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.”

A Guest Experience in Africa

The Situation:

In his first gig as GM of a five star resort off the coast of Africa, he wanted to make an impression, but more importantly, the property was straggling on the bottom of the EMEA region in Guest Experience Scores.

What I Did:

In the first year I ran a 3 day team retreat for the top team; the only real place to start this kind of company wide change. The following year they invited me back I worked through the entire line staff in a change process that involved groups of 40 at a time rotating through a series of experiential activities. This past year I did it again.

The Result:

The resort is now top place in Guest Experience Scores in the region, have just won a major government HR award, and been recognized as a star performer on trip advisor. I didn’t do all the work, but I made a difference, that’s why they invited me back.

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.”

A Lesson in Leadership

The situation

The legal, political, military, and law enforcement teams were preparing to wind down 10 years of peacekeeping operations in East Timor.

It was in the middle of election week and with 6 months to go before hand over, the decisions we made that week had a huge impact on operations.

What I did

I was called in to facilitate a leadership training for the people responsible for the teams at the front edge of this task.

We spent a week working together to build the skills and create a strategy that would carry the country forward. I then spent three months on group coaching calls with all the key stakeholders to reinforce the change.

The Results

East Timor is now independently governed. I didn’t do all the work. But what I did make a difference.

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.”

Deadline for a Decision

The situation

A small business was trying to navigate how to expand interstate but keep costs down. The founder and CEO was smarting from three quarters of slow growth, and key staff were contemplating jumping ship.

It was a chicken before the egg scenario; do they relocate staff and add expense with no promise of growth, or do they go for one last overdraft and hope like heck they deliver.

What I did

I had the team together at a retreat, it was the third day of strategy and planning, but there was an elephant in the room. You know, the polite one everyone doesn’t want to mention.

I mentioned it. I had to. It’s my responsibility, otherwise I’m just playing facilitator as colluder. This meant a whole new decision was required; all the planning up until that point was relatively worthless otherwise.

Now we made progress. Not easy, not pretty, but choices were made with more emotional and cognitive rigour than before on the table. You know what it’s like when you walk away from a decision knowing it was the right one.

The Results

Key staff were reengaged, some were smarting, but the business had a blueprint. Relocated staff grew the business interstate by 70% without the dreaded overdraft. The CEO is now in dialogue with overseas agencies to license the product. I didn’t do all the work. But what I did made a difference.

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.”

A Change in Culture

The situation

How do you enroll staff of a global organisation to all get on the same page and commit to the 5-year vision.

After facilitating the annual conference for managers in the Asia Pacific region, the global GM asked if I could do the same thing for his team from all four corners of the globe in France later that year.

What I did

Naturally I accepted the task, but it was not without it’s challenges. I firstly worked in France, with this same company’s leadership team, helping them solidify their vision and company strategy for the next five years. Now it was time to cascade the work down the line.

The Results

What did I do? How did I take that potentially ego-killing experience and turn it into the foundation of my results-driven training curriculum? Contact me to find out how :).

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