Business Development Testimonials

“Annie facilitated a board development day for us. She conducted the day in such a manner that we were all able to speak openly and honestly and we unanimously agreed the event was hugely beneficial to us all. We have further development events planned with Annie for other teams within the organisation and I will be continuing to utilise Annie as my business coach in the future. I would highly recommend Compass to executives and senior managers.”

“Annie puts people at ease as well as stimulating participation and guiding the group to solve our own problems in an environment where decisions, solutions and conclusions can flourish.”

“I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when I joined the group, having never been involved with anything similar in the past. I was slightly sceptical having been pitched to by a number of ‘coaches’ and ‘business advisers’ in the past. However, I really enjoyed the experience and my scepticism was short lived.

The group gave me the opportunity to get points of view from a genuinely diverse group of people. The senior people in my business all have very similar experience and thought processes as I do. The group gave me the opportunity to have input from business owners with not only completely different backgrounds and experience such as sales or marketing, but also at different stages of business. The great thing about the group was that fundamentally as small business owners we were all facing very similar issues and everyone could relate and give an opinion.

Having a number of business owners used to chairing such meetings, there was the potential for the conversation to get side-tracked. Annie was fantastic at letting us get on with it but getting involved where she felt we needed some focus. I would definitely recommend the Compass Group to our clients. Having the opportunity to take time out of the business in an environment such as group coaching, with a facilitator such as Annie, is massively beneficial.”

“The session with Annie was meticulously planned, well-structured, objective-driven and engaging. This was complemented by positivity and energy which really helped to make it an enjoyable experience.

I benefited greatly from the sessions. It was helpful to discuss problems and issues with other business owners; some who are going through similar experiences in their business as mine. I found myself offering advice to those who needed it, and reminding myself that I can actually help to solve some of my own problems by listening to myself – not just to rely on others for their input. The facilitation of the group helped keep discussion on course and aided the group to be as time efficient as possible; which was most welcome.

This group differs from other groups I have taken part in due to the depth of issues we delved in to. We didn’t skate over issues and really aimed to tackle the issues down to the root cause. There were clear action points and deliverables as a result of these sessions – another reason why I felt it would work for those in similar positions. I have the upmost confidence in recommending the Compass Group to business owners who wish to improve their business in a supportive and effective manner.”

“The sessions with the Compass Group were a first for me as I had not previously had any experience groups like this. I was slightly concerned about the group confidentiality and the diverse nature of the other participants’ businesses compared to my own. As a micro business owner I felt I knew what our key challenges were and also my own strengths and weaknesses that I needed to address to move forward so I was unsure of what value a Group facilitation could offer.The reality was very different.

The facilitation was excellent. Annie is a true expert in this field. She is an intent listener with an extremely calm and supportive demeanour and is skilled at playing a problem back in a logical and clear way. She is pragmatic and highly supportive. Through applying some very logical challenge to the situations that the Group raised, she was able to help to play back our problems/issues in a clearer way so that the individuals in the Group were able to define clear action plans to help solve the problems. On a personal level she helped me see the wood from the trees and add some structured prioritisation which is often difficult when there seem to be so many important competing priorities.

In a small business there is not always a formal Board structure but all Group members were asked to report back on their agreed actions at the following meetings which kept everyone on track and really helped us move forward (almost like a formal Board). Annie was able to offer up theoretical business models at relevant points to help contextualise and add clarity to some of the real business and people situations that we were facing.

As a small business owner it is so easy to get caught up in the busy tactical and operational day to day management of the business that we do not give ourselves enough time and space to think. Annie helped me to find the time in advance of and during the regular sessions to make time for thinking which I both enjoyed and felt helped me to stand back and evaluate the bigger picture.

It can be an extremely lonely place to be an individual small business owner. It was great to sit in a confidential environment with other like- minded business professionals and to realise that so many common themes and challenges that we face within our business are common to other businesses. This sharing of similar situations and helping each other forged a great sense of unity and comradery between the group. Annie skilfully helped to facilitate the relationships across the group and to bring out commonalities and to help nurture open and frank discussion in a trustworthy setting.

I believe that sessions of this nature are something that we can all benefit from but the success or otherwise of it will boil down to both the responsiveness of the delegates and the level of skill/experience and intellect of the facilitator. Annie was first class in this respect, in entrusting all of the members of the group so that we all felt relaxed and able to open up. Her questioning and evaluation skills were second to none and she added some excellent and effective challenge so that the delegates were able to think things through in a very different way. I would recommend the Compass Group to anyone who keen to develop both themselves and/or their business in a challenging, fun, engaging and trustworthy setting with a view to reflection, bigger picture thinking ,business and self-improvement and better decision making and accountability.”

“I went into the Compass group sessions with an open mind. I found the initial structure of the first session beneficial as they focused you on identifying a wide range of key elements which you felt were affecting your business. Focusing on coming up with a large number and range of elements meant that you really had to brainstorm and take a much more umbrella view of the business. Sometimes it can be so easy to focus on the elephant in the room and ignore the smaller elements which altogether add up to have a significant impact on the running of a business. Having others members of the group and different types of businesses also came in useful to further broaden the elements raised. It was also reassuring that many businesses raised similar elements but with slightly different flavours of the same topic.

It was great to build h5 relationships with some of the group members. I feel that getting on more intimate business terms, in an open and supportive environment, meant that relationships were strengthened. It was also useful to focus our attention on some of the core elements which we felt were impacting our business currently. The change in focus from a closed to more of an open discussion group meant that each business could give their own views and bring their experiences to the table. This gave me a unique perspective on how to approach, change and hopefully improve the elements under discussion. I feel sometimes when discussing topics with employees within a business you sometimes get a watered-down and vanilla perspective but when in a group of trusted business professionals they can be very open and can make you consider completely different areas and solutions to consider.

I would certainly recommend other business professionals to partake in such a group session and would advise that they go into the sessions with an open mind and positive attitude. I feel the more you put into these sessions the more you get out. It is a great way to also build deeper relationships with like-minded professionals.”

“In the first session, I quickly came to realise that Annie is an expert within her field. She has a fantastic ability in helping you step away from the day to day issues of running a business, and then help you take a clear overview / assessment looking from the outside in.

I really enjoyed working with the other members of the group and helping them find solutions to their particular challenges. The unique experience for me was that even though the group was made up from professionals from various industries / sectors we all had similar challenges and goals. Annie’s facilitation of each session was excellent. She put the structures and framework in place and ensured we all stayed on track, but most importantly we all felt we were setting the agenda and also the direction we wanted to take.

A key differentiator from other business and professional development groups is that the sessions were not prescriptive with a one shape fits all solution being offered. Annie really helped the group focus and take ownership, which in turn brought us all close together and keen to support one another in finding solutions to any particular problem.

I would definitely recommend other business professionals and business owners take part in future the Compass Group sessions. We all spend too much time working within our businesses and not on them, and these sessions really do add value.”