About
Andy BrettExecutive and team coach, organisational development consultant, former HR director.
I’m a former HR director, organisational development consultant and executive and team coach. For twenty years I’ve worked with senior people and their teams through the periods that test them, mostly in professional partnerships and in organisations that answer to a mission rather than a market.
Where that comes from
Agency and the bank
I started in advertising and strategic communications, eleven years at TMP Worldwide and Havas People, leading international accounts for IBM, BP, Fidelity International and Pfizer. I moved into organisational development at Royal Bank of Scotland during its post-crisis transformation, where I designed and delivered a global leadership programme for 4,500 of the bank’s most senior leaders and led engagement work across a workforce of 126,000.
Liminal, and a year and a half inside an acquisition
I set up Liminal Consulting in 2014. I paused it for two years to be chief HR officer of a 200-person research business across twelve countries, joining the senior team immediately after its acquisition as the only member appointed by the new owner. That year and a half covered the integration, a restructured senior team and sales organisation, and the recruitment of a new chief executive. It’s where most of what I know about leadership at turning points comes from.
For four years alongside the practice I taught leadership, change and OD at the University of Brighton. I’m also an associate partner at Varde Hartmark, Norway’s largest Norwegian-owned management consultancy.
Chairing a board
I co-chair the board of Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard, where I’ve led the trustees through a chief executive’s resignation and succession, a multi-year financial review and a review of the governing documents. Chairing a board gives me a working view of the pressures on a chief executive and of the relationship between an executive and the people they answer to.
How I work
Most people either understand organisations or understand people. I try to do both. My practice is grounded in Gestalt and systemic work: I trained in humanistic counselling and Gestalt psychotherapy, and I hold a postgraduate diploma in systemic leadership and consulting practice. I don’t practise as a therapist in the coaching room; what the training gives me is a way of seeing the whole person and the system they’re part of.
Clients describe me as calm, direct and willing to get close to the fire.
Qualifications
Fellow of the Association for Coaching and of the Learning and Performance Institute. ILM Level 7 in executive coaching. Systemic team coaching with the Academy of Executive Coaching. Accredited in Hogan and Insights Discovery. MSc in Clinical Nutrition.
What I do
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