Mark Richardson
Principal Consultant
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Mark Richardson draws upon his elite performance heritage and a commercial role in sports marketing to design and deliver people development programmes across a range of industry sectors. His approach is shaped by being coached at the highest level of elite athletics and the subsequent transition from professional sport to the business world.
Coaching for Performance
Mark works with individuals and teams to develop and embed sustained coaching cultures. From facilitating experiential workshops within a large retail organisation, to exploring the tools and techniques needed to set goals, provide feedback and ask effective questions, Mark has consulted within a range of private and public sector organisations. He is particularly interested in empowering people to take ownership of their development and moving from a transactional management style to a more transformational style.
1:1 Coaching
Mark's coaching philosophy is shaped by striving to reach his own sporting potential through coaching. As an executive coach, Mark draws on his elite performance heritage to use coaching as a tool for raising performance. With particular expertise within professional services, he works with high potentials to improve influencing skills, explore career progression, provide effective feedback and use goal setting to establish meaningful objectives.
Team and Leadership Development
Working in partnership with clients, Mark delivers development programmes to teams and leaders as a key part of organisational engagement and performance strategies. From developing mental toughness with senior leaders in the retail sector to developing a team's coaching culture in the utilities sector, Mark challenges individuals to share their experiences and ensure the delivery of high performance. Through the facilitation of team development workshops, he has worked with teams at varying levels of business to help clarify their purpose, support strong communication and develop team relationships.
Work at Lane4
Mark Richardson joined Lane4 in 2008 as a Fast Track Elite Consultant. He brings with him first hand experience and a unique understanding of performing in high pressure environments gleaned from the world of sport and business. Mark's consulting practice is founded on a coaching mindset, creating a well founded psychological contract and challenging assumptions and limiting beliefs. Mark is passionate about helping his clients transcend the transactional and release the potential of transformational leadership to create organisational change, high performing environments and personal actualisation.
Clients include:
Serco - Emerging Leaders Development Programme
Imperial NHS Trust - Coaching For Performance Workshops
Dresdner Kleinwort - The Corporate Athlete Programme
BP Retail - 1:1 Coaching
National Grid - Peformance For Growth Programme
Greggs - Mental Toughness and Leadership
Coca- Cola Enterprises - 2012 Employee Legacy
SJ Berwin - Leadership Development and 1:1 Coaching
Microsoft Advertising - More Than Programme
BT Operate - Transformational change 'The Difference is You'; Executive Team 1:1 Coaching
Guys & St Thomas' Hospital - Front Line Leaders Programme
BTO Service Assurance - Creating a High Performance Environment
Argos - 1:1 Coaching
Nationwide - Lead High Performing Teams
Areas of specialism include:
- Coaching for Performance
- High Performance Teams
- Mental Toughness
- Performance Leadership
- Developing High Performance Environments
Background
Mark is a former world class 400m runner who has won honours at all the major Athletic Championships. His career highlights include winning an Olympic Silver Medal in the 4x400 relay at Atlanta in 1996 and uniquely he is the only European athlete to have beaten Michael Johnson over the 400m.
Mark became a World Champion in 2010, some 13 years after the event, as his relay team from the Athens World Championships were upgraded from a silver to gold medal after the American quartet were disqualified. As well as having enjoyed some euphoric moments in sport Mark has had to develop and sustain personal resilience to see him through an arduous situation of personal change when he failed a drugs test. The experience helped him to reconnect with his values and his perseverance, transparency and motivation prevailed when the world governing body proved his innocence.
Mark is a B.Sc graduate from Loughborough Uni having studied Sports Science. Mark moved into the field of Rights Marketing working for one of the country's leading events and sports marketing agencies. During his time he signed the first ever title sponsor for the Paralympic World Cup and was a core part of the team that achieved the largest sponsorship deal outside of football - Norwich Union's investment into UK Athletics.
Mark has a high level of presenting experience having worked with BBC Radio 5 Live athletics commentary team at the Athens Olympics, Helsinki World Athletic Championships and Manchester Commonwealth Games and is currently part of Sky Sports Athletics coverage. Mark is an active supporter of Cystic Fibrosis and their 'Breathe for Life Campaign'. He is married to Sarah and has a young daughter Rudi.
