Now more than ever, team building is vital as the need for social connection in society and particularly in the business world has become critical. Workforces being forced to work in social isolation and in separate physical locations doesn’t suit the human psyche. Because of this, and the stress and pressures that COVID-19 is bringing to bear on the world and business sector, bonds between staff are strained and in need of strengthening. This is a time for connecting people and building resilience in our businesses and in society in general. If we fail to do that, we can expect greater mental health issues, low staff morale and waning individual motivation and performance levels. This is where our online service comes in.

We crack through tough business challenges by using a Liminal approach to accelerate our clients' thinking and stimulate creativity to solve problems. Every business faces problems every day. Our clients have often already attempted the tried and tested solutions, and people without the usual success. Now and then there is a problem that defies the usual approach and resists the best attempts by smart people to fix it. This is where we come in.Richard is a respected Innovative problem solver and catalyst for organisational and culture change and transformation with strong strategic planning and leadership skills.His clients have included BP, Cisco, Foxtel, Telstra, Fairfax, 3M, Fuji, Woolworths and Petronas.Some of his key achievements to date include:• Facilitated a transformational change management program for a leading global IT systems provider.• Facilitated the successful war games scenario planning & readiness project for a leading fmcg company ahead of the market entry of their biggest global competitor.• Assisted a mid-size contract cleaning business successfully compete and win major institutional contracts against much bigger competitors.• Spearheaded a problem solving and strategic planning initiative for the leadership of one of the country’s leading telecommunications companies.• Ran a highly successful leadership transformation program over 3 years for a leading multi-national b2b professional services company.• Developed proprietary tools, methodologies and programs in the areas of creativity & innovation, problem solving and resilience that have been applied with much success for his clients.• Trusted advisor and Leadership & Board member for a multitude of companies.

Building mutually beneficial partnerships between companies and charities is what we do. Anyone who has tried to do this knows that it is more difficult than just putting two parties together. It requires a good interpreter who understands both sides and speaks both languages and is able to align both sets of needs.We are all about bridging the gap and facilitating relationships that provide real and tangible value to each party, to meet the specific and unique needs they each have and to deliver a win/win for all.In short, the Partnership provides consultancy support to corporates and charities to help them build their capacity in the For Purpose sector. For charities it is all about helping them build their capacity for growth in people, product and system terms, using our extensive network of specialist consultants who work with us on a low bono basis.For Corporates its all about building their Corporate Social Responsibility platform so that it has greater meaning to their staff and the public, is aligned to their core values and culture and serves their business goals so that it delivers a real ROI in financial and human terms.The consultancy has worked with a large number of charities and corporates in Australia and across the globe and helped them build meaningful and authentic partnerships that have delivered real bottom line value to both parties.

Provides Consultancy, Facilitation and Leadership Development services for Wentworth People for a variety of clients that have included Fairfax, 3M, Cisco, Fuji, Turner, Hulsbosch, Channelzero, OMD, Dentsu Aegis, Mediabrands and Reflections Group.Richard has run some significant Best Practice Leadership development programs for Wentworth clients across Australasia and introduced some industry first tools, processes and methodologies to Wentworth's clients.

Worked across all divisions of the organisation including the likes of Lifeline, and transformed the organisation's strategic direction and operational mobilisation of the charity's 6500+ volunteers across the 120+ services that serve the speciality areas of Youth Services, Homelessness, Disability Services, Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Aged Care. Member of several key project steering committees addressing organisation wide key issues and founded the organisation's first cross-division volunteer management group (Volunteer Advisory Panel). In my time with Wesley Mission we doubled the number of volunteers engaged, created an industry best practice corporate volunteering program as rated by peak body Centre for Volunteering and grew the corporate partnerships exponentially to many of the country's leading brands in multiple categories, generating quadruple figure growth in revenue streams in three years.

Hosted a Wednesday morning talk-show 'The World on Fire' which explored and exposed both issues from the community and around the world, inviting phone-ins and emails from listeners.Key Achievements:• Secured guest appearances from local and international celebrities, authors, artists and singers.• Provided a platform that exposed topical and sensitive local and international issues.

Responsible for ALDI and OPSM accounts and member of the agency management team.Key Achievements:• Quickly settled the accounts and received senior client endorsements• Built team morale and injected new levels of enthusiasm and energy into the business• Organic growth of existing client business ahead of target• Led the successful pitch against leading multi-nationals Leo Burnett and Publicis Mojo for the multi-million dollar revenue client MBF, the largest new business win for the agency • Member of the agency management team that put in place a business plan for the agency and introduced a multitude of initiatives and operational improvements to the Agency

Responsible for the following accounts - MasterCard International, Southcorp, Fosters, Tourism Ireland, Nestle Cereal Partners, UPS and Microsoft Xbox.Key Achievements:• 15-50% Organic growth of existing client business• Exceeded inherited forecasts• Agency pitched and won NPD project for Southcorp• Regarded as Best Practice for Planning within MasterCard International network and had one of the highest scoring ad campaigns ever in the network• Incremental business within the McCann Worldgroup through integration initiatives that exceeded $250,000 within the first quarter of the new structure

Responsible for managing the Agency and full P&L, new business acquisition, public relations and senior client liaison. With a staff complement of 60+ our clients included Woolworths, SA Rugby, adidas, Distell, Post OFfice, Picardi Rebel, Macrib, Absolut and Nampak.Key achievements: • Following a history of several years of financial and client losses and a painful merger, successfully reversed the Agency’s fortunes and stabilized the company.• Built staff pride, morale, team spirit and confidence.• Generated a 67% organic growth in business in 2002 despite a 50% drop in turnover due to historic client losses in 2001 and generated a 43% increase in income in 2003.• Won 19/20 of new business pitches against many of the leading, bigger and more established agencies.• Returned the agency to profitability despite some significant and unavoidable capital expenditure.• Raised the profile, reputation and ranking of the agency within both the region and nationally.

Country’s leading petroleum company (previously Mobil and now part of the Petronas Worldwide group of companies with upstream and downsteam interests), with a network of 1700 service stations, 70 highway rest stops and 450 convenience stores on the African Continent.Reported to the company Chairperson and Worldwide Brand Council in Malaysia.Responsible for all brand marketing and communications for the Engen and Petronas brands in Africa and a member of the Petronas Worldwide Brand Management Task Force and Brand Council delegate, as well as Chairperson of Image Committee and member of Graphics Committee.Key Achievements: • The successful re-imaging of the Engen Brand across its retail, commercial and corporate operations (including new CI, retail site design and packaging) for the first time in ten years and in doing so finally divorced the brand from its Mobil heritage.• The strengthening of the Engen Brand which was reflected in increases in market share, foot traffic, sales, and sales/profit ratios above industry averages.• The mobilization of a diverse team of professionals in different parts of the country, continent and globe behind a common understanding, vision and goals for the Engen Brand.• The fostering of an internal pride and renewed faith amongst the franchisees in the Engen brand.• The creation of some of the company’s most memorable, well liked, recognized and successful advertising, promotions and sponsorships, which were measured in part by industry accolades, ROI and other industry and internal measures. This included the identification of an industry first CRM program.

The country’s leading sit-down family restaurant group which owned four franchise brands (Spur Steak Ranches, Panarottis, Kelsey’s and Hard Rock Café SA) that traded in Australasia, Europe, Middle East and Africa.I was responsible for running the marketing department and in-house design studio and the strategic development and operational delivery of all aspects of the brand communications mix, including advertising, PR, promotions, sponsorship, design and CRM.Key Achievements:• Introduced a brand culture within the company that had never existed before.• Successfully re-launched and revitalized the Spur brand for the first time in 30 years.• Successfully launched Kelsey’s, Panarottis and Hard Rock Café International in the country.• Conceptualized and launched a variety of innovative third party promotional deals that were firsts for the industry, including the country’s first licensed youth CRM program and a unique partnership deal with Burger King Worldwide that enabled the company to compete head-to-head with KFC and McDonald’s.• Reversed the declining growth rate to a 300% increase with dramatic increases in store turnover, average plate value, store profitability…• Negotiated a 2% increase in franchisee marketing contributions to double the marketing budget.

The country’s leading CRM Agency and part of Ogilvy & Mather, the country’s largest communications group.Responsible for the P&L and management of the Agency’s three client service teams, strategic planning (CRM and through-the-line for group clients), new business acquisition and deputized for the Managing Director. Clients included – Nestle, Guinness, DHL, IBM, American Express, Honda, Avis and various local brands including the leading TV and talk Radio stations, hotel group, financial services group and financial magazine.Achievements:• Exceeded growth and revenue targets as a result of a client retention program and an aggressive new business strategy that landed some of the country’s most prestigious accounts.• Improved the levels of orchestration, partnership and inter-agency cooperation within the group which had previously been extremely poor and largely competitive• Improved levels of creative and strategic delivery, measured in part through industry accolades.

The company was a through-the-line Agency that was part of the Bates Group of companies. The main clients were Halifax Building Society, Mars Plc (Pedigree Petfoods), TWA, Barclaycard, Save & Prosper, Prudential, Courvoisier, Tie Rack, Safeway and B&Q, First joined the Agency as an Account Manager and rose through the ranks with four promotions to supervise two of the agency’s client service teams with full P&L responsibility.Achievements include:• Played a key role in stabilizing and unifying the client service teams following the merger of the agency with another communications company.• Assisted with the successful pitch for Prudential, Abbeyfield Development Trust and CAFOD.• Several local and international industry awards.

I joined the Agency as a graduate trainee and worked on clients such as Royal insurance, the Insurance Service, Mills & Boon and Kays Catalogue.Key Achievement:• Received recognition by a leading industry publication as being one of the rising young stars of the industry.

Rales Representative with a responsibility for trade and commercial accounts in Greater London and Southern counties of Kent, Surrey and Middlesex.