About
About Us
We help people get better at what they do. Simple as that.
Whether it’s building your confidence, sharpening your communication skills or stepping up as a leader, we’re here to help you and your team perform at your best.
How we got here
We started Optima Training back in 2003 teaching language skills. But we quickly realised what people really needed was help with team performance and communication.
Jo fell in love with business and leadership coaching and now works with organisations across Europe. Mark found his niche in interim work – embedding himself in organisations and working alongside teams as one of them.
We’ve always been picky about who we work with. We wanted people who shared our values – those who measure success by more than just the bottom line. For us, it’s about doing work we’re proud of, finding time for life outside work, and still enjoying what we do years down the line.
Nearly twenty years later, not much has changed. Except we’ve got a few more grey hairs and a lot more experience.
What we do
Leadership, communication and culture work that sticks. We design and deliver bespoke programmes that build capability across all levels, from first-line managers to senior teams.
- Coaching: Space to think, challenge and grow. One-to-one or in groups.
- Training: Real, relevant and built around your world. Not off-the-shelf.
- Facilitation: Focused conversations that create alignment and action.
Always bespoke, co-creative and designed to stick.
How we work
We don’t just deliver content. We help people see what’s happening beneath it.
- Understand the problem: We start with honest conversations to uncover what’s really getting in the way.
- Design for your world: Everything we do connects directly to your culture and context.
- Embed and evolve: Coaching, reflection and practice that make new habits stick.
Proof in practice
The best part of our job? Watching you take what you’ve learned and make real change happen. (Getting paid is nice too, obviously.)
To get a feel for the type of business that we are, explore some of our work or follow our LinkedIn page.
About our approach
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Linked to business objectives
We believe that training and coaching should be linked to specific business objectives for maximum impact.
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Continuous improvement
We believe in a process of continuous review and assessment to demonstrate the impact of training and coaching on the individual and business.
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Deliver value
We strive to deliver value to our customers in everything that we do.
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Development
We are committed to continuously improving the services that we provide through the continuous development of our partner trainers, facilitators and coaches.
About our behaviours
We have three simple rules:
- We always say please and thank you
We treat our partners and customers as we would want to be treated ourselves. It’s all about relationships. - We have two ears and one mouth – we try to use them in that order
We try to understand your business, how you work and what you are trying to do so that we can create the solution that you need. - We tell the truth
Sometimes we won’t be the right choice – we would rather say that than take on a customer just for the money. Sometimes we will need to challenge you to get the results that you need. It won’t always be easy.