Fieri: developing people

Q: Can you tell us a little more about Fieri?

A: Everyone at Fieri has experiences that help shape our development programmes, such as careers in the military, participation in elite sport, leading expeditions and dealing with extreme personal adversity.

That means our programmes are varied, and can include occupational behaviour workshops, resilience and well-being training, leadership development, and dealing with adversity. One week, we might be working with young apprentices at a large pharmaceutical company to help them contribute to their teams and the next we’re working with Deloitte senior managers in challenging and supporting their teams. Our approach is not for the faint-hearted! Quite often, we push people outside of their comfort zone, but they gain in self-confidence to act swiftly and assuredly, and turn into real decision-makers.

Q: And how has Deloitte been involved?

A: Our original contact with Deloitte was through the firm’s Military Transition and Talent programme (DMTTP) back in 2012. I served in the Parachute Regiment with a former Deloitte employee who was part of the DMTTP. We became a Society Partner in 2016 as part of the firm’s One Million Futures social impact strategy. We now work closely with Liz Coombs, Danny Taggart and James Nash of Deloitte’s London tax team.

They’ve been helping to build our strategy, brand and positioning in the leadership development market. It’s made us think very tactically about internal processes, ensuring that we’re ready for the growth we’ve experienced.

Q: How has Deloitte and the Society Partner programme helped?

A: I set up Fieri when I left the Army and understanding the language of business was very challenging. The support of DMTTP and the Society Partner programme has helped me and my fellow partners do that in a safe environment. Deloitte has been behind us since day one and we’ve been given practical tools that have been hugely beneficial and helped us to make decisions about Fieri’s business plans and how we build client relationships. They’ve taught us how to evaluate whether we pursue an opportunity or not. As a small and growing business, this has been invaluable.

Q: What have been the highlights for Fieri this year?

A: It’s been an exciting and busy year for us! We’ve helped the young students in Deloitte’s Aspire and BrightStart programmes build their personal resilience and communication skills. We also ran a 12-month Shared Services development programme for Deloitte. We were invited to the Global Employer Services annual client conference in Dublin where we ran sessions on resilience, situational awareness, overcoming adversity and leadership, and most recently we supported the first NWE Partner conference. We’ve now delivered leadership training to more than 2,000 Deloitte people and partners and helped nearly 750 young people build the skills needed for the workplace.

The thing that makes me most proud is that our training can often have a positive effect on the personal lives of participants as much as it does their professional lives, and therefore helps them deal with shocks, uncertainties and the challenge of communication in our digital world.