Our Company

What we do and how we do it

Put simply, we help people to develop. The starting point is listening – listening to your requirements. We then propose a solution.

With individuals our aim is always to increase a person’s awareness, open their eyes to new possibilities and opportunities, and support them in achieving their personal goals.

We are experienced in delivering team development activities and workshops for groups of all sizes from small teams through to cross-functional conferences.

We use a variety of coaching and development models and techniques. We will use the techniques most suited to your learning style and personal goals. You may need only one meeting or a number of meetings.

Where we deliver group activities, we will use the techniques most suited to achieving the overall aims, based on your needs and the culture of your organisation – which could include facilitated learning, group work, role-plays, action learning sets, presentations and more.

We meet clients wherever and whenever suits their needs – at work, in a caf?, at home. Finally, if accreditation of the new skills is required, we can offer bespoke advice and assessment.

Each individual, group or organisations has different needs – so all our solutions are unique to each relationship.

What makes us different from all the other providers you may come across?

No performance improvement, no fee

We think this is the best way to demonstrate our ethos that meaningful development and lasting change are our primary drivers.

How does it work? Well, where we are delivering services for groups, teams or organisations we will agree what performance improvements you need and how we will deliver them. We will then discuss and agree how and when success will be measured. We will not invoice you for our services until this measurement has taken place – and if we fall short of what we have said we will deliver, there will be no charge for our services.

How many other providers offer you this guarantee?

Cost effectiveness

In addition to our “No performance improvement, no fee” guarantee, we believe that where we offer a comparable service to a competitor, we will be more cost effective. We will provide greater value for your money, a better business return for your investment, or both.

How do we do this? We have considerable experience and very few overheads. Other than this website, we undertake no advertising – we don’t need to, as all our clients have come from repeat business or by word of mouth referral.

We have created this website so that even more people are aware of what we can offer.

Furthermore, we understand the financial climate and how this is impacting on people, businesses and organisations. We recognise our part in helping you ensure you get maximum benefit for your investment.

Test us!

Society and Community Development

We have been very lucky in the learning and development opportunities we have undertaken within our careers so far. We also realise that not everyone has access to such opportunities.

We also believe that one of the foundations of a sustainable and effective community is for its members to support and assist each other.

There have been, and will continue to be, situations where we are satisfied that a person or charitable organisation is committed to development and due to financial constraints would not otherwise be able to access the development opportunities we offer. In a limited number of such circumstances we will provide our services free of charge to such individuals or charitable organisations within the geographical area of North Yorkshire.

About Us

Paul Ackerley

Paul is a performance improvement specialist, through skills gained as a Trainer, Training Manager, Head of Training, Head of HR Operations and Head of HR Strategy. He has delivered performance improvement programmes underpinned by robust learning and development principles in a range of environments – in the public, private and third sectors, as an employee and as Head of Learning and Development, and both locally and internationally.

He has demonstrated his strategic business-focussed HR abilities by leading a "Poor" graded public sector Learning and Development function to becoming the best in its class in the country, and the first to achieve an “Excellent” grading, due to its contribution to business performance.

He has also Project Managed the implementation of wide-scale learning and development programmes, and has led a team of government inspectors evaluating the effectiveness of another public sector organisation.

Internationally, he has worked in a number of countries, his most significant contribution being with Croatia’s Ministry of the Interior in assisting it strategically with its preparations for EU membership over a 7-year period.

Throughout this time Paul has continued to exercise his passion for designing and delivering innovative learning and development solutions. He is a skilled coach who works with junior staff through to senior executives in the workplace, together with individuals in non-work related environments. In these activities, he uses numerous models and techniques including Transactional Analysis, NLP and Emotional Intelligence.

His primary areas of expertise are:

  • Learning Needs Analysis
  • Leadership Development
  • Strategic HR Management
  • Management Development
  • Change Management
  • Trainer Training
  • Coaching and Mentoring
  • Personal Development
  • Mediations
  • Team Development
  • Group facilitation
  • Training Evaluation
  • MBTI® Step I and II

Peta Ackerley

Peta is an enthusiastic, personable and dedicated individual who has a particular skill at making learning easy to understand. Peta has been a Trainer, Life Coach, Manager, School Teacher and Management Development Consultant. She moved into self-employed training consultancy in 1997. During this time she has delivered solutions across both the public and private sector, in the UK, USA and Canada. She is an NLP Master Practitioner and Certified NLP Trainer, and is qualified in the use of various profiling tools including the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Her primary areas of expertise are:

  • Learning Needs Analysis
  • Personal Development
  • Leadership Development
  • Management Development
  • Trainer Training
  • Coaching and Mentoring
  • MBTI® Step I
  • Team Development
  • Group Facilitation
  • First Contact Support
  • Counselling Skills
  • Heath and Well-being
  • Working with families
  • Young People Skills Development
  • Horse and Rider Skills Development

© Ackerley and Associates Ltd. (Registered number 5906955) - operating as Breathe Personal and Organisational Development
School House, Colber Lane, Bishop Thornton, Harrogate, HG3 3JR   Tel: 01423 771634   Email: enquiries@breathe-pod.org.uk