Work Vitality » About

As founder of Work Vitality, Sarah uniquely combines experience, qualifications and expertise in Human Resources senior management, psychology, consultancy, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

With over a decades experience as a Human Resources professional gained in challenging manufacturing environments, she has proven delivery of:

organisational and cultural change
leadership development
coaching, training and facilitation
specialist recruitment and selection techniques
outplacement support
reward development
employee surveys
performance management

In her previous organisation, Sarah lead a transformation of recruitment and selection through development of an assessment centre approach, behavioural based interviewing and enhanced use of psychometrics leading to higher technical and managerial skills/potential in the business. She also conceived and implemented ‘role-play’ assessment and designed/validated various assessment exercises.

She is licensed to BPS Level B Intermediate standard and has extensive experience of a range of tests and techniques:

Everything DiSC® a certified trainer of this highly comprehensive approach – an all-in-one toolkit with solutions for teambuilding, conflict management, sales and many more
Bar On EQ-i® – emotional intelligence measure
SHL ability tests – conversant in wide range of test instruments
16 PF and OPQ32i/n personality questionnaires
‘Potentia’ - specialist behavioural based interviewing and role play system
LAB profile – a language and behaviour profiling approach

Sarah’s most recent experience prior to establishing Work Vitality was as a HR Business Partner , working as part of a small internal consultancy delivering transformational change . The Partnership’s most significant project was the instigation, development and initial implementation of a 3 year proposal to re-shape the organisational structure and culture. The project delivered a 10% year on year increase in productivity and was on course for an ultimate £6 million saving.

The project helped to get the business in shape for a purchase in February 2007 by a global giant. The legacy remains in a predominant coaching style , examples of excellent leadership , team working as a norm and adaptable and resilient people capable of upping their game to the challenges set by the new owners.

Recent and current work, now as Work Vitality, includes:

The development and delivery of an Emotional Intelligence Leadership Programme, supporting a group of 9 senior managers to improve self-insight, teamwork, co-operation and ultimately delivery of their tough targets
Design of an assessment centre incorporating the EQ-i® and LAB profiling techniques to tap into the ‘real person’
Coaching and specialist development of Emotional Intelligence in a variety of organisations, public and private sector, SMEs to a PLC
Facilitation of a Senior Management Away Day to formulate a 12 month strategic plan

Sarah underpins her approach with belief and skills in the principles and practise of Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP), being a Practitioner and Master Practitioner she has designed and delivered a commended Introduction to NLP Workshop.

Active in supporting her local community and education in particular, Sarah has Chaired her daughter’s Pre-school, helped establish a community Tennis Club and is also a school Community Governor. She is also a committee member for the CIPD branch Training & Development Special Interest Group.

With a belief that simple solutions expertly delivered give great results and a style that balances warmth with challenge she gets a huge buzz from helping people, teams and business thrive.

And I’m not alone..!
I’m well aware of training and consultancy providers that talk about ‘we’ when they really mean ‘me’! I am ‘me’ (and proud!) but I’m also privileged to have fantastic connections with a number of amazing consultants and training providers who compliment my skills and enable me to ‘scale-up’ the services I provide as required. Some of these connections are due to really take off over next 12 months – so watch this space!

Emotional intelligence is the unique repertoire of emotional skills that a person uses to navigate the everyday challenges of life. In his book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman defines EI as the "capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships."

The term Emotional Intelligence was conceived by Drs Peter Salovey and John Mayer in 1990 as an identifier for the human capacity to understand and engage in meaningful social interactions. The two teamed up with Dr. David Caruso to develop an assessment for measuring this capacity, and they published the test as the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT™). The MSCEIT remains the only scientifically validated, ability-based test of EI published to date.

Reuven BarOn, an Israeli psychologist, devised another model of Emotional Intelligence and used it to create his Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i®). Throughout his research, his intent was to create a predictor of success. This self-assessment pinpoints the traits that allow a person to succeed and those that stand in the way of progress. For this reason the tool is particularly useful in personal and professional development. The EQ-i was the first scientifically validated self-report measure of Emotional Intelligence, and it is still one of the most widely used assessments for gauging EI.

Dan Goleman, inspired by the work of Mayer and Salovey, wrote a successful book on the subject entitled Emotional Intelligence. Goleman's book not only increased the popularity of EI with business leaders, but also turned EI into a household term. Goleman and his co-author Richard Boyatzis developed a competency model of EI, focusing on how emotional competency resulted in outstanding performance in a business environment.

Research has demonstrated that an individual's Emotional Intelligence is often a more accurate predictor of success than the individual's IQ. No matter how intellectually intelligent someone is, their success is still governed by how well they communicate their ideas and interact with their peers.