ABOUT US
Polly Robinson - Executive Coach & Facilitator
Business and Executive Coach & Facilitator
Empowering you to drive your business forward, be a better leader, engage your people and build personal and business success.
EXECUTIVE / BUSINESS COACH - empowering individuals and teams to gain perspective, set goals and ambitions and reach their full potential.
FACILITATOR - Custom workshops for teams, offsites, and leadership away-days to enhance collaboration and inspire innovative thinking. Delivered in-person or virtually.
CULTURE CONSULTANCY - Strengthen workplace culture and employee engagement with expert guidance in culture and values and support in communicating and embedding values.
BUSINESS INNOVATION & GROWTH - support leaders to achieve business aspirations and goals, to think creatively and to build an innovative and successful business.
WELLBEING & RESILIENCE - workshops and coaching to help you and your team manage stress, build resilience, and enhance overall well-being. I have experience of working across all sectors but a particular interest in supporting leaders in hospitality.
Qualifications
ILM Executive & Senior Level Coaching and Mentoring Level 7 - post-graduate level.
Thought Leadership and Writing
I am regularly asked to contribute to hospitality trade publications including Restaurant Online (formerly Big Hospitality), The Staff Canteen, Speciality Food and Hospitality Mavericks Podcast.
Polly speaks at industry events such as the Restaurant Show and Abergavenny Food Festival.
Help to Grow Facilitator and Coach;
University of Leicester School of Business
Help to Grow Coach / Facilitator
Polly was a Coach and Facilitator at the School of Business at the University of Leicester working with SME business founders and leaders on the national government-backed business growth programme, Help to Grow Management and taught modules on leadership, culture and change management.
Over three years, she worked with over 100 business leaders to support them to achieve their business goals, build innovative and profitable businesses and strong, happy and engaged teams.
She was a Coach/Faciliator coach/facilitator for Henley Business School on the Senior Leaders and Future Leaders Senior Apprenticeship Programmes (Level 7) on programmes including Strategy, Leadership and Innovation & Change
“
Working with Polly is a pleasure. She brings an abundance of talent and ability to anything she takes on.
She always receives fantastic feedback and is reliable and efficient.
Polly is a massive asset to the University of Leicester School of Business as a coach and facilitator. She has supported 100s of SME businesses through the government-funded Small Business Leadership Programme and the Help to Grow Management Programme since 2020.”
Previous Experience
Polly has years of in marketing and communications for hospitality and food & drink brands. She has worked with Michelin-star chefs and restaurants including Gareth Ward at Ynyshir, Shuan Hill at The Walnut Tree Inn and Lisa Godwin Allen at Northcote. She also worked with independent restaurants, pubs and hotels including Baker Hospitality; The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny, Andrew Sheridan and Brassica in Dorset.
Polly was Acting Head of Marketing at Aspall (2013-2015) and led a major rebrand project from concept development through to implementation in packaging and online. Other food & drink clients include Parsons Nose Butchers, Turnips at Borough Market, Spoon Cereals,
Polly created her own food events business, Food Safari (2008-13), which took the public and media on behind-the-scenes, field-to-fork experiences with food and drink producers in Suffolk and London. Prior to that, Polly’s career spanned marketing in the arts, charities, finance and at Forrester Research and McKinsey & Company.
voluntary experience
Polly was a committee member of the Guild of Food Writers from 2015-2021 and a Board member of the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival and helped to curate the programme of workshops and demonstrations as well as fringe events for six years.
Outside work
I live in Bristol and enjoy the city’s vibrant food and cultural scene as well as exploring the Somerset countryside.
My daughter, Bea, is a chef in Bristol. Her experiences starting a career in hospitality spurred me on to want to help hospitality become a better place to work, where staff are valued and can achieve a decent work-life balance. To create a workplace that is diverse, inclusive and open to everyone.
I switch off by swimming - preferably in the sea, yoga, cycling and sometimes trying to run up Bristol’s hills. I love seeing live music, visiting an art gallery, cooking or relaxing with a good novel.
“Polly’s contacts within the food world are second to none, and her networking is tireless.
It’s clear Polly is held in very high regard within the food and drink world.”
JUDGING
I am regularly asked to judge local and national food awards. In 2018, 2017 and 2016 I was a regional judge for the Delicious Magazine Produce Awards and the East of England Producer of the Year Awards. In 2015 I was a judge for the BBC Food & Farming Awards Best Suffolk Market and for the Suffolk Food & Drink Awards.
RECOGNITION AND AWARDS
Food Safari received national acclaim achieving widespread national press and TV coverage including The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Country Life, Olive and Food & Travel magazines and was featured on the Great British Food Revival on BBC2 and on Country Tracks on BBC1. In 2012 Food Safari won UK Cookery School Awards - Best Day Course/Food experience and was shortlisted in the British Cookery School Awards Best Use of Local Ingredients and won the Pride of Suffolk Award in the Suffolk Food & Drink Awards 2012.