Delighted to announce...

Rachel Hughes has joined the EDIT team on a permanent basis from 1st April. Rachel has worked with us as an associate for many years and so many of our global clients have worked with her either as a consultant, facilitator or coach. She join us as Global Solutions Director, leading product development and our consultancy business. Rachel brings over 20 years of leading in a Corporate, from her years at IBM, as well as almost a decade of leadership and culture consultancy working in multiple countries. She is amazing and we know will add value to the team as well as to our client base. Find out more about Rachel here:

How would you describe yourself?

I remember Sonia describing me as “she is the cultural one” once when we were first working together with a group of delegates. And it’s true, I do love my culture. I've sat on the board of National Museum Wales and I currently sit on the board of an amazing regional theatre. However I also spent 20 years in corporate life and that’s a big part of who I am too. Most of that time was spent in busy operational and management roles in the IT services sector. I’m always very conscious of that whenever I’m working in a group or coaching 1:1. I remember back to my time as a leader and to how busy I was. And as a parent of 2 daughters, I know a lot of the people in our workshops will be juggling family commitments too. It reminds me that the time people spend on L&D is precious. It’s a huge privilege that this time is being spent with us and as a result everything we do must have impact.

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What made you take up the role working permanently with EDIT Development?

9 years ago I jumped out of corporate life and began freelancing, with most work focused on leadership development and diversity and inclusion. It wasn’t long before I was introduced to EDIT Development, Sonia and the amazing global team, and the rest is history.

I always said I was having way too much fun as a self-employed freelancer to work for anyone. However I think it's the sense of purpose at Edit that has drawn me in. That feeling of having a positive effect both on individuals and organizations. There's something amazing when you get feedback telling you that your work has triggered a change in how things are done or led to a big individual decision that the person might not otherwise have had the nerve to take. And the feedback is truly global, with customers in a surprising number of countries and continents. I think we were all surprised during 2021 when we realised as a business we had worked with over 1millions delegates. That during COVID felt phenomenal!

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How do you feel about working as part of the Edit team?

In some ways, I feel I already am, because I've been an associate with them for a number of years. But that associate status has meant staying at arm’s length. I know the individuals involved and they’re fantastic. I see how busy they are and how there's opportunity to do so much more with our incredible client book. I’m excited to be part of that. My joining the team will accelerate our ability to add value and make a difference to the clients who choose to partner with us.

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What else are you excited about?

Learning more about this business. I've only seen a fraction of it. I'm looking forward to learning from the team, from our clients and also from people in my network to get their sense of what they're now looking for from their L&D partners in continuous times of change. This could be around board level interventions, programmes for new or aspiring leaders, graduate programmes, one-off team building, coaching, or anything in between.?The team have been constantly adapting our solutions over the last 13 years, it is one of the things I love is how EDIT are always reinventing and staying relevant. I'm keen to do more of that, It starts by talking with the brilliant people who have already put their trust in Edit, as well as new clients who want something different and fresh.

So my plans for the coming weeks are to learn about the business; review our existing solutions; and utilise our incredible Edit hive mind to make sure those solutions have as much relevance and impact as possible.?Oh, and I still have plenty of upcoming client delivery – I’d hate to stop that element of my role! EDIT diaries and always super planful so I am already smiling that work is going in the diary for 2025!

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This won’t surprise anyone who has worked with this team, but I’m also looking forward to the belly laughs. This is a team that means business but at the same time doesn’t take itself too seriously. We are serious about results but also about having fun.?I love the fact that you can be both hyper focused on the quality and impact of the work, and also crying with laughter, all on the same Teams call.