Below is a collection of feedback that I have received from both clients and people that I have worked with;

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“I have worked with Martin over a number of years and on many different projects. He is a dedicated, focused professional that is considerate to both team and individual and makes work fun. He has an eye for detail that I envy and can always be relied upon to deliver quality within the parameters set for him. Martin’s skills as both individual coach and group facilitator are transformational and he has a long record of success in conflict resolution between individuals and within teams. Comfortable working with everyone from MD to Receptionist, Martin’s natural ability to read individuals and pre-empt issues before they arise make him an ideal working partner, particularly in times of change.”

Tony Butler – HR Manager, Kimberly-Clark Europe

 

 “I can’t say anything but good about Martin – His enthusiasm for any subject is to be admired and his grasp of subject matters with even the smallest bit of input from others always amazed me. I used Martin a lot to sort out various team issues and would do again if i had the opportunity as he always had ideas on how to tackle or solve the issue which i very much appreciated.”

Christophe Damouni – Supervisor Southern Europe, Kimberly-Clark

 

“Martin has an excellent skill of listening; he has helped me to prioritise my career ambitions by working with me on simple methodology that was easy and comfortable for me to work with.”

Paul Parry – SAP BI Consultant, Kimberly-Clark European Services Ltd

 

“I’ve worked with Martin over a number of years and always found him to be professional and committed to the success of projects. He works with the best interests of his learners at heart to ensure the long term success of any intervention. He’s also a great guy to work alongside, bringing positivity and humour to the team.”

Claudine McClean – Customer Business Director, Structured Training

 

“Martin was always a pleasure to work with. Clear about what he wanted from us, organised and dedicated to all the training programmes we ran – always attending in person to represent to company view and build relationships with staff. He was always very supportive of our interventions yet quite capable of keeping us on our toes. Martin is a very personable chap with an enjoyable sense of humour. I would very much like to work with him again in the future.”

Chris Cianchi – Senior Training Consultant, Impact Development Training Group

 

“Martin Smith is an outstanding training professional who worked with me as a part of the team to launch Kimberly-Clark’s award winning performance management process across 14 European countries. Together we attended several global meetings in Atlanta (USA) to receive briefings on the new process and he then worked alongside me to deliver that training across the European geographies. This work – together with some training Martin led in South Africa – attracted very positive comments and was very well received. In summary, Martin is a great trainer, an experienced coach and a natural collaborator who has earned much personal respect,and always demonstrated a ‘can-do’ attitude.”

Rick Woodward – European Learning and Development Director, Kimberly-Clark

 

We have worked with Martin at the Kimberly-Clark European Shared Service Centre, based in Brighton since 2001. We have worked together to develop a modular Leadership Development programme which is custom built to his companies requirements. Martin has been brilliant to work with. He is flexible, friendly and professional which has resulted in a close working relationship. My collaboration with Martin is on an regular basis. A stimulating experience. Energetic, resourceful, demanding and fair, Martin is the very person you want to work alongside. The ideal working partner that will move hell and earth to get what is needed to make learning and development initiatives interactive, sustainable and value adding. He listens, understands, collaborates and appreciate his peers, team and work partners.”

Alex Sherman – Partner, Leornian Consulting

 

I have no hesitation in recommending Martin, he is a pleasure to work with; he is a great collaborator, has outstanding energy and enthusiasm which is infectious. Martin is an outstanding learning and development professional –he is an excellent facilitator, trainer and coach and has a genuine interest in individual, team and leadership development. He has a proactive, can do attitude and is very well respected by colleagues and customers. He has contributed to the success of the European Shared Service Centre significantly through supporting the roll out of Kimberly-Clark’s Performance Management process, supporting specific organisational change initiatives, the development of leadership programmes, team development sessions, facilitating organisation re-design workshops and individual executive coaching, to name but a few! I would be more than happy to provide further reference information on request.”

Lucy Gough – HR Manager, Kimberly-Clark European Services Ltd.

 

 “Martin is a very focused and conscientious employee, he has a wonderful talent to read people’s abilities and problem solve in difficult situations. At Daewoo he was a great guiding light to many employees, me included, I am very grateful for his help and guidance in different situations. Martin is a great guy to have on your team, yes a great team player,”

John Boughton – Senior Body Engineer, Daewoo Motor Company Ltd

 

 “I worked with Martin for four years at Daewoo and he was a dynamic member of our team. His training and coaching skills were of the highest quality and his commitment was outstanding. He is a true developer of people, and – importantly – has a real understanding of the wider commercial issues, enabling him to deliver effective results. His ability to inspire and challenge won respect and credibility at all levels of the organisation.”

Fiona Macpherson – Head of HR, Daewoo Motor Company Ltd

 

Team Development Session – Feedback

I will try Martin, I have come today very positive thank you J.

There are some things that you said yesterday that have really made me think, not only to improve my professional life but also to improve myself as a person. And I wanted to thank you.

Iberia Team Member, Kimberly-Clark Professional 

 

Career Coaching Client 

I said that I would give feedback so will drop you a note tomorrow – but I would just like to say that the coaching has been pretty fabulous from my point of view and has done a lot to help me dig out my positivity and find a way forward that I am really excited about. So it really is a huge ‘thank you’ from me!

Customer Insights Team Leader, Kimberly-Clark

 

Career Coaching Client

The work we’re doing together is helping drive down barriers and making my decision making process for my own career path logical. Some of the things that are starting to benefit me are:

• Generating a clear structure of what’s important in work as well as in my private life
• Being able to prioritise the key things using simple pros and cons analysis
• Questioning and challenging some of the barriers that exist
• Generating an action plan to tackle some key barriers
• From a personal point of view these sessions are helping me identify the things I would normally hide away from and hopefully as we move forward I can break down these barriers too.

APO Project Manager

 

Team Leader Coaching (Team Development Session)

Hi Martin,

I just want to let you know that I got a lot of positive feedback from the team with regards to the exercise yesterday. There are some ambitious people in the team who really want to develop and they are keen on further sessions like this. So, I might just do this again.

Thanks again for all your help and support.

ESCS Country Supervisor

 

Team Leader Team Development Session – Feedback

 Hi Martin,

I just want to say that I really enjoyed the session this afternoon. I thought it was really well planned and executed and I certainly had a good time…even though I got myself into some trouble )

So thanks for the course, I might even “steal” a few things for a future team meeting if that’s ok.  

ESCS Country Supervisor

  

Career Coaching  –  Feedback

Hello Martin,

I just wanted to say a quick thank you following our meeting last week on career progression. I amended my CV and forwarded it to Tony Butler and I have also been in touch with Marcello.

I have also taken everything on board and slowly but surely I am sure I will get where I would like to be. Many thanks again for your time and advice.

Customer Service Team Member

  

Career Coaching Feedback (indirect)

Hi Tony,

If you haven’t heard already, I accepted Paul Burden’s vacancy in David Beckett’s group. Very excited about project and also the opportunity for development.  

Would like to thank you for all your support in the last few months plus for introducing me to Martin who has been a great help to keep me thinking straight. 

NACP Personal Care P&TD –  NACP Personal Care FORCE Process Lead

 

Career Coaching Feedback (Direct)

Thank you thank you thankyou!!! David was so pleased to hear my very positive acceptance!! I am leaving for my holiday very happy… c u in sept. All the best.

NACP Personal Care P&TD - NACP Personal Care FORCE Process Lead

 

Performance/Career Coaching

Since then, following your suggestion, I have spent two hours with Martin which, were immensely helpful to me.

Martin listened attentively and used his coaching skills to steer me into seeing for myself what I needed to do to improve my situation.

As a result I am feeling much more positive and clear about work, enabling me to deal with tasks more objectively and get things done. I am also looking forward to next year and a new set of objectives.

Thank you also for scheduling the follow up today, it gave out the message that people matter and will get support when they need it. I would not be sitting here feeling so much better if it had not been for your and Martin’s support. This also means that my feelings about HR are very positive.

I will set up another follow up session with you in a couple of months; this will help to keep me focused and also a session with Martin when I get my new objectives next quarter.

Thank you again for taking the time to listen, it’s been a great help

Kind regards

ESCS Team Supervisor

 

Performance / Career Coaching

Martin just to say thank-you so much for your time, it was immensely helpful, I really appreciated your thoughts and guidance and feel a lot more positive as a result.

I will spend a week actioning what we discussed and then schedule another meeting with you, if that’s ok.

Thanks again and have a nice evening

ESCS Team Supervisor

  

Calibration Session Facilitation

A brief note to thank you for your facilitation yesterday.

In a long but surprisingly enjoyable session, your expert prompting and challenging ensured we stayed on track and were able to fully justify the relative ratings. In consequence I believe we have done justice to all those discussed.

All I have to do now is get the grid endorsed by Jean-Louis De Sanglier….!!

KCP Workstream Director

 

Coaching Feedback

Hi Martin,

As a coach I find that you make an individual feel at ease with discussing delicate or sensitive issues openly. You ask questions that make an individual think differently. You make an individual feel good about their contribution and make them feel valuable so that they doubt themselves less. You treat individuals with respect and want to help them whole heartedly get to where they need to get to.

K-C Professional Supervisor, UK, Benelux & Nordic

  

Coaching Client Feedback 

The reason that I requested your help was because I was seen in the organisation as someone who was difficult to work with, my comments were not being heard and my communication skills needed improving. Since starting to work with you I have had important improvements recorded in my annual review after years of a downward trend.

I found your openness and correctness to be one of the best elements of your style. You also used your business and organisational knowledge to good effect throughout our discussions and you also managed to help me make sense of my Insights colour wheel profile and helped me to identify actions that would help me move forward.

Most challenging to me were the personal actions that I agreed to undertake after our sessions and whilst they have challenged me they have helped me greatly – things such as the mandatory “chit-Chat” exercise prior to a meeting or discussion and not to be too technical and have a laugh now and then.

I wish you all the best for the future

European Purchasing Manager, Belgium

  

Coaching Client feedback  

“I was struggling to make a decision and to understand my future career direction and I was recommended to speak to you by a member of the K-C HR who suggested that some coaching sessions might help me.

You helped me to understand the detail of where I am now versus what I am looking for. This enabled me to make a valued and considered decision on my future. I found your approach to be both systematic and efficient, you never said ‘this is the best route for you’ however you always helped me to understand/see the pro’s and con’s to any potential solution. You were honest and this was key for me to benefit from your help as its the one strength that I look for in people.

Ultimately, I already knew the answers to my own questions but your questioning style enabled me to understand and put everything into perspective very quickly. You have a very calming demeanour especially when dealing with sensitive issues.

Many thanks for all your help, it is very difficult to put into words what it meant to me and I only hope that this goes someway to help you in recognition for the help you gave me.

SAP-EBI Domain Lead, Kimberly-Clark Europe.

 

Career Coaching Client Feedback

Following an announcement to outsource my role I had to take a difficult decision. Should I accept an alternative role internally with KC, or should I accept the redundancy package and pursue my career elsewhere. This was a very tricky period to be making such decisions as it came at a time of uncertainty in the job market. I was suffering from a great deal of uncertainty in terms of making the best decision for myself, and was advised to speak to Martin to support me through this. His coaching and counselling helped me to crystallise my thinking and allowed me to formulate a clear picture of the pros and cons associated with the different options available.

Martins approach was spot on: he did not seek to give me the answers, rather he helped me to clear the path towards finding the answers within myself. He uses a very personable and sympathetic style and he took time to explain the psychology which was affecting me given the situation that I was in. He helped me to gain a clear and simple perspective of what the pros and cons associated with each potential decision would be. After my session with Martin I felt confident and motivated to move forward, and following an offer of a new role with another company the future is looking very positive.

One particular method that Martin used was to map out the various options that we came up with on a white board. He then took digital photos and sent them to me for reference. I found this ‘map’ a very useful reference tool when assessing options going forward.

ESCS Transport Planning Supervisor, France 

 

Performance Coaching Client Feedback  

Purpose

I came to you for further coaching to enable myself to have a more consistent leadership approach and to help me take a step back and to push back towards my team where appropriate rather than take everything on to my own shoulders. Also to develop my skills further in not taking on others workloads  to say ‘NO’ more and to effectively seek more understanding rather than seek to be understood.

Outcomes

I have always felt very comfortable in talking to Martin so for him to coach me on the development areas needed I was thrilled and at ease discussing issues and sometimes my feelings I had in my role . What I have learnt is that using certain behaviours to deal with certain things  has enabled me to remain detached and in more control of my stress levels . As  my team  needed to carry their job role themselves and it should not be me that did their role as I had the tendency to do the work to not let down the business or customer’s and a lot of the pressure and stress I was under was due to others not taking responsibility and myself being taken advantage of and to hand  their  (monkey) back rather than solve their problems all the time .

Martin’s Style

Martin has an open and honest style and asks very effective questions to help an individual think outside the box and gain visibility of what is happening and why it is happening. He makes his sessions fun and informative and most of all  he helps you stop blaming yourself and think differently.

Tools used

I really enjoyed the small visual cards you used to categorize certain behaviours this help to identify where I saw myself at times and how that can be perceived by others.

I am happy for you to share my comments and thoughts and happy to support you  in any venture to support your coaching business should you take this to the outside world.

Kimberly-Clark Professional Supervisor, UK, & Nordic

 

Team Leader Coaching feedback

I sought Martins help with a training session which I wanted to do with my team which I was supervising. I had been on a course and wanted to complete one of the training exercises we did with my team. I needed Martins help in structuring the exercise so it fitted within the scheduled time and to ensure that it was structured in a way that the team could relate the exercise to their daily work. I also wanted Martins help to be able to do my role in the exercise as a facilitator.  

Martins coaching enabled me to achieve all of the above and it was done in a way which ensured that I came up the answers. He gave me the necessary tools in form of examples from his previous experience (in this case it was around the colour wheel) and pointed me in the right direction but he never told me what to do or what was the “right” way. Martin would ask questions, which ensure I stayed focussed on what I wanted the team to get out of the exercise and also what I wanted to achieve. This really helped me to feel confident enough to carry out the task.

Martin also offered to attend the session in the sense of having a representative from HR would validate the session. This was a real positive and at no point did I feel like he took over the session. After the exercise he provided good constructive feedback which I can use going forward. In addition to this Martin’s positive and open approach was really inspiring to me and is something I thrive to be in my current day to day work. He is very approachable which means that it was always easy to ask questions or seek clarification.  

Customer Service Team Leader

 

Career Coaching Feedback

Martin took on the challenge of career coaching me when I found I had reached the top of my Band at Kimberly Clark with an unclear vision on where I should go next.

Through 3 phone coaching sessions and 3 face to face meetings in a period of 7 months, we worked together to identify what is important to me and explored internal and external options that would align with my energies.  As options became available, Martin helped me to face the realities of each and to finally make the decision to move. Once I had moved, we worked on First Impressions and creating a Vision of the Leader I want to be. 

Martin used a perfect combination of tools, patience and fun to take us though some difficult and probing explorations.  I always felt Martin worked with me because he cares for me as a person, cares for my success within the company but also sees adding  value for the company as a key for a successful mix.

NACP Personal Care P&TD (Reigate) – NACP Personal Care FORCE Process Lead