Christopher Smith
Profile
Chris has 30 years’ experience as a coach, consultant and business leader, working with a wide range of industries, in the private, public and third sectors. His consulting and coaching work encompasses organisation change, executive team, and leadership development. He most enjoys working with people and teams to help their businesses meet strategic goals, while being great places to work and caring for our environment. Clients greatly value his care forthem, and his ability to connect strategic and systemic perspectives with the personal.
In recent years Chris has worked as a coach and team coach, mainly with firms in professional services, digital and technology services and consumer goods, as well as the public sector. He has also been a business leader, managing teams of consultants, growing a business and leading the integration of different subsidiaries, as part of a global learning services firm. He has been on the Board of smaller businesses as they grow and develop. He brings this awareness of the day-to-day reality of being a leader to his coaching and team coaching practice. He is also the Board Director for Accreditation at the Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervisors (APECS), which keeps him up to speed with developments in coaching.
After University, Chris had a successful career in financial and professional services working in business development, management and consultancy roles, including a number of years in Price Waterhouse, working with the UK public sector on HR and organization change.
He joined Cable & Wireless, and in time became Director of Learning and Development, leading an international team accountable for organisation change, learning, leadership development, succession planning, talent and performance management. Successes included working with the joint CEOs and senior management team of C&W Global during a major strategic and organisation change, focused on the cultural and people dynamics. He also introduced a new, leadership development approach across the Group and led the integration of all learning and development activities in C&W Global, in the UK, Europe, Japan and USA, downsizing the delivery capability and preparing it for outsource. He worked closely with Henley Business School to design and deliver an International MBA for Telecommunications.
Areas of Expertise
Chris has worked with senior leaders in a wide range of organisations, across the world, and often works with international teams. He has extensive experience in professional services at times of strategic and organisational change:
Systemic team coaching
Executive coaching
Coaching supervision
Leadership development
Leading change and culture transformation
Board development
Education and Professional Experience
Academic
1990 – MBA, Cranfield Business School
1982 - BA Hons, Philosophy, Politics & Economics, Oxford University
Professional
Certified Systemic Team Coach, Middlesex University
Qualified to use various psychometric and behavioural instruments eg MBTI Step II, EQi2.0, Harthill LDP, Smart Collaboration Accelerator.
Experienced Coaching Supervisor, trained by and a faculty member, Bath Consultancy Group
Membership of Professional or Coaching Bodies
Accredited Master Coach and Master Team Coach with APECS (Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision).
Fellow, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
Fellow, the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Science