscribe to our Ezines by filling out the form below:

F: +44 (0) 151 426 0293

E: enquiries@raisethebar.co.uk

Always willing to challenge the norm Steve divides his time between speaking engagements, building new client relationships and providing the business with a strategic direction.

Outside of work he is the proud dad to his two boys Elliott and Lucas and his passion is Everton Football club – if you look close you can catch him on Match of the Day sat next to the away dug out.

Click here to view a case study

This is a simple tool to help us all to identify the key steps in our own development, and follows 9 straightforward steps:

• State the goal in the positive
• Imagine the outcome
• Start, maintain, test        
• Build a winning team
• Have the right resources
• Weigh up the benefits/ personal costs
• Consider the cost
• Allocate time
• Make the commitment

For more information on our Goal Setting Masterclass, please click here to contact us.

Ian Hudson, Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd

FA Head of Coaching

Head of Technical and Consumer Evaluation

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

Managing Director Abbey Premium & Specialist Distribution

Customer Solutions Learning and Development Manager

Director – Caudex Medical

An enormously engaging, thought provoking and professional speaker.”

CEO -Tesco.com

“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

“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”.

VICE PRESIDENT – Unilever IT Global Services (Europe)

Regional Managing Director – NatWest Retail Banking

Service Director – Business Transformation

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 often engage with agency / advisory / consultative organisations and so often you find that, as a client, you end up doing more work and they simply type up (if youíre lucky) the results and invoice you. Working with Raise the Bar has been a breath of fresh air. To have an organisation deliver and acknowledge us as a client is simply lovely. Thank you.

I have no doubt this will be a long, fruitful and rewarding working relationship for both our organisations.

Estate Director – Liverpool ONE

In partnering with RTB I value them for being a personable business with professional flair that cuts through political barriers.

Barclays Corporate

The team at Raise the Bar consistently deliver great learning experiences achieving maximum impact. They excel at utilising their network of high profile professionals to ensure each & every session is vibrant, thought provoking and relevant.

Now over half way through our year long programme and we have already seen significant and lasting changes in the performance of our leadership team.”

Sales Director - De Vere Hotels

Our approach works by focusing on an individual’s strengths and how they can use these qualities to implement control, confidence and commitment in their lives to achieve an outstanding future. Our coaches will establish a relationship of openness and trust by identifying outcomes, goals and a pathway to achievement using a programme of structured tools and techniques developed from the world of elite level performance.

Why do people have coaching?

People enlist the services of a coach because they want to improve their situation and achieve their goals. A skilled coach uses a combination of observation, questioning, listening and feedback to create a conversation rich in insight and learning.

Self-belief, self-motivation, choice, clarity, commitment, awareness, responsibility and action are the products of coaching. AWARENESS & RESPONSIBILITY are the two most common attitudinal factors in achieving excellence. The mind is key: ‘…the opponent within one’s own head is more formidable than the one the other side of the net.’ (Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game).

Benefits include:

• Improved sense of direction and focus
• Increased knowledge of self / self-awareness
• Improved ability to relate to and influence others
• Increased motivation
• Improved personal effectiveness, e.g. focused effort
• Increased resourcefulness / resilience, e.g. ability to handle change

Personal Coaching Programme: 6 – 12 months and sessions are backed up with email and telephone support.

“What I have valued the most is the honesty of our discussions, without agenda or politics, simply discussions where I have been able to face the true facts of my development needs and most importantly my strengths.”

 

For more information on our One-to-One coaching, please click here to contact us.