Real World Results, Around the World
From strategy to change, and from guest experience to leadership, from Afghanistan to Armenia, and from Ethiopia to Geneva. See how my work made a difference.
East of Afghanistan
The Situation:
In Eastern Afghanistan the site office was at breaking point, with no support from Kabul and a lock out of staff from the refugee camp on the border in Taliban land, I was choppered in to deliver an on the spot team development program for the local staff.
What I Did:
Time was of the essence, as soon as I landed I was convoyed to the site, and with no time for needs analysis, it was instructional design on the fly with a new team and a leader doing all he could to manage the situation. I took them through a series of exercizes to build capacity, prioritise their quick wins and work out who does what by when.
The Result:
During the session we devised a plan to use small holder farmers supplies to get food into the refugee camp, and after I left relations between head office in Kabul and the field office improved because of this.
Testimonials of my Work
Ant Holme
Managing Director, Kellanova Australia
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“Peter delivered the content with a great deal of sensitivity and humility, helping us share the vulnerability we all feel as we start out on our leadership journey together.”
Sarah Alder
Director, CFO, COO
“Pete has a fantastic disarming manner that helps get to the core of the issues you want to unpack and leaves you with conscious actionable insights. Doing so always in a professional, friendly and trusted manner, I would not hesitate to recommend him.”
Nili Goldfein
NGG. Co-Founder & Executive Vice President Business Development
“Collaborating with Peter is an absolute pleasure. He is an undisputed expert in his field, characterized by a pleasant demeanor, sharp intellect, and a wealth of knowledge.”
Testimonials of my Work
Nanette Alvey
Program Director, United Nations Management Development Program
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“In front of the group, Peter has an extraordinary skill in prompting people to add depth to their thoughts and comments. He skillfully weaves themes and threads through the sessions and discussions to help the participants to integrate complex material. He is a very collaborative team member, easily working with co-facilitators from diverse backgrounds.”
Nitesh Gyaneswar
Executive Manager, Customer Growth and portfolio management at IAG
“Peter is an amazing facilitator who has the unique ability to truly engage the audience yet deliver strong sessions that drive clear and positive behavioural changes. Most importantly well informed with a wealth of knowledge and exposure to an array of business models that can be utilised to drive greater engagement and effectiveness across any business or industry”
Hussein Abuzeinah
Project Manager - Oil & Gas
“The nice thing about Peter’s approach is that he won’t hold your hand and walk you through the path that you need to be on to get to your target, he will provide you with the right tools to clear a path that will eventually lead you to your desired destination. Peter’s friendly demeanor makes him really easy to work with, and his diverse work experiences help him relate to most matters that need to be worked on.”
Testimonials of my Work
Lawrence Philbrook
Director, Institute for Cultural Affars, Taiwan
“Peter’s grasp of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) was able to help the group reflect into their own experience of emotional intelligence and dysfunction. This makes the experience more powerful since it is not depending on abstract concepts and helps the group know where they can go to continue their exploration and practice”
Wendy John
Journalist
“Pete has volunteered for our charity, Softacare, as a facilitator for our business strategy sessions. More recently Pete facilitated a Brains Trust meeting that brought together some of Sydney’s great business minds to plan the next stage of our growth as an organization. Over my many years as a facilitator, consultant and AITD member, its a breath of fresh air in an overcrowded market to come across someone of Pete’s work ethic, integrity, and professionalism.”
Trevor O'Sullivan
General Manager at DTS International
“One of the most challenging aspects of facilitating this program is that Peter must facilitate his peers learning. That means he is training other trainers, coaches and consultants as well as senior HR, L&D and OD professionals. Peter always receives rave reviews for these training sessions and we would recommend him for and Emotional Intelligence/Soft Skill training without hesitation.”
The Art of Accountability
The situation
It was a crucial time for the industry. The government of the day was preparing to slash finding for labour market program (for the long term unemployed)
The general manager wanted all staff in the sites to be ‘more accountable’. What does that term mean when there are so many ways to interpret it.
What I did
I was facilitating one of many retreats for this company and it’s management team. This time, when the dialogue fired up and the team was becoming dysfunctional I intervened with the obvious question; “What does accountability mean to you”
What happened threw my whole session plan out the window, but then, that’s when real change happens.
The Results
The company went on to secure what is known in the industry as ‘Five Star Funding’ and was recently bought out a large British agency. I didn’t do all the work. But what I did made a difference.
Testimonials of my Work
Scott Latham
Head of People and Culture, operations and supply chain, Fonterra
“Peter is a first class facilitator and can do manager. He has a dynamic approach to improving business leaders and at all times considers commerical reality when dealing with development matters.
Leonie Rothwell
Co-Founder and Director at Sprouta and Encountas
“Peter is an exceptional business partner in every sense of the word. Prepared, respectful, business orientated and always has a thorough understanding of our business and what we require from a partner.”
Brenda Barton
Country Director, United Nations World Food Program
“In just a short period of time, Peter succeeded in establishing a foundation of trust and rapport with me, and skillfully (never intrusively) helping me navigate a path forward. He provided helpful, easy to apply tools as backup. His overall style which includes being light and fun in needed moments – combined with down to earth, experienced pragmatism was perfect.”
Testimonials of My Work
John Healey
Corporate Program Delivery and Operations Manager NSW Government
“In his capacity as Executive coach Peter provided me tangible benefits that I could apply in my work practice to help me become a more effective leader.
He’s a great listener, offers practical advice and suggestions and has an amazing grasp and recall of just the right evidence/author/framework to back it all up. And a really great personable bloke to boot. Highly recommended.”
Jullien Fruchier
Founder & President and Beyond Yoga international
“Peter is an extremely genuine guy whom I felt I could fully trust at a gut level from the moment we met. He won’t offer you much guidance. He rightfully takes the position that you’re the expert in your business. What he does brilliantly is, firstly assess your position on whatever it is you may be working on and then guide you through a process of helping you expand your view of it, which inevitably leads to new opportunities being identified.”
Ross Robinson
Founder/Director at Learning Unlocked
“Peter is a fantastic facilitator who can work with anyone in any industry, from Team Leader to CEO the results are guaranteed. Pete never delivers programs in the same way with the same activities & models, he is constantly finding new ways of communcating the selected subject, mixing innovative techniques with time tested strategies & approaches that ensure the training is always a valid and memorable experience.”
Strategic Defence
The situation
In what was a world first business, the government had outsourced it’s defence force recruiting to a commercial enterprise. I, and my team, had to bring together a complex hierarchy of defence and civilian management teams and plan a way forward to contract renewal.
What I did
Each quarter I was responsible for plotting and planning and keeping the contract compliant. As a key facilitator in that process I constructed a company wide coaching framework to embed the skills company wide and cascade accountability from the plan to the trenches, so to speak. (the recruitment offices)
The Results
Enrollments grew 20% year on year and the contract was successfully renewed. I didn’t do all the work, but I did make a difference.
Testimonials of My Work
Tim Tracey
Previous CEO of A4E Australia
“Peter has delivered leadership, performance improvement training to our senior management group for our last two conferences. Peter has an uncanny ability to gain a genuine understanding of a business and its cultural intricacies within seemingly a very short time. Peter then adapts his training delivery in acknowledgement of these complexities and ties the content back into the overall goal of business performance.”
Ron Pollak
Principle Consultant at Ron Pollak Consulting & Training
“There are few trainers that I can recommend more highly than Peter Smith. He is enthusastic, competent and professional. Our clients enjoy his training delivery style; a style that delivers interactive, engaging and valuable learning experiences.
Peter has become a key facilitator and has been delivering exceptional results across the range of personal development and management courses we run. I have no hesitation in recommending Peter.”
Shane Cumberland
Retreat Participant
“I’ve done a few retreats now and have recently participated in the weekend silent retreat at Happy Buddha. I found it exactly as advertised. Facilitator was fantastic, skilled and knowledgeable. It was a well-balanced program, catering for the experience and needs of individuals. An excellent way to recharge and refresh. The staff were great, beautiful venue and setting and awesome food. I definitely recommend.”