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Specialisms
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Change management
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Culture
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Leadership
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Behavioural change consultancy
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Facilitation, training and coaching
Quick facts
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40 years in people development, across the world
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Career spans hospitality management, the charity sector and behavioural change consultancy
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Clients include AON, GE Healthcare, Cisco, CHS Inc, QBE Insurance, Domino Printing, Allied Mills, McGraw Hill and Welcome Break
Rob Smith
A behavioural change specialist.
Rob helps teams cut through noise to find clarity and focus.
He has a wealth of people development experience accumulated over 40 years in management positions and client consulting around the world. Having lived in five different countries and completed client assignments in a further 26, he has a deep understanding of how culture, language and environment impact the motivation, resilience and productivity of people in the workplace.
Rob is in demand as a facilitator, trainer and coach — unflappable, calm, and with a disarming way of engaging people that helps them identify with and embrace change. He can handle groups in conflict or going through a difficult time, and his insight often helps clients solve problems they never knew they had.
Background
Rob started his career in hospitality, learning the importance of customer interaction in creating value.
After three management roles, he re-qualified as an HR practitioner, progressing through project management to become Training Director of a national charity.
He left that role to establish a behavioural change consultancy in 1998, joining a larger consultancy with complementary skills four years later. In June 2016,
Rob co-founded Thinking Focus with Ricky and two other partners — a pragmatic consultancy that transfers critical and creative thinking skills to people, helping them remove interference, improve performance and become more productive.
Since October 2024, Rob has taken on freelance projects focused on behavioural change in teams, using coaching-led facilitation of senior teams to cut through noise and competing agendas.
Specialisms
- Leadership and management development
- Transformational coaching
- Facilitation
- Personal skills development
Quick facts
- 20+ years in L&D across private and public sectors (Nationwide, Carillion, Staffordshire Council, DPD)
- Transformational coach and facilitator, with particular strength in leadership and management
- Warm, energetic facilitation style that engages well with challenging delegates
Liz Baker
Creating the environment where people are ready to learn and be stretched.
Liz brings energy and presence to every training room, whether virtual or face-to-face, quickly creating an environment where people feel engaged, ready to learn and be stretched — in a good way.
She believes impactful learning goes beyond content: it’s about the experience it creates, how it makes people feel, and what changes it leads to. With a warm, down-to-earth style,
Liz connects easily with diverse audiences and is skilled at engaging even the most challenging delegates. She is a transformational coach and facilitator, as well as a versatile learning and development professional who supports individuals, teams and projects to achieve meaningful results.
Background
Liz has over 20 years’ experience in learning and development across both private and public sectors, including Nationwide, Carillion, Staffordshire Council and DPD.
Over this time she has developed a deep understanding of what makes learning effective, combining proven techniques with a curiosity for new ideas and continuously evolving her approach to ensure every session delivers real value.
She has a particular passion for management, leadership and personal skills development — areas where real transformation happens — and takes pride in supporting people to grow into confident, capable versions of themselves.
Outside work, Liz enjoys live music, Formula 1 and football (strictly as a spectator).
Specialisms
- Leadership
- Risk management
- Coaching and mentoring
- Culture change
- Operational resilience
- Governance and regulatory compliance
- Organisational development
- Facilitation
- Almost four decades of experience across operational leadership, financial services, insurance, governance, and L&D
- Senior risk and leadership roles with HSBC, HomeServe, Aon and RSA
- Accredited leadership coach and HSBC How We Lead Ambassador
Ian James
Creating success through leadership.
Ian helps people succeed through leadership, understands risk deeply, and knows how to navigate change. He excels when the conversation matters, combining deep expertise in risk management with years of developing leaders and creating environments where people think differently.
Practical, thoughtful and engaging, he has a knack for turning complex ideas into conversations people understand and remember.
Whether facilitating leadership programmes, coaching and mentoring senior leaders, or helping organisations strengthen their risk culture, Ian brings curiosity, challenge and humanity in equal measure.
He works at the point where leadership, risk and change become human conversations — often under pressure.
Background
Ian brings almost four decades of experience helping organisations strengthen leadership, manage risk and navigate change, spanning operational leadership, financial services, insurance, governance, and learning and organisational development.
Over the last twenty years, he has held senior risk and leadership roles with global organisations including HSBC, HomeServe, Aon and RSA, working across operational resilience, third-party management, governance, regulatory compliance, sustainability and culture.
Rather than treating risk as a compliance exercise, he has consistently helped leaders use it as a framework for better thinking, stronger decisions and improved performance.
Alongside his leadership roles, Ian has designed and delivered leadership programmes, coached and mentored senior leaders, developed learning strategies and built high-performing teams.
As an accredited leadership coach and HSBC How We Lead Ambassador, he has helped leaders build confidence, strengthen relationships and create environments where people can succeed.