Sara Thorpe Profile
Sara is the founder of Enhance HR and Development which supports organisations to effectively manage and develop their staff so that they can perform and meet their business goals.
Sara draws on over 20 years’ experience, having fallen into HR back in the 1980’s when the Civil Service posted her as a fresh young graduate to a “Personnel Department”. Accepting a job as a trainer for an international charity, Sara discovered her passion for helping people learn. She has worked in both L&D and HR management for a range of different organisations including financial services, utilities, insurance and not for profit, starting her own business 7 years ago. Additionally throughout her career, Sara has operationally managed large departments and projects, which enables her to apply the real world and hands on experience to her development solutions.
She has a MSc in Organisational Change and Management Development, has written a number of articles and books including “The Coaching Handbook: An Action Kit for Trainers and Managers” (co-authored with Jackie Clifford, Kogan Page, 2003) and “Workplace Learning and Development: Delivering Competitive Advantage for your Organisation” (Kogan Page, 2007). Sara regularly coaches managers at all levels as well as running courses on how to coach effectively.
Geoff Coughlin Profile
Geoff is a director of Enhance Development designing and delivering a wide range of professional skills training programmes as both face-to-face and e-learning options.
His special focus is on developing practical skills and knowledge so that individuals can enhance their performance in:
- Interviewing
- Paperless performance management and appraisal
- Negotiating
- Communicating
- Avoiding unconscious and conscious bias
- Coaching
- Internal and external investigations (we can carry these out or help you develop your expertise).
Geoff is probably best known for his specialist work in training interview skills, most notably Cognitive Interviewing (CI); an approach designed to get at the detail and reality of a candidate’s knowledge and experience. He also trains litigators to carry out investigations for leading law firms including 20 of the 25 largest law firms in the UK.
Geoff is also founding director of Emphasis on Skills Ltd, established in 1995. Emphasis is a specialist consultancy that helps law firms and regulatory bodies use Cognitive Interviewing to obtain more accurate and additional factual information from individuals in litigation and regulatory matters.
He is a published author: Unlocking Memories – Cognitive Interviewing for Lawyers (2015), published ARK Group.
Geoff was previously a trainer at the Metropolitan Police Training College, Hendon, and had many years’ experience as an operational police officer and manager with The Metropolitan Police Service.
Qualifications include: Certificate in Education, Diploma in Education Management MCIPD, FITOL
Enhance Development has a network of Associates, all talented in different subjects and experienced in a variety of industries. This enables us to provide the right person for you!