Jo is an arts graduate who has spent almost 30 years supporting individuals, teams and organisations to make more of a difference in the world.

Read bio

She works throughout the UK across the public and voluntary sectors and internationally with religious congregations.  She started her career in London at the Institute of Community Studies in Bethnal Green, London, before moving back to Edinburgh to become a founder member of Scottish Human Services where she supported individuals and staff to transition from learning disability or psychiatric hospitals into the community. She went on to work for the Scottish Community Development Centre before going freelance and then founding Animate with her partners in 2012. 

Jo has undertaken training in psychodynamic and systemic approaches to working with organisations at the Tavistock Institute and at the Institute of Group Analysis and is an ICF accredited Gestalt coach. She specialises in providing expert facilitation and leadership development and uses participative processes to support teams to work through challenging issues, into greater clarity about the overall purpose of their organization and a stronger commitment to making the changes needed. Jo believes that individuals and organisations often have the potential to achieve far more than they do, is curious about what stops them and committed to releasing that energy. 

Ian was brought up in Scotland, Zambia and Malawi, and trained as an engineer after leaving school.

Read bio

Realising early on that engineering wasn’t for him, he went on to work in homelessness and residential child care which led to him continuing his studies in Community Education. Ian lived and worked as a neighbourhood community development worker in Easterhouse, Glasgow for 7 years before joining Barnardo’s where he became a social work practice teacher, and further developed his facilitation, consultation and organisational development skills supporting the development of Social Inclusion Partnerships. Ian completed an MSc in Development Management, became a freelance consultant in 2002, and an Associate of the Scottish Community Development Centre before co-founding Animate in 2012.

He is particularly interested in exploring ways of channelling the positive energy that flows when people put their values into interdependent collective action. Ian specialises in enabling cross-sectoral partnership and collaboration, facilitating change processes, participatory approaches to action inquiry and evaluation, and building the capacity of Third sector and community based projects and initiatives.

Joette often sums up her diverse work as supporting individuals and teams to be more effective at what they do and enjoy it more.

Read bio

After completing her post-graduate studies in Psychology and a brief academic career, she moved from Detroit to Edinburgh in 1994. She spent ten years working in senior management and CEO positions in the third sector before transitioning to a freelance coach/consultant role in 2003. Joette's work is characterized by an integrative approach, informed by a wide range of theoretical and experiential perspectives. She draws on this knowledge to better understand the complex realities of people and organisations.

Joette obtained her coaching qualification from ICF in 2004 and has since coached numerous senior staff in public and charitable sectors. She has also designed and executed various programs to encourage a coaching approach within organisations. Joette has been a member of third-sector boards since the mid-1990s and currently serves as the Chairperson of Om Music Sanctuary as well as a Trustee of Leith Late.

Joette's approach is characterised by appreciation, positive regard, and a strong belief in the ability of humans and the systems they live and work in to change for the better. She has a particular interest in positive psychology and neuroscience, and how they can shape our thinking about life, leadership, and organisations.

Lisa trained as a geochemist to a PhD level before realising that her passion lies in supporting people.

Read bio

Making a move into the voluntary sector, Lisa has since project-managed a wide variety of initiatives to engage communities in issues including international aid, homelessness and youth unemployment. Recently she has created programmes within the arts sector to facilitate the sharing of cultures and experiences.

Lisa is interested in the transformational power of unleashing our whole selves and explores this through her study of practical philosophy and her engagement with the International Futures Forum as a 21st-century competencies practitioner. She is trained in the use of Appreciative Inquiry, Theory U and CoResolve methodologies.

A strong believer in the power of service, Lisa is also a British Red Cross Emergency Response volunteer and has served as a trustee at SHRUB Cooperative, a non-hierarchical community organisation whose ambition is a world without waste.  

Nina is a certified ICF coach, qualified in advanced coaching practice and team coaching.

Read bio

She is particularly passionate about embedding values-based approaches to management, culture and strategy.

Having originally trained in the performing arts, Nina moved into senior management roles across the private and public sector. Her experience in these roles sparked a passion for understanding people's motivators and how to best work alongside them to align to their own potential.

She gained a MSc in Human Resources and moved into organisational development roles working in the areas of talent development, L&D and then HR, before taking up the role of Head of People at Community Justice Scotland where she worked for 7 years from the organisation’s creation - designing, building and leading the people function of the organisation, and implementing a values based culture.

Nina made the move to become an Associate with Animate to do more of the work she loves most - following her drive to create safe spaces at work through supporting others to develop healthy workplace behaviours, integrate personal and organisational values, and create purpose led culture. She is passionate about how psychologically safe workplaces enable people to be at their best authentic selves and contribute their unique talents to their work.

Nina’s approach is person centred and client led. Nina is both calm and playful in her approach, bring a grounded, approachable, and safe energy to her work.

Barry is an experienced business leader who is committed to supporting leaders and their organisations to exceed their perceived potential and transform performance.

Read bio

He brings extensive experience in developing leadership teams, employee engagement, and strategic and operational delivery across a portfolio career gained over 30 years within the John Lewis Partnership.

In 2020 Barry decided to follow his passion for supporting the development of others and become a leadership consultant and executive coach. Having seen the difference it makes when culture and people are placed ahead of process to effect positive organisational change he has developed a particular interest in the role of leadership teams to enable long term, sustainable success through unlocking the capability within the people they lead.

Goal-oriented, highly pragmatic and with a wry sense of humour he is guided by integrity in his approach to supporting clients to develop the capacity within themselves to achieve their personal and organisational goals. Taking a whole-person, strengths-based approach he guides clients to clarify their goals, explore their options and ultimately take action to increase their effectiveness and job satisfaction in a challenging but safe and supportive environment.

Diana has a background in housing, homelessness, mental health and disability and worked for most of her career in leadership roles in the Third Sector.

Read bio

She has a passion for learning and development both for herself and for supporting the development of others.

Initially, she trained in the late 70s in community development and then became interested in individual and organisational development, leading to her Diplomas in Human Relations and Leadership, and a 5-year journey undertaking an MBA with the OU, all of which she loved at the same time as being challenged and stretched by the amount and range of the learning involved. In her experience, no one approach has all the answers, but many theories and belief systems overlap and complement each other and can be woven together in practice. She has a particular interest and energy in organisational culture change and the power of collaborative working. ​As CEO of the Thistle Foundation Diana led the organisation through significant cultural and organisational change.

More recently she has undertaken Kinharvie's Gestalt Coaching training undertaking their Foundation and Advanced modules enabling her to continue supporting the development of others.

Florence enjoys working with people and their organisations, using her professional experience and many skills to support and enable them to navigate change, transition and challenges, and to develop new paths to successful outcomes.

Read bio

Interested in people and a keen listener, Florence is a great believer in learning and practising self-development and self-empowerment, individually or in groups. A certified Energy Core and Leadership coach, she is also able to draw on her extensive experience in senior managerial and executive positions to help people find solutions unique to them.

Florence is a former leader in the voluntary sector, co-founder of a Scottish organisation and has many years of experience in executive roles at international, UK and Scottish levels.

Liz is an arts graduate with a postgraduate qualification in psychodynamic counselling.

Read bio

She moved to Scotland in 1993 to Edinburgh to work at Scottish Human Services where she worked on programmes to embed person-centred planning into complex systems and organisations.

She has a background in arts administration, mental health services and building resilient communities through co-designing innovative projects.

Liz works supporting people with additional support needs to realise their full potential in higher education.

Liz believes that people are capable of making transformational change in the world when they are supported to reach their full potential.

Mike is an inquisitive listener, uses creative approaches, and brings a positive outlook.

Read bio

He has worked in and with the third sector for over 30 years, bringing experience in project and organisational management to his consulting.

His experience lies in evaluating services, facilitating events and supporting diverse organisations to reflect on their work. Mike is keen on uncovering the stories at the heart of the work he is involved in, using his experience as an author in the way he observes and describes the work he consults on, offering fresh insights and new perspectives