What we do
Our focus spans four quadrants where we integrate the most common challenges organisations still face today with what the latest research shows will overcome them. These eight core elements are purpose and leadership, wellbeing and engagement, culture and collaboration, and agility and performance. Together these form the bedrock of what will enable an organisation to advance to its unrealised potential.
We know the landscape for people and organisations is changing. To stay relevant, anticipating some of those changes and adapting requires agility. To thrive in organisations, both today and tomorrow, culture, collaboration and leadership will remain fundamental as we continue to evolve. And yet, people are becoming more aware that there is much more to what makes us thrive in life.
We drive change through the lens of wellbeing, wholehearted connection to purpose and the application of positive psychology. We champion authenticity, relationships and trust, while building confidence, resilience and ownership. The by-product of these things will be continuous improvement and performance.
How we do this
Applied Consulting
We offer a true partnership that focuses on actualising the behavioural development needed to create environments where people thrive, cultures evolve and your work realises its highest purpose.
We have a hands-on approach to consulting that spans discovery, design, development and delivery.
Explore with us what’s possible through applying the latest thinking in:
- Applied Positive Psychology
- Positive Organisational Scholarship
- Business Agility & Transformation
- Cultural Change
- Organisational Development
Transformative Coaching
We support and challenge individuals and teams to gain new insight, clarity and direction, empowering them to reach further, improve resilience and realise their full potential.
We create a space where coaching can take you on a journey that unfolds possibilities.
Take a look at personalised growth and learning through:
- One-to-one Professional Coaching
- Positive Psychology Practice
- Challenging Situation Coaching
- Agile Leadership Mentoring
- Group Coaching and Facilitation
Experiential Learning
Our immersive facilitation uncovers hidden natural abilities and accelerates the development and adoption of new skills to maximise confidence, creativity, effectiveness and value.
We tailor programmes to provide exactly what’s needed.
Here are some favourites:
- Leadership & Behavioural Agility
- High-Performing Positive Teams
We will likely be one of the most collaborative and flexible providers you will ever work with. We know this is a bold claim, but here is how we can support it.
As experts in facilitating change, we have a clear model for what enables and disables any desired outcome. But, we know processes and frameworks will only take us so far, as both groups and individuals have their own beliefs, values, motivations and strengths.
The flexible framework we use to manage and deliver all our programmes is called 7D. We’ve developed this approach over years of practice, blending it with the latest thinking and findings from organisational development, positive psychology, change management and agile project methodologies.
When you partner with us, our highly trained and supportive specialists engage every community affected, at every stage.
We focus on getting to know the people we work with and carefully listening to uncover their current needs. We seek to identify the styles and preferences that will allow us to work with you in a way that best suits you in your existing and emerging cultures.
We give people the skills to own and drive change for themselves. Not only does this ensure essential buy-in, it enables you to produce measurable, lasting and outstanding results.
What might your change journey look like?
Who We’ve Worked With
Learning from Geese
- Geese fly in formation, which extends their flight range by 71%, they are stronger and perform better together.
- They ‘honk’, not only to encourage each other, but to regularly check-in and ensure all team members are present.
- Geese will use all their energy and determination to return to the team if they are struggling and falling behind.
- They will look after those unable to fly by breaking formation and heading to the ground until they’re all able to rejoin the flock.
- Geese are both leaders and followers, and rotate who’s leading the team, sharing the challenge equally.
Spotlight on High-Performing Positive Teams
Most of us want to cultivate a high-trust, mutually supportive and focused culture for our teams. But these do not always appear on their own. Transforming your teams and enabling individuals to become powerful role models for your organisation is what this programme is all about.
Here’s a little bit about how it works
Before we start: We take a short climate survey and hold a one-to-one with everyone involved to establish the current situation and your specific needs.
During your programme: We then take you through a series of specially tailored workshops that can be delivered in bitesized 2-hour or half day and full day slots depending on your preferred approach. These include:
Identify: Create greater awareness and appreciation of the team’s strengths and areas for improvement
Unify: Explore the team’s Why, How and What, connecting individuals with customer and purpose
Clarify: Establish what ‘done’ looks like, break into slices of value and agree the best place to start
Modify: Uncover and experiment with better ways of working to deliver more value sooner
Fortify: Journey through resilience building and its relationship to performance and wellbeing
Amplify: Take performance and impact to the next level while maintaining quality, passion and morale
Done It By: Evaluate data, results, embed learnings and establish a strategy for sustainable change
“together we are strong”
When we’re done: We look at what’s been achieved so far with a repeat of the climate survey. With you, we then reflect on the effects of your new behaviours and ways of working, and help you to form any next steps.
Who we are
‘Animi Fortes’ are two Latin words that represent what we aspire to be and bring forth in others. ‘Animi’ means ‘minds’, ‘spirits’ or ‘rational souls’, and ‘Fortes’ means ‘strong’, ‘courageous’, ‘powerful’ or ‘brave’. Together we are better and stronger.
Core Values
- Purpose because it gives us reason and direction driven by passion. Being purpose-led means we focus on more than just profit and keeps us mindful of our impact on people, organisations and the planet. It serves as the call to action for all who work with us or share our vision. Our purpose is to enable you to fulfil yours.
Inclusion because we know we’re all part of the solution, and we find value and learning everywhere, even in resistance. We’re open to new perspectives, ideas and viewpoints, and value diversity in people, thinking and approaches.
Courage because, when we’re feeling vulnerable, we still choose to enter the arena without knowing the outcome. It gives us the strength to begin in spite of fear, accept challenge, learn and develop. It reveals our innate determination and keeps us moving forward in the face of setbacks.
- Balance because the pursuit of excellence and the realisation of our purpose can only be sustained alongside self-compassion, and the willingness to restore ourselves. It is this sweet spot that allows us to do our best work, whilst enjoying our lives… this is what it means to flourish.
We’re a bit like Huskies
You will find our environment to be one suffused with energy, excitement and a drive to do great things. We are collaborative, nimble and agile, yet mindful of being purposeful before taking action.
The Example of Huskies
- Huskies have a common purpose and vision and find immense joy in what they do.
- They are friendly and gentle, yet alert and outgoing, and see work as play.
- Huskies operate in service of each other and those they transport and naturally do this well.
- They are inclusive of new people and make the most of individual strengths.
- Huskies face what is in front of them and pull together with incredible endurance and courage.
- They are quick, nimble-footed and known for their powerful and seemingly effortless agility.
The Journey So Far
In 2012 Ed launched Midson Consulting, an organisational development and cultural change practice. Five years later he began to reimagine his consultancy service offering and vision for the workplace, this time with a partner, Pam. Together they co-founded Animi Fortes in 2017. The company was forged on the belief that all people deserve to be connected, supported, valued and fulfilled, both at work and in life. By blending the latest thinking from agile, positive psychology, organisational scholarship and management consulting, they pursued a shared mission ‘to create realities where people could thrive’.
In 2019, both partners embarked upon a deep and explorative journey through an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology with Bucks New University. While they knew the links between wellbeing and work were clear and would likely be a key to the future success of any business, they had not planned for what might happen in a pandemic. In early 2020, Pam and Ed saw that wellbeing needs were rapidly making their way to the top of most organisation’s agenda. Their first response was to offer a host of support options for people to safeguard their emotional wellbeing and mental health in what were difficult times. Through these interactions, they began to realise that the ways people were best able to engage with their restorative self-care required less from technology. Yet the world was pushing for this kind of connection more and more. It was clear businesses were learning to operate through the complexity, and recovery from longterm effects would rely heavily of effective leadership, collaboration and embedded organisational agility. We would need to rapidly evolve our business and help others to do the same.
The pandemic gave cause for many to re-evaluate what was most important in work and life. We were no different. In 2021 Pam decided to give deeper focus to her final year of study and to pursue dreams of living abroad, while Ed maintained his focus on the business and working within major agile transformation projects, alongside his own studies. A new holding company for Animi Fortes launched, called Midson Ltd. Everything that underpinned the ethos and mission of Animi Fortes still holds true, and therefore remains an important vehicle for the work and future mission. Today this once again gathers momentum for its next chapter, and this remains emergent and exciting.
Our Logo
Our logo shows people with different perspectives coming together and symbolises that, in all the work we do, there is a collective consciousness where all thoughts, feelings and beliefs in context are valid.
Our Colours
In general terms; Orange represents joy, enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement and stimulation; Green is often connected with nature, growth, harmony, freshness, money, safety, and healing; Teal signifies creativity, inspiration, credibility, reliability and spiritual development.
In organisational psychology these colours represent different levels in human consciousness. Orange in this context refers to a level that most organisations operate at today, where moving forward and achievements are king, holding the belief ‘anyone can get there if they both want it and work hard enough’. Green saw the birth of less hierarchical, more values driven organisations that empower their people and strive for consensus. Teal is the emerging organisational consciousness of purpose-led, authentic-self and self-managing organisations that are continuously evolving.
Most organisations are a blend of these, with a preference for one more than the others, their dominant level of consciousness. We live to support people during their exciting transition from ‘achievement orange’ towards ‘evolutionary teal’. – Inspired by Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux.
