Testimonials
Heineken
“In 2011, HEINEKEN in the UK embarked on a transformational people agenda. As part of that, a dynamic talent strategy and learning & development programme evolved.
Partnering with Raise The Bar has enabled us to create together an award winning Talent Development Programme – an inspiring & stimulating learning experience focused on our business, our performance and our people. In short, a commercially driven learning curriculum delivered with momentum through the business and sporting world’s most inspirational storytellers!
Raise The Bar is firmly part of the HEINEKEN team. They’re plugged into the business and have a great understanding of our people and our leaders – they know us from the inside and what makes us tick.
Raise The Bar are our long term strategic partners of choice. The strength of client relationship we enjoy, the outstanding quality of their work and relentless spirit to inspire success beyond expectation is infectious!”
Aurum Holdings
Raise the Bar are outstanding “Go To” People when it comes to inspirational training and development that delivers a fantastic return on investment. Over the past 3 years Aurum have bucked the market trend in the retail market, and the team at Raise the Bar have played an important role within our success as we continue to invest in our most important asset – our People. Whether it be Leadership Training, Performance Development, Coaching, Health & Well Being, or the provision of motivational speakers, we have always been given great service and that’s why we continue to work with them – they are terrific partners.
De Vere
“De Vere don’t believe in dull or ordinary, It’s all about delivering the best, hence why we chose the best, Raise the Bar, to partner with us to develop De Vere’s Sales Leadership Academy programme.
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
Barclays
RTB tailored and pitched their delivery perfectly for our audience of Team Leaders. They worked to demanding timelines and every single member of the RTB team took ownership for and pride in the work they delivered to us. In recognising that the audience of Team Leaders needed to be supported and evaluated, pre and post development, RTB provided a selection of solutions for us to chose from, that could be adopted to enable the business to measure and feedback on behavioural changes.
In partnering with RTB I value them for being a personable business with professional flair that cuts through political barriers.
Barclays Corporate
Liverpool One
I would just like to say again what a pleasure it has been to work with all the Raise the Bar team – and the professionalism and quality that you have all delivered consistently.
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
Royal Bank of Scotland
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)
NHS
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
Natwest
“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
Unilever
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”.
VICE PRESIDENT – Unilever IT Global Services (Europe)
The Mortgage Business
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
Tesco
“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
Caudex Medical
“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”
Director – Caudex Medical
Unum
“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
Santander
“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
Metropolitan Police
“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
Boots
“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
The FA
“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
Talisman Energy
“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