Portland International was established in 1988 and acted as the human resources division of a £200m turnover consulting group. Melinda Beckett-Hughes joined the group in 1990 as Business Development Director with six years’ previous human resource consulting experience as a director in a small recruitment consultancy business which floated in 1988.

In 1991 Melinda took the opportunity to buy Portland International and initially focussed on recruitment and outplacement. However, with experience and as many large organisations were restructuring in the early 90’s, a change management consulting arm was developed to help organisations restructure and redefine their vision and values, rebuild their (top) teams, develop competencies for managing the performance of their people and build motivation, capability and resilience for higher business performance.

The coaching division (Coach International Ltd) was established in 1997 and the first large coaching programmes delivered soon after that in 1998 led by Melinda who decided to focus her personal energies in developing as an Executive Coach.

Melinda and her team of coaches began to gain a strong reputation in the area of executive coaching and mentoring, gaining clients in some of the major UK corporates, especially in FMCG, retail, financial services sectors as well as food and drink, leisure, distribution and others. In 2003 Portland International was the first coaching consultancy to gain ISO9001 accreditation for all its services as well as Investors in People status.

In 2008 John McGuire joined the board of Portland International. With a strong financial services background, John added his vast range of board skills not only to contribute to the development of our own company but to enable us to extend our board development services to include the vital area of corporate governance.

Our rebranding and re-launch took place in April 2008 and we are excited about moving into the next stage of our evolution as we launch our new Fresh Corporate Wellness division!

A Message from the MD

“No more HR jargon (unless that’s what you really want) and no pretence.

We are not a huge company, although we have huge combined expertise and can draw on a very wide range of resources to get the job done. But after 22 years in the business, the drive is less for building an empire than for building something which is special and different and which makes people want to work with us and for us, something which leaves some positive legacy and genuinely helps people.

We genuinely want to apply our values in practice and stand out, both through the quality of our work and relationships and the ability of our clients to trust us to deliver of our absolute best - to work in partnership with us to develop solutions which will be believable, will work and which are possible to implement on time and within budget. Has this sometimes felt like too much to ask?

Values In Action

In order to ‘put our money where our mouth is’, we have instigated a new programme of investment and sponsorship in support of aid work in Uganda, a country close to my heart.

‘Transformation Through Vision – the Hero’s Journey’ aims to raise awareness of the country’s needs and motivate the supply of food, medication, sanitation and, in particular, education in AIDS/HIV related healthcare.

Our aim is to produce and internationally distribute a remarkable and prestigious book of original and striking photographic images, to be taken by top US photo-journalist Tom Antos. This high-value, limited edition art book will not only paint a vivid and faithful picture of the heart and soul of this beautiful country, but its sales will also raise funds to further the invaluable work of many aid and support projects within communities there.

Alongside the production of this unique book we will also be offering a few leaders the opportunity to become involved by joining us on a ‘Hero’s journey’, visiting Uganda with our team, participating in these projects first hand. A complete programme of coaching, facilitation and post-experience debrief will ensure experiences gained make a real difference to those organisations’ CSR programmes. We are actively inviting interested companies to become sponsors and partners in this project and welcome your input and support from any angle. Or chat to us on www.twitter/focusonuganda
 

Melinda Beckett-Hughes

PS: We also welcome feedback of any kind on our site and any ideas on how we can improve it or our message. Do feel free to pick up the phone to us. We are, as I hope this letter communicates – very human!