Martine Simmonds
Partner
What’s she like then?
Curious, interested in ideas, learning new skills, new ways to tackle an issue and an opportunity. However if the task at hand can be dealt with by current thinking, she has the perspective to draw on a broad array of experience and know-how – both with herself and others.
Collaboration with others is really important to her and she believes strongly in co-creation – in her view co-creation creates ownership, inspiration and the mutual drive to make things happen.
Laughter and an element of fun are important to Martine – it makes life’s challenges easier and enables people to be more creative. And life is short! However, when a deadline needs to be met, expect total focus of all those involved, as commitment and one’s word are key to her.
Pragmatism and perspective are also important – what really will make a difference and what is realistic to achieve? She has a story teller’s and film maker’s view of a journey – energy needs to be managed to ensure resilience throughout a project – we all need to experience successes and periods when the pace slows to allow for the tougher moments….
Truth is important. Expect her to say what she thinks is working and not working. Her total commitment to deliver an outcome means she is at service to make this happen and will call out where barriers are stopping progress and stimulate ideas to create a breakthrough, where that’s needed.
What’s she done?
Martine has worked as a management consultant for 25 years, primarily in financial services and also across the public, charity and corporate sectors.
She has worked across Europe, America and Africa and lived in Italy for a year undertaking a project with the Italian Banks.
Most recently she has tended to develop and implement business-wide transformation across highly-regulated sectors and has taken a number of short-term interim roles to help clients fulfil regulatory deadlines. Martine understands and is empathetic to the regulatory agenda and will liaise directly with the regulators to ensure their requirements are being fulfilled as a critical stakeholder.
Martine’s passion for strategy, organisational design and film led her to leave being a people and change partner in a major consultancy to learn to make films. She set up her own film business with four others in the UK and US in 2005.
Martine has found her film experience invaluable on some consultancy assignments, particularly where communication is required across a large audience and where complex and nuanced messaging is needed. She uses her visual story telling skills in creating large workshops and Away Days, to facilitate major change and transformations.
Martine is also analytical and has undertaken financial assignments for clients in the past, particularly with regard to complex business cases. She is currently a Trustee focusing on both Strategy and Finance for the internationally-renown dance company – Hofesh Shechter Company.
Why does she bother?
Martine wants to make a difference to society by using her skills to transform organisations in the service of all stakeholders. She believes passionately that an organisation should also be measured on its performance to society and the environment.
She also loves to be in the thick of organisations, and is energised interacting with leaders and teams, focusing on goals, co-creating and facilitating answers and achieving great outcomes for clients.
Is she qualified?
Martine has a BA (Hons) (2:1) in Business Studies. She is also an accredited Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (awarded the Sir Ian Morrow Prize for achieving the highest mark in the Strategy and Marketing Paper worldwide in the final year).
She is also an accredited Business Design Expert on the one year course jointly led by Henley Business School, Ashridge and PA Consulting. She has also been trained by What If Innovation Consultancy in Innovation facilitation.
She attended the MetFilm School, Story to Screen Film Course fulltime to write, produce and direct her first short film.
She is currently completing the Deloitte Women on Boards programme.
Some quotes to know her by
“Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives”.
Joseph Beuys
“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper”.
David Lynch
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style”
Maya Angelou
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Martin Luther King
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