Client Reviews

‘’Julie provides a holistic service cutting across all aspects of business including training, personal development, culture and values, business strategy and business relations. We have enlisted Julie’s help and assistance over a number of years and it has greatly assisted the personal development of our employees and the development of our business. Julie is an expert in her field, she is very approachable and is always willing to offer encouragement and assistance wherever possible. Julie has helped enhance the culture and performance of our business greatly over the last number of years. I would have no hesitation in recommending Julie to any other business large or small.’’

Martin Mallon, South Bank Square

Julie Allen designed and led our 'Powered by Us' learning and development programme in our Belfast office, tailored specifically for our Client Service Teams. The initiative was a first of its kind for us.

Throughout the 6-month programme, we delved into a range of crucial topics customised for our audience, including personality profile assessments, resilience building, change adaptation, team performance enhancement, effective problem-solving, decision-making, and empowerment strategies. This tailored approach has left a lasting impact on both our people and our business.

Patricia Black, Davy Private Clients UK

We ran a session with our existing team and new starters and it was a super positive session. Whilst there are always areas to work on, we are in a much more optimistic and positive place … I think the matrix really helped draw our common ethos and values out and position us all ‘on the same team’ once again. A real asset to our armoury of tools Julie, with sincere thanks for your help and learning.

Michele Martin, Project Manager, ASSISTNI

“The training that was facilitated by Julie was fantastic, it brought two teams together with a joint purpose. The teams were given the opportunity to use the ACT and ProSocial Matrix on a number of occasions throughout the training and in practice, this helped to develop their knowledge and understanding further and will hopefully make them a stronger leadership team as a result.”

Denise Rogers, Project Coordinator at Sure Start Bangor and Lisburn

“Having entered into the development programme with at least some degree of apprehension, I was very quickly put at ease by the relaxed and welcoming nature of Julie's sessions. Taking a bit of time out from a busy schedule for a period of learning and reflection has proved to be very beneficial. The sessions have been very well structured, mentally stimulating and extremely constructive.

 I found Julie's PPA assessment particularly insightful. It was a frank and honest assessment that accurately identified many of my personal traits. It was quite thought-provoking and was very much a worthwhile exercise in self-improvement.”

Neil Wilson, IT Services Manager of fonaCAB

Julie Allen was a key part of the team supporting ARC with a recent comprehensive organisational review, in addition to designing the framework for the report Julie led on in the subsequent leadership development plan for the senior management team. This work involved completing TEIQue reports individually and collectively against the team’s profile to support our communication and collective actions. This was followed up by an individual support package using the ACT and ProSocial Matrix. This was especially beneficial to the organisation and greatly improved the teams’ collective psychological safety, in the current period of change and uncertainly within the sector our people are better equipped to honestly articulate the strengths and limitations of team performance. We continue to practice the strategies Julie has equipped us with and they add value to our professional and personal lives.”

Jenny Irvine, CEO of ARC Healthy Living Centre

“Following a procurement exercise to facilitate Supporting Communities' next 3 year Strategic Plan, we were delighted to appoint Julie in April 2022.

Not only did Julie deliver what was asked of her and on time, but it was more the manner in which she went about her business that impressed us most. Julie was able to engage with the Board, SMT, all staff and stakeholders in a seamless way and always remain professional.

Julie was, at all times, patient, courteous, respectful and understanding, all values which align to our organisation.

Importantly, what we have ended up with is a new 3 year Strategic Plan with a refreshed Vision, Mission and set of Values which we, as a Board and Staff, will live up to on a daily basis but also a Plan which is realistic yet challenging and which I hope will bring Supporting Communities to the next important phase in our 40+ life cycle.

Thanks to Julie for your expert and professional knowledge and support during this piece of work and I hope we continue to keep in touch in terms of your work around Emotional Intelligence as we focus on looking after not only our communities but also our staff and ourselves as well.”

Colm McDaid, CEO of Supporting Communities

A number of our staff have signed up and attended Julie’s webinar workshops which provide much depth and transferable training, knowledge and skills.

I particularly love the ProSocial Matrix that Julie promotes. We have used this model to engage with staff and volunteers many times. Following the Lockdown, the ProSocial Matrix provided us with a framework to positively engage with staff teams to notice and name, some of the behaviours that were showing up, particularly in times of stress, conflict or misunderstandings.

We found that in using the ProSocial model, teams worked easily with one another and quickly felt at ease to discuss and begin to understand the behaviours that were showing up with one another. This framework made it easier to notice and name what we could do more of or change, in order to get rid of what Julie called the unwanted stuff - the misunderstandings, the miscommunications, and the tensions when we were under pressure. Where we used the ProSocial Matrix in staff training and team meetings, we could easily identify and build upon those behaviours that enable all of us to work toward a shared purpose for ourselves, our teams, the young people and the families we work with.

Geraldine Stinton, Personnel and Policy Worker at YMCA Ireland

Employee Engagement is a hugely important initiative within our company and something that permanently runs throughout the year. We first engaged Julie Allen in 2019 after meeting with several firms to discuss a new partner for this work. It was quickly very clear that Julie was the person that we wanted to work with us on our Employee Engagement Strategy. We worked with Julie to formulate the structure and detail within the survey to best fit our organization and Julie led us through this process with great speed and quality.

Julie is really excellent to work with. She continues to provide an amazing service for SimplyIOA, implementing and delivering the survey to our entire organization to gauge our eNPS each year. The survey is concise, delivered in a very professional manner and the results are presented to Leadership in various formats to allow us to communicate with the organization at a Team, Division and Overall Business Level. Julie even goes as far as providing us with presentations for Managers with detailed notes etc.

We are really happy working with Julie and will continue to partner with her on such a critical initiative for our organization.

Brian McDowell, CEO of Simply IOA

I first met Julie 8 years ago as she supported TIDES in gaining our Investors in People. From my first meeting with Julie, she was so friendly while being very professional, approachable & knowledgeable.

Since then, I have worked with Julie in personal coaching sessions, with rural community groups that TIDES have been supporting & with a range of others urban groups. Julie approaches each piece of work with the same positive energy, openness & professionalism, no matter how big or small.

Liza Wilkinson, Director, Tides Training & Consultancy

Julie has been a trusted adviser to Proparamedics since 2014. Julie’s insight into strategic planning, team development and guidance on investing in our staff and employee engagement has proven invaluable to the company as we have grown and diversified our service offer.

Julie recently worked with our core management team to help them understand themselves and how they interact with others. The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires (TEIQue) and subsequent Acceptance and Commitment Training was embraced by staff and the benefits are being demonstrated by individuals in their ability to lead, manage others and in their relationship building within the organisation.

Due to such a positive experience, our work with Julie is ongoing and we are embarking on employee engagement workshops in the near future. Julie’s vast amount of experience of working with organisations and people is evident in the training that she provides, and I would have no hesitation in recommending Julie Allen Consulting.”

Heather Hamill-Vaughan, Director of ProParamedics

“As a rapidly growing technology company, our leadership team is working with incredible passion and commitment. Inevitably, this can lead to peaks and troughs in energy, and accompanied with the stresses and strains of modern life, individual well-being can really suffer. We wanted to engage with a programme that would give managers time to pause and reflect, to learn more about their own values and motivations and provide them with a toolbox of coping mechanisms. We found exactly that, and much more besides, by working with Julie Allen Consulting as she facilitated the TEIQue questionnaire and evaluation followed by Acceptance and Commitment Training. Julie ensured full involvement from even our most sceptical participants in a reassuring and confidential way. She has a friendly, relaxed yet extremely professional manner and supports participants throughout the weeks of reflection and self-discovery. I would highly recommend the programme not only as a way to support the individual physical and mental well-being of employees but also as a great teambuilding and bonding experience.”

Tory Kerley, People Person at Synergy Learning

“Julie is a very skilled in facilitating strategic planning and quickly gets to the heart and core of your organisation. We were impressed with her understanding of the strategic environment in which Orchardville works and the challenges we faced.

Julie provided a very valuable service challenging us to think about how we ensure we deliver our vision and mission over the next 3 years engaging positively with key stakeholders. Was an absolute pleasure to work with Julie and look forward to the next opportunity to engage with her.”

Joan McGinn, CEO of Orchardville

“We have recently been awarded the Gold Star Service Excellence Award. Our route to achieving this award started in August 2016 when we decided to look at our internal systems with of goal of trying to improve the flow of work to assist with enhancing customer service.

We approached Julie Allen (Julie Allen Consulting) who arranged a series of workshops with our senior management team to look at the internal operation of our firm with a goal of reviewing our current customer service strategy. These workshops then started us on a path of reviewing the whole strategy and vision of our organisation. As a result of this work we made wholescale changes to the customer experience, making this the focal point of our goals and objectives.”

Patrick Miscampbell, Partner of Miscampbell & Co

“Working with Julie Allen has been an incredibly positive experience for MCS Group .... we have identified many areas on which we can improve and which will have a real impact on our results.”

Barry Smyth, Managing Director of MCS Group

“Thank you so very much for the excellent way in which you ran our remote access workshops over the past 3 weeks. I think it has been a very interesting experience and given us a real look in on ourselves.”

Deborah Burns, Director of Care and Quality Governance at NI Hospice

“We are truly delighted to have successfully completed our accreditation and would happily recommend the entire process. Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your guidance, advice and support – you have been an unforgettable catalyst for Niall and I and we shall be always grateful.”

Jennifer McKeever, Airporter

“Many sincere thanks for managing our 2-day workshop. Your professionalism, “Many sincere thanks for managing our 2-day workshop. Your professionalism, energy, direction and involvement are to commended and was much appreciate.” are to be commended and was much appreciated.”

Managing Director, Ireland