Updraft, your leadership and team development experts

We coach, develop and work alongside leaders and teams to shift ideas on leadership and provide the skills and tools needed to grow teams.

Leaders in people development

Our Updraft directors have long been recognised as leaders in the people development field.

In 2020 we merged the established New Zealand companies of Hartwick Associates and Growability into Updraft to deliver a more seamless service for our clients with the ultimate mission of helping people be better at work.

At Updraft we take a partnership approach, walking alongside you and your team to make sure our work reflects your values, culture and your priorities.

That’s because when we’re working with a client it’s never just about teamwork, or just leadership development or just learning transfer, or just change for that matter. It’s usually a combination needed to achieve your goals.We’re looking to make a lasting impact.

Whether that’s working with you as an individual to challenge your leadership style and help you to lead in ways you never even thought of, or whether it’s partnering with your organisation to provide you and your people with the tools you need to create your own way forward.

Helping you take action

We’re focused on moving individuals, teams and leaders on from the knowing to the doing. The knowing is the easy part, actually implementing what needs to be done, well that’s the hard part and we’ll support and equip you to do just that.

Does this sound like what you’ve been looking for?

Why we do what we do

Helping people be better at work.

Our philosophy is to help people be the best they can be at work which will ultimately help your organisation perform well. So why do we do what we do?

We love to build and grow things that make New Zealand better, stronger and more sustainable for us, our children and their children.

We get a kick out of seeing people build their capabilities and taking steps on the journey to being the best they can be.

We are motivated by making work a truly positive part of the lives of the people in the organisations we work with.

We are fulfilled by helping people to better understand each other and work more successfully together. We seek to embrace and utilise diversity, to be inclusive and to honour the cultures of others – and we encourage others to do the same.

“We didn’t anticipate we would attract our tier 3 leaders to the programme in the way that we did. And what was interesting was that where we saw the impact of this was in the engagement survey results from their direct reports, which had not been tracking very well at that time. We are now pleased and proud that our engagement surveys results tell us that most people feel that they can have fair and open conversations with their leaders.”

People – Coaching for Performance Client

Meet the Team

Belinda Bryant

Director, Coach & Facilitator

Belinda’s high-energy, thought-provoking approach will leave you confident that she can deliver an experience that people will enjoy and remember – and that will help people be better at work!

She’ll work with you to bring out the brilliance of those in your organisation. That’s about supporting people to be clear on what they need to do so they know how they, as individuals and teams, can best contribute to that and then learn to develop the capabilities and strategies needed to make those contributions.

Christine Pugh

Operations Manager

Christine supports the delivery of or learning, team and coaching programmes. She is passionate about making it easy for our clients to work with us while keeping our coaches and facilitators free of any administrative burden so that they can be their best.

Christine creates a seamless & consistent experience for our programme participants by continually refining processes and automating systems.

Danica Prowse

Associate Graphic Designer

Danica is our almost resident visual guru.

Danica is the driving force behind making everything we do look so good. Her experience and expertise in how people interact with learning materials, websites and tools enables her to bring our vision for the end-user to life visually. Making the interaction with the material feel effortless.

Jemma Brunton

Associate Consultant

Jemma’s facilitation career started with rehabilitation programmes for offenders in prison to help them grow and motivate them to change. This work fired a passion for developing leaders, anchored in creating rich conversations and learning experiences that are a catalyst for behaviour change.

Her facilitation experience spans 17 years across many Public Service Agencies, including 3 years spent at the Leadership Development Centre where she designed abd and facilitated leadership programmes.

Jemma is a Results Certified Coach, through the Neuroleadership Institute. While available for projects across NZ, she resides in Ōtautahi | Christchurch.

Jenny Miller

Associate Consultant

Jenny is an experienced change practitioner, that is, acting, experimenting, observing, interpreting, reflecting and learning all in support of developing the next action. She brings a real focus on the application of that new knowledge or skill in context, underpinned by a curiosity about how humans change.

Jenny has, over the last 18 years designed, developed materials and facilitated groups on – leadership development, team development, team coaching and performance conversations.

Nicky Benson

Associate Consultant

Nicky is passionate about assisting leaders to drive change and performance in their organisations, lead through complexity and helps leaders develop courage, flexibility and resilience true to their own leadership style to drive inclusive, high-performance cultures.

She works holistically and recognises the importance of people continually working on their own development and self-care to adapt, thrive and lead through the complexity of change their role’s increasingly demand.

Nicky is and experienced coach and facilitator ICF PCC accredited and has a certificate in Systemic Team Coaching.

Phil Hartwick

Director, Coach & Facilitator

If there’s something new happening in the industry Phil will know about it. He’s a voracious learner always looking at how to apply new ideas to benefit Updraft clients.

Phil is driven by the desire to see people find joy in their work, develop personally and professionally and feel more confident in themselves.

He walks the talk with 35+ years in management and consulting roles in the science sector both in the United States and in New Zealand.

Reremoana Ormsby

Consultant and Coach

Reremoana is as excited by the opportunity to step in to something new as we are to welcome her warmth, her varied experience and obvious te ao Māori capability to bring a bi-cultural lens to the way we design, create and deliver leadership and team experiences.

Reremoana has always looked for ways to create opportunities for everyone, from the glassy to the kitchen hand, making them feel seen and respected – aligning directly with our belief that success is built on a foundation of how people feel about their work, their team and the organisation – makes her a natural fit as part our Updraft whanau.

Sarah Clear

Accounts Wizz

Sarah is adaptable, enthusiastic, and a quick learner. Always ready for a new challenge or system to dissect.

Sarah is fundamentally over qualified for the work she does at Updraft – keeping our accounts in order and finding ways to improve our internal processes. Her background as a senior business analyst with project development and execution is a demonstration of the capability she brings to our team.

Sarah Tocker

Associate Consultant

Sarah has worked as a coach and facilitator for sixteen years with a background in leadership development, systems leadership, culture and change. She is particularly interested in helping people and organisations thrive in times of flux and adaptation, and in supporting leaders to create lasting improvements, personally and organisationally.

Her background includes leading teams across public, private, and not for profit sectors over the past 20 years, from operations to People and Capability roles. This allows Sarah to bring real lived experience to our engagements.

Saskia Knibbeler

Consultant and Coach

Saskia takes a creative approach to making complex leadership concepts understandable and accessible. She combines story-telling, humour, visual media and interaction to create engaging team and learning environments.

Saskia’s background in HR and involvement in a variety of organisations has given her a rich foundational understanding of the challenges faced by organisations and teams. This enables her to help leaders find their next step forward in leadership, team coaching and change contexts.

Shaun Sheldrake

Director, Coach & Facilitator

Shaun is a creative thinker – always looking at how to design experiences, simplify processes and then convey these ideas through visual story telling. He underpins this creativity with a practical – ‘let’s get it done’ approach.

Shaun’s background in human resources and learning and development gives him an appreciation of what helps individuals, leaders and teams succeed in rapidly changing business environments.

Tessa McGoverin

Team Coordinator

Tessa is the second half of our dynamic operations team – making sure that our coaches and facilitators have everything they need at their fingertips so that they can be their best – delivering a great experience for the leaders and teams we’re working with.

Tessa ensures a seamless & consistent experience for our programme participants by continually listening to feedback from participants and refining processes accordingly.

Toby Cooper

Consultant and Coach

Toby is energised by helping others improve their working lives. Working is hard – we are too busy, juggling too many demands, and struggling to focus on what really matters. Toby can help you make sense of what’s going on around you, identify opportunities to make improvements, and discover ‘better’.

Toby’s rich and varied career is a perfect grounding for coaching – the variety of experiences he brings to coaching helps him to help others find their ‘better’.

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