What do True North Development do?

Behind the Scenes: Discover the People and Stories Driving Our Purpose

Our team is fuelled by a relentless commitment to high performance, potential, and a shared purpose of improving lives. Every decision we make and every solution we deliver is guided by these values, empowering us to consistently achieve and exceed our goals

What, Why and How

WHAT True North do:

We unleash excellence by identifying and maximising the untapped potential in individuals, teams, organisations and society

WHY we do it:

We believe everyone has the capacity for greatness when they discover and apply their natural strengths, and that this has the potential to change the world for the better

HOW we do it:

•As Gallup-certified Strengths coaches we provide performance Strengths coaching

•Through our Strengths Trail, we harness the powers of both the great outdoors and positive psychology to accelerate the path to high performing teams

•Using our True Performance Model we design and deliver bespoke learning and talent programmes which leverage natural Strengths to deliver excellence

•Through our giving back pledge we support Care Experienced young people by linking the sale of our services to the provision of free coaching and attendance on the Strengths Trail

Client Case Studies

SmartSearch

When Smartsearch approached us for our ideas about developing a future leaders programme, we knew we had just the solution. With Strengths at its heart, we developed a programme that identifies and develops these hidden gems. This is what one of the applicants had to say.

"It's great that it gives the opportunity to people to get their voices heard when they ordinarily wouldn't (eg those not in management positions). I love the idea of offering and encouraging those to suggest their ideas/improvements to the company and investing in helping us to put these ideas into place if selected - it shows the importance that the company places in their staff"

NRB Chartered

Accountants

We're working with NRB to help them realise their ambitious people-centric strategy. They are blazing the trail to reimagine what an accountancy firm looks like in the future, and we're so excited to support them on their journey. We're providing Strengths Coaching and delivered leadership workshops to help the management teams understand how to leverage theirs and each others natural Strengths

"Been an absolute pleasure to work with True North Development. The leadership team have found it hugely rewarding and insightful and we look forward to the next stages with our wider team. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these guys for any forward thinking leadership and management teams looking to strengthen and focus their development."

To read more testimonials click here

Meet the team

As self-confessed high Learners, Developers and Achievers, we are driven to continually self-improve and this has led to a wealth of qualifications - we don't like to shout about them too much, but the ones we think you should know about are:

Gallup-Certified Strengths Coaches
Certified Mountain Leader
Executive Coach
Hogan and EQi accreditations
MSc in Education Practice and Innovation
CIPD in Learning and Development Practice
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Here's a bit more about each of our journeys towards our own True North:

Born into a low income family in the 1980s and feeling that there were few options open to me, I joined the army at 16 as an apprentice Marine Engineer.

While on a promotion course, I was fortunate to meet someone who believed I had untapped potential and I was encouraged to pursue an Open University degree. This decision would prove to change the course of my life.

Having graduated in 2010, after 6 years of part time study, with a First Class Honours degree in Law, and with further encouragement from my manager I began the process of Late Entry Commissioning - I was the youngest and lowest ranked soldier to embark on this process, but was nevertheless successful and commissioned in 2013 into the Education and Training Service (ETS) as a Captain. My Learner strength continued to help me gain my PGCE and a MSc (distinction).

After leaving the Army, the first significant role I took was as a Learning and Development Manager at Sky Betting and Gaming. At first I suffered from imposter syndrome after such a shift from the military, but in 2018 I began to recognise my Strengths - particularly in solving complex training problems. Completing my Strengths assessment helped me understand my talents and take pride in them.

Inspired by our time with EPIC and our own experiences of the EPIC Restart Foundation's outdoor development programme and Strengths, Caty and I began to develop True North Development to help others realise their inner excellence.

Pete Wallis

Co-founder and Director

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I feel very lucky that during my childhood I was able to experience lots of extra-curricular activities, mainly music-related, and had numerous different groups of friends and a number of influential teachers as a result. I attended an all-girls grammar school and was seemingly on a path to a career in music. Qualifications always appealed to my Learner, and this led me to study music at University.

My first big challenge (especially as someone with high Relator) was moving away from home. Everything had seemed to be going to plan....until I neared the end of my degree and people told me a career in music was almost impossible. I also had a dental accident which meant time out of Uni and a lot of dental operations.

As someone who doesn't mind admitting I feared 'failure' (I did not have awareness of my Strengths at this time), I quickly scrambled for another career. I landed in Financial Services, working my way up the ranks over the years, before my first L&D manager took a chance on me. With no qualifications and very limited experience, she gave me my first job in the HR team as an L&D Consultant. This started a journey focussed on being able to help people increase their knowledge, gain new skills and grow.

My career eventually took me to EPIC Risk Management where I have had the privilege of witnessing truly life-changing work and designing and experiencing some of the most impactful learning. It is these experiences that led Pete and I to take the plunge and form True North Development – our Strengths have led us here, and we now look forward to unlocking the potential in others, helping them set their paths to success by focussing on what is right with them.

Caty Illingworth

Co-founder and Director

I often wonder where my life might have taken me had I not have experienced a series of key 'moments'. One of these moments occurred when I was at university. I hadn't ever placed a bet before that day, however a trip to the bookies in Leeds with the football team triggered a chain of events that would result in a decade-long pathological gambling disorder.

Another key 'moment' came when I read an article about gambling addiction which opened my eyes and made see the effect it was having on me and my loved ones. This was the starting point that led to me overcoming this disorder.

The next moment was when I founded EPIC Risk Management with the aim to raise awareness of gambling harm and prevent others experiencing the devastating effects that I did. 9 years later and we have over 30 staff, we’ve worked in over 27 countries and impacted thousands of lives.

Whilst there have been many other moments, the next notable one was when Caty and Pete approached me with their idea for a new business. I realised very quickly that they had a concept that could create real change.

I'm a strong advocate of Strengths coaching and have experienced the positive effects it can have. Also, having seen the effect of adventure-based training in our charity - The EPIC Restart Foundation, I knew that combining the two would be very effective.

I feel honoured to be part of this business and have the opportunity to use my strengths and experience to help Pete and Caty, through True North Development, have a positive impact on people's lives.

Paul Buck

Director