Monkswood Associates

Coming from a family of three older brothers and a younger sister, we all learnt how to make the most of being part of a big, quite noisy family – to get air time, to cope with the different, sometimes conflicting demands, and enjoy each other’s company. I have found this has stood me in good stead during my career in human resources and people development.

Now I’ve usually been attracted to businesses experiencing change. One organisation was not only going from manual to electronic products and operating systems but also reducing its organisational structure and workforce. You can imagine all the people issues associated with all that change! This included helping both the people whose jobs were going and those that were staying. Both groups needed to learn to work with the changes.

In my last salaried job as Human Resources (HR) Director, the Group’s sales administration was centralised and my project responsibilities were communication strategy and its application – for customers, suppliers and staff – and this group was in five different countries. We achieved all the changes to schedule. Even most staff thought the process had been handled fairly and with due sensitivity. And, of course, the business performance continued successfully during and after the completion of the project.

In 1997 Monkswood Associates was born! Being attracted to organisations experiencing change, it was surprising that it wasn’t until 1997 that my own job was affected which led to my move into the self-employment world. I took this opportunity to move from being a pivotal part of the organisation’s management team to running my own business. Initially my clients were attracted by my HR expertise in organisational change. This included developing directors in the human side of business, as a team and individually.

Over the years my interest and enjoyment has grown – as has my business – in developing people. Alongside a regular coaching business, clients were asking me to design and/or deliver tailored workshops to meet their business needs.

To improve my ways of thinking and working, I went to a coach. One of the consequences of this working relationship was I gained training in Gestalt, which enhanced my individual and group work. In addition, I hand this learning on so my clients can use it too. Organisational constellations is another systemic approach I have gained training and experience in, to the benefit of my clients.

Now the focus is changing again to be predominantly coaching, with systemic constellations supporting this work. If you have been visiting my website over the last few years, you will have noticed these changes in emphasis.

Monkswood Associates is a small business with one owner - that’s me, Helen Harrison - and a select network of associates. We have shared values and complementary expertise and experience. In this way, we meet our financial and other requirements – and we meet yours too! We do work we like and you get the results you want and like.

In case you like to know about specific qualifications and training, here is some information. I have a post-graduate qualification in Personnel Management. I am a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), one of the leading bodies in this field of work. In addition, I am a member of the Chartered Management Institute.

For some coaching programmes, my qualifications to use level ‘A’ BPS assessment tools along with 16PF5, MBTI (Steps 1 and 2), FIRO-B and OPQ are beneficial. My approach is informed by my three years’ part-time post-graduate training in Gestalt psychotherapy and part-time training in Organisational Systemic Constellations. I am a qualified NLP Practitioner, Time Line Therapy® Practitioner and Hypnosis Practitioner. I continue to develop my skills through attending workshops, peer group meetings, reading and gaining supervision.

I have had two articles published in the learned journal ‘Industrial and Commercial Training’. One a won me the honour of gaining one of three ‘highly commended’ awards given during that year. And I publish my own free monthly newsletter, Positive Solutions. To learn more about my style and expertise, subscribe to Positive Solutions by clicking here. It includes potent pointers that secure powerful improvements in confidence and making the most of what you are.

I am actively involved in organising events for the regional CIPD branch, because I strongly believe personal development is important. This is great as not only this supports the members’ continuous professional development but also my particular interests too! And we get great feedback from the people who do attend.

As well as publishing my own free monthly newsletter, which also helps me consolidate my knowledge, I have been asked to be a speaker at regional events for a variety of professional bodies and business associations. And have received good feedback from them: here are two specific examples - “I’m glad you got us involved in some discussions – even though I was really tired your presentation and break-out sessions kept me interested and awake!” “I now have some ideas as to how to manage my manager – thanks! Hopefully, I will begin to enjoy work again.”

So for those that like to know what I enjoy doing outside work, family and friends are important. And I am fortunate enough to live in a lovely part of the Cotswold so walking the dog with my husband, and appreciating what’s around me is easy. In addition, we have a garden that includes a vegetable patch, which calls for my attention. And my siblings and I inherited a stretch of river, which demands quite a lot of maintenance (strimming, cutting trees and branches, planting trees, repairing banks) as well as gives us a lot of pleasure (lazing around, swimming, enjoying the countryside, chatting, eating and drinking)! Oh yes, we even ski occasionally with our friends.