Chris Lake MBA, DMS, FCMI, FRSA, Adv Cert OD
"Forthright, holistic, credible and engaging.
Able to strike the right chord between challenge and fun."
Style and approach
Chris describes his style as a flexible mix of being demanding and supportive, engaging and forthright. He believes passionately that organisational performance and individual development are inextricably linked and that meaningful change is achieved when learning is integrated to the workplace. He works with whole organisational systems helping them become increasingly fit for the strategic challenges they face. Chris also works with individuals and teams to help them develop increased awareness (of both themselves and their business), personal congruence, emotional competence and relationship skills. He is continually aware of underlying organisational agendas and is both financially and strategically astute. His clients have described him as knowledgeable, exciting, challenging and insightful.
Experience and talent
Areas of particular expertise include leadership and organisation development (OD), senior team facilitation and coaching executives. He also has a strong track record in the design and delivery of management development, coaching skills and personal development programmes for managers. As well as training delivery and consultancy, he has experience of set advising, assessment, questionnaire design and academic study. Much of his experience has been gained with international groups working in the UK, the US, Europe and the Middle East .
Recent projects/clients
A development professional for over a decade, Chris has worked with organisations across public and private sectors. Client organisations have included: global insurance companies, retail and investment banks, energy companies, an airline, TV and news media, central government departments, supermarkets and other retailers, an international printer company, the European Bank, financial services, telecoms, regulators, major pharmaceuticals, a train operating company and acute NHS trusts. Some assignments have been focused and specific, such as senior team development and coaching executives, whilst the majority have been leadership programmes and OD interventions.
Previous work history
Before establishing i.d., Chris was Executive MBA Director at Roffey Park - where he remains an associate partner of the institute and is core faculty on its MSc in People and Organisation Development. When fulltime, his work there combined leading the academic team, OD consultancy and leadership development through both open programmes and tailored client interventions. His prior commercial and line management experience was gained in the retail sector, principally with WH Smith.
Qualifications and development
Chris is an alumni of the Columbia ( New York) University Advanced Programme in Organisation Development and HR Management. Here he was trained by, amongst others, Noel Tichy - author of The Cycle of Leadership, Stephen Rhinesmith – Head, Heat and Guts, Richard Hackman – Leading Teams, Warner Burke – Organisation Change, Russell Ackoff – Re-creating the Organisation, Ed Lawler – Built to Change, and Alban and Bunker – Handbook of Large Group Methods. He is also qualified in Team Effectiveness (which explores team interaction through a lens of emotional intelligence) and in the large group method Concordance Decision Making.
The focus of Chris' MBA was leadership and organisation behaviour. He is practiced in the use of a range of occupational and personality instruments, including the full range of FIRO Human Elements, MBTI and Individual Effectiveness: a third generation emotional intelligence instrument, and is registered with the British Psychological Society. He is a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) – although he is no ‘devotee’ of NLP and describes himself as a cautious, even sceptical, practitioner.
He is a governor of two schools in West Sussex, being Chair of Governors of one. Chris reflects on his practice with his coaching supervisor every 2 months.
What clients say about Chris
