Oliver Johnston

Founder

bio

As a business consultant for over 25 years, I have built an international reputation in change, organisation development and leadership development.

I am a:

coach – working 1-1 with C-suite executives
facilitator – working with top-of- the-pyramid teams
teacher – designing and enabling individual and team learning

clients

My clients are global blue-chip organisations and aspiring new companies including PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser, McDonalds, Dunbia, KPMG, Accenture, Charles Russell, AAT, Irish Life, Canada Life, AXA, KBC Bank, National Australia Bank, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group, RBS, Nuritas, London Borough of Barnet, London Borough of Waltham Forest, Antalis, Bolloré Logistics, Bombardier, Farrans Construction and Pfizer.

sectors

With an extensive consulting portfolio, I work in a wide variety of sectors including accounting, banking and finance, law, consulting, IT, pharmaceuticals, engineering, manufacturing, food and beverage, retailing, public service and administration, energy and utilities, transport and logistics.

global experience

Through my work on many cross-cultural assignments, I have delivered programmes, for example, in USA, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, UK, Israel, Australia, Africa, India, Philippines, Panama and Poland.

background

Before becoming an independent consultant in September 2016, I was Director of Leadership Consulting for Penna PLC. Previously, I headed-up Penna’s leadership practice in Ireland, was a Partner in The James Black Partnership and Gilpin Black Management Consultants and Head of the Covey Leadership Centre in Scotland and Ireland. In my work with the Industrial Society (The Work Foundation) I was Director of The Runge Effective Leadership Programme held at Balliol College Oxford.

I am an Honorary Life Member of the Association For Coaching (AC), a member of the AC Global Advisory Panel,

and I was the Inaugural Chair of the Association For Coaching (AC) in Ireland.

what I do

Today, we, as senior leaders, are very busy with little time to spare and no time to waste. Yet, the business world is in the midst of brilliant disruption. We need to create the time to think, and the time to develop new insights, to gain fresh knowledge and to acquire additional skills if we are to lead our organisations to a flourishing future. Yesterday’s ways of learning are not good enough. C-suite leaders need bespoke learning i.e. ‘just-for- you, just-enough, just-in- time’. My job is to inspire you and your team(s) to go one step beyond i.e. beyond current knowledge and skill, beyond current attitudes and paradigms, beyond immediate time-frames and beyond current performance.

coach

The primary purpose of coaching to create space to allow you to think at your very best about the most important things. Coaching is evocative - it enables you to bring forth your best thinking. Great coaching is also provocative - it challenges you to take your thinking one-step-beyond. The result of great coaching is that you think better and more clearly, and then turn that thinking into high quality action.

facilitator

Top teams carry a big responsibility to lead their organisations through the complexity of the modern business environment and on to a successful future. Most of the time, a professional facilitator is not required as teams just get on with what they need to do. However, at times, a professional facilitator can add real value. I provide professional facilitation to newly formed teams, to teams facing significant change, and to teams who need to interact and perform better. It’s my job to create and open the space for really good conversations, to help you and your team address conflict, and to ensure that your team seizes opportunities and thinks creatively about the future.

teacher

Many senior leaders are time-poor, so finding the time to learn and develop is difficult, yet failing to do so is perilous. It’s easy to fall behind and lose your cutting-edge. I work with you to ensure that you keep up-to- date with fresh ideas, new approaches and emerging skills. I also help you to re-visit the knowledge and skills that you missed on your journey to the c-suite. This is in the privacy of 1-1 tutorials in your office delivered ‘just-for- you, just-enough and just-in- time’.