MetaforePartners

What our clients say

Jemima Bird (Marketing Director)

The involvement of Metafore Partners was crucial in driving a successful engagement initiative with our people. Metafore challenged us to think beyond ourselves, beyond the norms, and develop something which was unique for our business and unique for our employees. The people engagement results we have seen with our colleagues have been tremendous and it is doubtful we would have experienced this level of change without the MetaforePartners approach.

Tim Painter (HR Director)

When we decided to run a series of workshops for our people to drive engagement with our values, we needed a partner who could bring an innovative and stimulating approach, expert facilitation skills, and a commercial connection with our business. In using Metafore we received all of this and more.

Lucy Cluskey (Business Development Manager)

This was so much more than the Leadership Development Programme it was billed as… it created an environment that allowed me to really challenge the way I think and behave in our business to make a real difference to what we do and the results we achieve. Matthew and Martin were superb in the way they delivered the sessions… taking people out of their comfort zones, providing a framework that was both challenging and supportive and really getting to the core of what will make a difference. I really enjoyed working with them both… they delivered a very inspiring two days that will stay with me for a long time

Jon West (Financial Services Manager)

Through a series of workshops with managers from our organisation and our outsource partner, Metafore helped us to see some of the bad (as well as some of the good) behaviours we had adopted and gave us ideas for getting rid of the bad ones and making our relationships as positive as possible. There was no role play (thank goodness) although they did use actors to act out  familiar workplace scenarios and there was plenty of encouragement and opportunity for talking. Personally I found their approach challenging but ultimately rewarding and so far so good, we are now working more effectively together and are coming up with new ways to strengthen our partnership. 

Øyvind Halkjelsvik (HR Manager)

Metafore’s unique approach to business improvement, and their passion and belief in what they do, has made working with them not only a professional experience, but also a personal change journey.

Julia Youd (Marketing and Communications Manager)

The approach the team brings to change is inspirational.  Their exhilarating combination of skills and incredible insight into the needs of an organisation makes you feel anything is possible. If the organisation commits fully to their way of doing things, it will succeed in meeting its goals.

Gary Traynor (Business Deployment & Transition Manager)

I think their approach makes you challenge yourself first before you ask it of others! It was great to try a new approach to an old problem; it was even better to see how well it worked! Probably the most challenging piece of work I have done, but it is certainly one of those I am most proud of.

David Weisz (Head of Retail)

We recognised that as an ethical business we did not always walk our talk. We invited Metafore to help us explore and understand the issues. Our two day workshop with Metafore was bracing, enlightening and unlike any workshop I have ever done before. With their care, challenge and encouragement we discovered unknown fault lines within our team and wider organisation that we are now able to address. It was a joy to work with another organisation that shares many of our ethical values.

Phil Verity (Head of Organisation Development)

There are plenty of organisations in the market who say they can help businesses bring about change. What makes Metafore stand out is their approach. They helped all of us realise that changes in our business will only happen if each of us changes the way we behave and communicate with each other. Coming up with words and action plans is easy. Starting to behave in ways that bring the meaning behind the words to life is difficult and Martin, Matthew and Paul were great at supporting (and often challenging) us in making this happen.

Sally Smith (Regional Training Manager)

I have been very fortunate to spend 3 months shadowing Metafore as part of my development for the rollout of our change programme across the UK.

To say that my development through Metafore has for me been life-changing is an understatement. They have put me through challenging, frustrating, and thoroughly rewarding times within very varied workshops. I only hope that I will be fortunate enough to work with Metafore in the future.

Daniel Webb (Retail Programme Manager)

The great skill MetaforePartners have is the ability to facilitate a group of people to an outcome or an output they would never have imagined possible, without even realising how they got there.

Andrew Thornton (Owner, SME)

In over 25 years of different business workshops and strategy sessions, I have never experienced anything like it; in some respects it was like a 15 person group therapy session! However, it really got to the heart of the matter and as a group we now work together in a totally different way.

Louise Stewart-Murray (Project Manager)

I undertook a 2 day cultural change programme with Metafore which was unlike any other ‘training course’ I had ever done before. Instead of spending our time talking about what we might do, what might work and what might happen when we returned to the office, we spent the 2 days making the changes we wanted to see, right there in the room. It’s sometimes a daunting and difficult task to publicly try something new, especially with work colleagues, but Martin and Matthew supported us in achieving our objective in a safe, engaging and productive environment.

Phil Smith (CEO)

In 2009 we introduced Metafore to the business, in the first instance to help understand better how people felt about working at the company. On the basis of their observations and following a pilot workshop, we worked with Metafore through 2010 to stimulate greater levels of personal engagement with the company and its values. Their workshop-based approach and focus on personal responsibility had a significant impact on a large majority of those who attended and created a cadre of agents for change within the business. Metafore’s partners have an open and straightforward approach to working with their clients, which made working together with them a real pleasure and source of positive energy.