Skip to main content
Businesses

Build self-aware leaders and managers.
Strengthen teams.
Create a culture where people thrive

We help organisations develop self-aware leaders, managers, connected teams and healthier workplace cultures through practical consulting, interactive training and coaching grounded in Insights Discovery, leadership development and evidence-informed wellbeing practice.
WHY WELLBEING MATTERS

Wellbeing makes performance possible

People are better able to think, communicate, collaborate and contribute when they feel safe, supported and understood. When pressure is poorly managed, communication narrows, relationships strain and performance suffers.

Workplace wellbeing is not a separate initiative sitting at the edge of organisational life. It is shaped every day by workload, relationships, role clarity, change and the way people are led.
The HSE identifies six areas of work design associated with workplace stress:

Demands

The workload and pressures people face.

Relationships

The quality of connections and trust at work

Control

The influence people have over their work.

Role

Clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.

Support

The encouragement and resource people receive.

Change

How change is managed and communicated.

964,000

Workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25.

22.1 million

Working days were lost as a result.

52%

Of all work-related ill health was attributed to stress, depression or anxiety.

Our approach

Creating cultures where people can flourish

Ascent People Development helps businesses move beyond reactive wellbeing initiatives to build cultures that genuinely support people. Our approach integrates:
  • The Liberator – an award winning leadership and management model which provides a mindset, skillset and process to get the best out of people.
  • Insights Discovery –increases self awareness which is the starting point for enhancing communication, collaboration and team dynamics
  • The Mental Wellbeing’s toolkit brings awareness to how the nervous system drives our reactions under pressure. Helping individuals understand these patterns and regulate their emotional state supports healthier working relationships, clearer thinking and more sustainable performance. This is key in preventing burnout 
When leaders and managers understand human behaviour, manage pressure effectively and have a clear leadership model to work with, teams become more engaged, collaborative and productive. Mental wellbeing is not a separate agenda — it is the foundation of sustainable performance, retention and growth.
The Ascent approach

Understand the person.
Strengthen the team.
Equip the leader

Lasting change does not come from a one-off wellbeing initiative. It begins by helping people understand themselves, their relationships and the way they respond under pressure.

Ascent People Development brings together three complementary areas of practice:
01

Self-awareness

Help people recognise their strengths, preferences, communication styles and potential stress responses through Insights Discovery.
02

Team effectiveness

Give teams a shared language for discussing differences, improving communication and building greater trust.
03

Leadership

Equip managers with a practical framework that balances clear expectations, accountability and compassionate support.
Self-awareness

Unravelling who you are.

It’s remarkable that understanding personality dates back to the Ancient Greeks and namely the “Father of Medicine” Hippocrates. He was the first to notice the four personality types 2500 years ago. Hippocrates believed that people needed a balance of four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) to be healthy and maintain temperament. An imbalance between these boldly fluids manifested in different behaviours and illnesses so treatments aimed to restore the balance of these fluids.

The original ideas of the Ancient Greeks have been explored and worked on by various philosophers and doctors over the centuries. Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychologist whose work was based on the original ideas of the Ancient Greeks. Insights Discovery® is based on Jungian psychology and uses colour and elements to symbolise behaviours. We all have a preferred order of using these colours but remember, each of us has the capacity for 100% of each of the four colours. Our energy changes form, depending on the situation we are in, or who we are communicating with. The colour energies offer an easy way of understanding how you show up to other people, and how you can adapt your behaviour to meet the needs of different people.

My profile is scary as it's so me. I treat it as my own personal user guide and give it to my clients to read.

Phil Westerby Jones, Little Blue

Insights Discovery Personal Profile.

The Insights Discovery Personal Profile is a diagnostic tool which holds up the mirror to increased self awareness. You’ll need to complete an online evaluator which includes 25 questions and takes roughly 15-20 minutes so we can produce your profile
At its core is the Foundation chapter (there are additional chapters that can be used to support different learning programmes) which includes:
  • Key Strengths & Weaknesses
  • Value to the Team
  • Communication
  • Possible Blind Spots
  • Dealing with your Difficult Person
  • Suggestions for Development
This is the starting point. We work with individuals in a number of different ways once they receive their profile. This might be on a 121 basis where we’ll debrief you on your profile and consider the “so what?” or part of a team development approach.
Everyone has a unique combination of four colour energies
Select each energy to explore the different preferences people may bring to communication, decision-making and teamwork.
Exploring this energy

Fiery Red

Brings energy, direction and a clear focus on achieving results.

  • Purposeful
  • Determined
  • Results-focused

Everyone draws on all four colour energies. The balance can shift depending on the person, situation and environment.

We are not talking about charisma here, but a set of skills, underpinned by the mindset of High Challenge – High Support, applied within a process and carried out with Personal Power – rather than Positional Power.

Dr Derek Biddle
Leadership

Lead with clarity.
Challenge with care

Many managers are promoted because they are technically capable, experienced or simply next in line. They then find themselves responsible for performance, conflict, change and employee wellbeing without having been given a clear framework for leading people.

When managers are uncertain about their style or lack confidence in difficult conversations, teams feel the effect. Expectations become inconsistent, relationships become strained and psychological safety can decline.

The Liberator provides leaders and managers with a practical track to run on. Developed from more than 25 years of research by Dr Derek Biddle, it identifies the behaviours that distinguish consistently effective leadership.

At its heart is the mindset of High Challenge–High Support: establishing clarity and accountability while offering the understanding, encouragement and support people need to succeed.
Team effectiveness

Stronger teams start with better understanding

Effective teams are built on more than good intentions. They need trust, clarity and the ability to communicate well — particularly when priorities compete, pressure increases or different working styles collide.

We help teams understand how they work together, recognise the impact they have on one another and have more constructive conversations. By developing greater self-awareness and shared understanding, teams can reduce friction, strengthen relationships and work with greater confidence and purpose.

Communication

Build greater awareness of different communication styles and how to adapt effectively.

Trust & challenge

Create the psychological safety needed for honest conversations, healthy challenge and shared accountability.

Collaboration

Turn individual strengths and differences into more effective ways of working together.
WHY ASCENT PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

Practical expertise with a deeply human perspective.

Suzanne combines extensive experience in leadership and management development with accredited Insights Discovery practice, The Liberator leadership framework and trauma-informed nervous-system education.

Her approach is practical, compassionate and grounded in both professional expertise and lived experience of stress and recovery.

This enables her to work beyond surface-level development—helping people understand themselves, recognise what others need and apply that insight to the real challenges of organisational life.

Grounded in trusted, evidence-informed practice

Our work brings together established development tools, practical leadership frameworks and trauma-informed wellbeing education. Each element provides a different lens; together, they help people understand themselves, support others and create healthier environments.
Memorable, accessible self-awareness that strengthens communication, relationships and teamwork.
A practical High Challenge-High Support framework for confident, psychologically safe leadership.
Trauma-informed and nervous-system education grounded in neuroscience, ethical practice and psychological safety.
Coaches accreditation stamp
A practical diagnostic framework measuring the conditions that enable people to feel supported, perform well and grow.
CPD/CE-accredited learning is available across relevant programmes.
Helping to support environments and cultures where people and performance can thrive
© 2026 Ascent People Development. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy