Hello I'd like to introduce myself to you and get you acquainted with some of the people who help Ascent2Change transition you and your organisation through change. 

Ro Gorell  Managing Director and Founder of Ascent2Change Ltd 

As well as being a professional executive and business coach I also specialise in organisation development and change; human behaviour is fascinating and in an organisational setting provides insight to the culture.  

Ascent2Change  helps organisations understand the full gamut of emotions and psychological experiences that change impacts on us as human beings so that they can work effectively with their people in times of change. 

None of us leaves our personality at home when we come to work;  working with change and helping people make the transition is about relating to the whole person. 

Our mission is to help businesses make more effective transitions so that the changes they make are long lasting and set them up to cope with anything  the future might hold;  because we leave organisations knowing that the key to successful transitions is flexiblity and recognition that the people they employ are individuals.

As a business going through change you need to know that you can trust your business partners to help you through the sometimes choppy waters of change.  You want to know that the people helping you 'get' your dilemma and have the experience and intelligence to work with you to a successful outcome. 

Ascent2Change offers the lifecycle of change through a partnered network.  Please meet our partners below to learn more about how they can help your business transition through change.

Julie Woods

With over 15 years experience as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist Julie is a trusted business partner of Ascent2Change and is contributing input to the development of our cultural diagnostic tool – Optimise Change™   Julie is the co-author of PeopleMapper, a published personality measure used in organisational settings.  She has worked with a wide range of organisations and has specialist knowledge and expertise in the following psychometric measures:    

MBTI,

FIRO-B

Julie’s motivation comes from supporting people in reaching their potential and as an independent consultant she has achieved this through:

·         different types of selection and development projects,

·         psychometric test training,

·         development of narrative for computer-generated assessment reports,

·         coaching interventions,

·         development and assessment centre design and delivery

Julie’s natural rapport skills create trusting relationships with clients and enable them to work with complex concepts and statistical data in a way which is understood.   Her knowledge and skill set are assets to the lifecycle of change concept used by Ascent2Change and enable organisations to look at how human interactions can be seen from a structured and objective perspective at the same time appreciating how social interactions impact business performance.

Anthony Platt ACA                                                                                                                                         

Anthony brings a wealth of experience from the FMCG and Chemical Manufacturing sector to the Ascent2Change trusted business partner network.  We are particularly pleased that Antony forms part of our network because he is the perfect blend of finance professional and change consultant.

Anthony experienced change at the sharp end when he led a team of 40+ people to deliver business improvement on a business that was already successful.  This is a massive achievement as most businesses only want to change when they’re in trouble.  He delivered:

• record margin/profit levels
• Boosted Return On Capital Employed from 8% to 20%
• Contributed to a successful start up JV

Not only does he bring the skills of a Finance Director AND the skills of an experienced change consultant able to carry out complex and deep level analyses of business performance.  He also has stakeholder management expertise.  His direct experience of working with customers as part of the change experience marks him out as different from the normal finance professional.

 Anthony’s commitment to business success and his natural communication style based on openness and willingness to challenge make him the ideal partner for getting under the skin of change and helping the client understand how they will measure success.  His creativity and pragmatic approach mean he is ideally suited to helping Ascent2Change’s clients develop a flexible and fresh approach to the key strategic challenges faced by their business.   

Louise Farrell 

Louise is a business focussed HR Professional with over 20 years experience in a range of areas of HR.  She is able to work at all levels within an organisation understanding business needs and operates with a high degree of credibility.  Louise has worked in a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, utilities, charities and insurance to name a few.

Louise's approach is flexible, pragmatic and practical, providing businesses with commercially aware support in order to increase the bottom line.  

As an independent consultant, Louise provides a wide spectrum of HR support ranging from business change and acquistion to redundancies, performance management, training, recruitment and disciplinaries.  She works with both large corporates and SMEs providing appropriate assistance to all.

Key Areas of Expertise:

• HR Audits, Policies & Contracts
• Organisation Change
• Mergers and Acquisitions (TUPE)
• Redundancy Programmes 
• Disciplinary, dismissal & grievances 
• Appeals  
• Coaching Managers & HR Professionals 
• Performance Management  
• Absence Management 
• Job Evaluation
• Assessment Centres
• Psychometric & ability assessments
• Competency Systems
• HR Skills Training

   

Sue Ferguson FCIPD, MA (HRM)

Sue combines her experience as a general manager with her extensive HR experience to support many SMEs through the full range of employment issues.  She supports businesses from professional services to manufacturing and construction including the not for profit and education sectors.

Sue has most experience supporting owner managed businesses and has demonstrated that she can be relied upon to asssess and deliver what is needed to support the business.

As an independent consultant, Sue supports many different types of business to make decisions about the issues arising on a daily basis regarding employees and employment.  Sue combines her employment law knowledge and experience to make sure that businesses can make decisions aware of the risks involved and always understanding the full range of issues to be considered before any action is taken.

Key Areas Of Expertise:

• Development and implementation of Employee Handbooks
• Development of Policies and Terms and Conditions
• Performance Improvement Processes
• Recruitment and Selection
• Employee Development
• Disciplinary, Capability & Grievance processes
• Managing absence
• Redundancy
• Handling terminations including by compromise settlement
• Personality profiling for recruitment and development

Kate Burton   BA, Master Practitioner NLP, Master Executive Coaching ICF PCC accredited

Kate is a master practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a PCC Accredited member of the International Coach Federation and Asssociation For Coaching.  She is the co-author of three best selling books published by John Wiley:   'Neuro-Linguistic Programming For Dummies', 'The Neuro-Linguistic Programming Workbook for Dummies' and 'Building Self-Confidence for Dummies'.  Her latest book, 'Live Life. Love Work' will be published by Capstone in Spring 2009. 

Kate challenges her clients to transform their personal effectiveness, leadership style and performance.  Her clients number many senior IT executives with a hearty appetite for development; people who value success, expect a high quality of life and measure the impact of coaching on their bottom line performance.

Coming from a career in corporate advertising and marketing in Hewlett-Packard, Kate is comfortable with translating the merits of technical excellence into real business benefits - in language that customers can understand.  She works with leaders and their management teams who want to express clear, bold messages to different audiences.  

She set up her own communications company in 1984 and has grown and developed this business through strategic alliances for over 20 years.  Her prime focus has been on hi-tech businesses, IT groups within global corporations and professional services organisations.  These clients often have complex issues to communicate in ways that people will listen and take action.

Over the years Kate has taken on challenging interim communications management roles for change initiatives, mergers and acquisitions.  She consults within corporations such as KPMG, GlaxoSmithKline, SwissRe, Cardinal Health and Waitrose, as well in the public and not for profit sector working with government departments, universities and educational trusts.

In 1999, Kate set up a training consultancy that offers soft skills development through practical, custom-built workshops and coaching for busy professional teams.  These support clients who want to boost their personal effectiveness, goal setting, stakeholder influencing, presentations, business writing, team dynamics, coaching skills, motivation, and confidence.  Her most popular workshops include 'NLP for Busy Executives' and 'Confidence in Adversity.'

As a graduate in Social Sciences, she has had a life long passion for people to work respectfully together in organisations sharing a complementary set of values and a clear vision.

Key Areas of Expertise:

• Executive coaching - specialisms - communication and confidence
• Communications management and skills development
• Customer and employee communications programmes
• Team and focus group facilitation
• Strategic reports and proposals
• Advertising, PR, and sponsorship
• Corporate and product marketing collateral