About Genius Methods
Genius Methods was born out of our passion to help Boards understand how small changes in the board room make huge changes in its effectiveness.
It is easier for an independent source to share change ideas which are best determined through an evaluation of the Board and its Committees.
Genius’ independence, wide range of board exposure, real commercial and financial business experience brings value way beyond the project.
Genius has carried out Board development, mentoring, Board reviews and evaluations for businesses ranging from FTSE 100 to SME’s. Our experience includes many industries with particular skills working with regulated organisations, particularly financial services firms regulated by the PRA and FCA.
Understanding the impact and focus of Regulators on a firm and its Board’s responsibilities is critical to its effectiveness in leading to reach strategic goals.
A top athlete has a coach to help attain gold; Boards equally gain from a refreshed, external review, focused on evaluating the team for their role into the future.
An evaluation of the Board as it is now, has limited value other than a benchmark against peers. A Board should be assessed for its future role in line with strategy, market conditions and its ability to be the best Board it possibly can be.
Governance is embodied by competent people operating effectively within a clear and appropriate culture. Therefore in line with Codes, Guidance and best practice we remove the small, almost invisible barriers, to effective team leadership.
Genius brings specific skills to financial services, listed and other regulated sector Boards.
We know that the impact of culture and behaviour can scupper any well laid strategic objective. Boards fail to lead effective, not because they are doing anything wrong, but more often because the people factor means they are not gaining full value from the team working as an effective leader. Good governance is the only way to implement objectives to reach planned outcomes, growth and profitability.
The “tone from the top” is defined by the Chairman, this embodies culture, ethics, vision and values. Therefore an evaluation needs to review the competence of the Chairman. Genius finds that the value gained by the Chairman is worth more than any training available. Real, practical and implementable guidelines which, in a lonely Chairman’s place, brings value and credibility to deliver change.
We provide a good dose of business common sense that addresses people behaviours in this working environment to get maximum cohesion, growth, development and communication that underpins any top performing and effective Board.
We believe in effective ways of working, the value of structure, information and interaction to support both evaluative and quantitative analysis to understand the role of people within their functions.
Management Team
When Genius Methods was established, one of our guiding principles was to arrive at a balanced and complementary skills set across the team. Only by ensuring that there was not even the smallest shortfall in our ability to add another dimension to the skill sets of management teams with whom we come into contact, could we guarantee delivery on our promise…
“to facilitate the attainment of the perfect organisation, by ensuring the seamless transference of strategic intent into operational reality”
Our core team shares skills and experience, across a spectrum of industry types and challenges, so cross-representative of our clients activities they seem almost like a compendium of management best practice.
Well, in a way, we believe they are.
Sharon Constançon
Sharon Constançon
C Dir – Chartered Director, Institute of Directors MBA – Master in Business Administration, Witwatersrand University, South Africa ACIS – Associate Chartered Institute of Secretaries & Administrators FCIBM – Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Business Management
Other studies include:- International Treasury Management International Finance Foreign Exchange Accounting Diploma in Company Direction Special projects & positions held:- IoD – Board of Examiners – Board member for Certificate and Diploma exams IoD – Interviewer for the Chartered Director Program CfA – Steering Committee for development of Occupational Standards in Corporate Governance and Secretarial Sharon has two decades of experience working as a contracted specialist to top 500 level companies in the arena of risk management, particularly treasury risk management. Customers included Dimension Data, Datatec, Tongaat Hewlett, Panasonic, Nashua, MTN, Telkom, Richards Bay Minerals, Beacon, Plascon.
Sharon Constançon
C Dir – Chartered Director, Institute of Directors MBA – Master in Business Administration, Witwatersrand University, South Africa ACIS – Associate Chartered Institute of Secretaries & Administrators FCIBM – Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Business Management
Other studies include:- International Treasury Management International Finance Foreign Exchange Accounting Diploma in Company Direction Special projects & positions held:- IoD – Board of Examiners – Board member for Certificate and Diploma exams IoD – Interviewer for the Chartered Director Program CfA – Steering Committee for development of Occupational Standards in Corporate Governance and Secretarial Sharon has two decades of experience working as a contracted specialist to top 500 level companies in the arena of risk management, particularly treasury risk management. Customers included Dimension Data, Datatec, Tongaat Hewlett, Panasonic, Nashua, MTN, Telkom, Richards Bay Minerals, Beacon, Plascon.
Sharon has worked in the financial services and corporate sectors and in the last two decades run her own businesses providing corporate foreign exchange risk management and corporate governance services and solutions. Sharon’s focus is on “adding value to the customer, that is why I get up in the morning”. To achieve this, Sharon has developed systems and frameworks to support her drive to deliver service, something she feels is sadly lacking in businesses today. Sharon’s experience in risk management at the Board level of more than 250 major, and often worldwide, corporates and her knowledge of regulations, international finance, corporate governance, financial markets and running her own businesses have together provided Sharon with an ability to work with Boards on more than one level – strategic, risk, governance and management. This experience enables her to support Chairmen and NED’s in their strive to improve the leadership by and challenge within their Boards.
Sharon has strong analytical skills to complement her communication skills and uses this to help support change within Boards. Sharon’s entrepreneurial mind, studies, managerial positions and experiences in large corporations, and innovative businesses, have honed her skills in understanding where operational risks lie and how they need to be addressed to ensure visibility to the Board, who are ultimately responsible. Sharon’s mission is focused on business effectiveness and efficiency, using a light touch transparent approach to embedding solutions, often starting this process at the Board level, with Due Diligence and Board Evaluation programmes. Her career has included roles as Company Secretary at JCI, Treasury Manager for Blue Circle and Chief foreign exchange dealer for Société Générale before starting her own businesses, the first of which was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Alan Hindley
C Dir – Chartered DirectorF.IMechE – Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical EngineersIoD Diploma – Diploma inCompany Direction including the Certificate in Company DirectionFIoD – Fellow of Institute of DirectorsVP PRG – Vice President of Professional Review Group (of CDir’s) for the IoDSenior Executive Programme – TektronixAdvanced Programme for Directors – Honeywell Fellow of the Chairman’s Network.
Alan Hindley
C Dir – Chartered DirectorF.IMechE – Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical EngineersIoD Diploma – Diploma inCompany Direction including the Certificate in Company DirectionFIoD – Fellow of Institute of DirectorsVP PRG – Vice President of Professional Review Group (of CDir’s) for the IoDSenior Executive Programme – TektronixAdvanced Programme for Directors – Honeywell Fellow of the Chairman’s Network.
In addition to his Chairman role with Genius Methods, Alan is also Chairman of three other companies –ComplySoft Ltd which has developed frameworks to replace the inappropriate use of spreadsheets, diaries and task lists in governance and control environments.Trevor Baylis Brands plc which helps inventors to qualify their ideas and then take them to market.Valufin Ltd which provides foreign exchange risk management consultancy to importing and exporting organisations.Alan conducts professional interviews for the IoD’s Chartered Director programme, on a pro bono basis. This work involves interviewing existing, experienced Board members, to determine their knowledge and experience in the field of Corporate Governance and Company Direction and therefore, whether they qualify for the status of Chartered Director.
Alan is Vice Chairman of the Professional Review Group at the IoD. This group is responsible for steering the Chartered Director interview process and sets the standards required for qualification by candidates.A theme in Alan’s current career is his passion for helping Boards of companies to operate more effectively and efficiently. Alan’s interest in Corporate Governance stems from his belief that the “fish rots from the head”. He believes therefore that a well run Board is essential to ensure a well run, and therefore, profitable company. He is often heard to say “I wish I knew then what I know now”.Alan works with a number of SME directors and business owners supporting their strategic planning and growth. As a member of the South East Chartered Director group he supports fellow Chartered Directors in ensuring continuous Board improvement. Alan works with related Chartered Director groups sharing the knowledge of the South East group, supporting members and promoting the visibility and value of Chartered Directors in business.
Alan has a sound understanding of business and long term strategic thinking which is complemented with his experience in company direction and corporate governance. He has an innate ability to understand and work with people, a good listener and a person who can distil the needs of the business clearly and accurately. Alan is a mentor to a number of directors.An engineer by initial training, Alan spent 10 years in the aerospace and Nuclear power industries followed by 10 years in product development and marketing in Europe for Honeywell Control Systems Inc. The next 25 years he held positions as MD, CEO, or VP, in product and service companies across the UK, Europe and America.
Janet Gardner
Previously Head of Professional Standards at the Institute of Directors, Janet was responsible for the development of the Examinations and the Chartered Director Programme, including their CPD Programme. Janet organised many events with high-profile speakers and worked with different communities in her professional capacity, including a charity and a Deanery. Janet now undertakes business research, writing papers on business topics and governance and acting as a Committee and Board Secretary.
June Whiteman
June is an Executive Assistant and is responsible for project and diary management.
Heather Bridgman
Heather Project Manages the evaluation process and provides support to the interview programme, collating and drafting reports.
Linda James
Linda provides administrative support, and is responsible for the delivery of bespoke questionnaires, output and reporting.