People & Teams

Your people are your greatest asset. Most businesses are using about half of what they’ve got. 

Your team isn’t underperforming. It’s misaligned. 

Most businesses assume their people problems are about attitude, effort, or skill. They’re usually not. They’re about people being in the wrong roles, working without understanding each other’s strengths, or being managed in ways that don’t bring out their best. 

That’s misalignment. And it’s fixable. 

I’m Melanie Kirkpatrick. Before I became a coach, I was a commercial leader. Over £100M in sales revenue. Teams of up to 60 people led. Award-winning sales leader. Leadership roles at Groupon and Voucher Systems. I know what it costs when teams don’t work because I’ve lived it from the inside. 

My top five Clifton Strengths are Individualisation, Positivity, Achiever, Empathy, and Maximiser. In practice, that means I naturally notice what makes each person tick and tailor everything around it. I pick up on what’s really going on in a team, even when nobody’s saying it out loud. I’m driven to get results rather than just talk about them. I make people feel genuinely heard. And I have a habit of seeing potential in people that they haven’t quite seen in themselves yet. 

That’s what I bring to this work. And it’s why I love it.

£100M+

Sales revenue generated in career

72%

Lower attrition, strengths-led teams*

30+

Years commercial experience

Gallup meta-analysis, 49,495 business units, 1.2 million employees, 45 countries

Team Dynamics & Clifton Strengths 

Most teams aren’t broken. They just don’t know what they’ve got :

Every person on your team has something they’re genuinely brilliant at. Most businesses never find out what that is. Using Gallup Clifton Strengths, I help every person discover their strengths and show the team how those strengths fit together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. 

This isn’t a one-off workshop that everyone forgets by Friday. It’s a structured programme that permanently changes how your team communicates, collaborates, and performs. 

What’s included:

  • Clifton Strengths assessment for every team member 

  • Individual debrief sessions so each person understands their unique profile in depth 

  • Full-team workshop mapping the collective strengths, gaps, and dynamics

  • Leadership session on how to manage and develop each person to their strengths

  • 30-day follow-up to embed the language and keep the momentum going

The commercial outcome:

  • 8.9% greater profitability in teams that receive strengths feedback (Gallup)

  • 12.5% productivity gain on average

  • Up to 72% lower staff attrition, meaning dramatically lower recruitment costs

  • A shared language that replaces conflict with understanding

Pricing :

From £325 per person · Team programmes from £3,200 · See full pricing →

Predictive index (Pi) Assessments

Hiring on gut feel is expensive. Here’s the alternative :

Most hiring mistakes aren’t obvious until they’re already costly. The Predictive Index tells you, in precise and actionable terms, how someone thinks, what drives them, and how they’ll perform in a specific role or team, before you make the decision, not after. 

I’m a certified PI Practitioner. I use these assessments for hiring decisions, team restructuring, leadership development, and understanding why a team that looks good on paper isn’t performing as expected. 

Use it for:

  • Leadership hiring. make the right call before you commit to a significant salary.

  • Team restructuring. understand who belongs where before you reorganise.

  • Diagnosing underperformance. is it the person, the role, or the dynamic?.

  • Leadership development. what does this person need to lead effectively?.
  • Building teams. that complement each other rather than clash.

Pricing :

Single PI Assessment from €75 · Assessment and debrief from £300 · Team packages from £1,800 · See full pricing →

Leadership & EI coaching

Good leaders aren’t born. They’re built. And it takes honest work :

The difference between a good leader and an exceptional one rarely comes down to technical skill. It comes down to self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the ability to bring out the best in the people around them, consistently, under pressure, without burning out. 

I work with leaders at every level on the mindset, habits and emotional intelligence that make that possible. 

Ideal for:

  • New leaders navigating the step up from peer to manager

  • Leaders managing burnout, decision fatigue, or team dysfunction

  • Leaders who want to build a culture of trust and sustainable high performance

  • Technically brilliant people who struggle with the people side of leadership

Sometimes you just need one honest conversation to see things differently. Book a single 60-minute coaching session with me no commitment, just focused, practical coaching on whatever is most present for you right now. Whether it’s a leadership challenge, a team dynamic, a difficult decision, or simply feeling stuck  one session can change a lot.

Single session · £150 · From £300 per session in a package : See full pricing → or Book a free discovery call →

Pricing : On application. Book a free discovery call to discuss your specific situation and goals

Pricing on application. Book a free discovery call to discuss your specific situation and goals. Book a free discovery call →

The people director who thinks like a business owner.

Fractional people director :

The businesses I work with don’t have HR problems. They have people problems and those show up everywhere. In how teams communicate, how managers lead, how fast decisions get made.

That’s a different thing entirely.

I spent 30 years in commercial environments, building teams, hitting targets, watching what happens when the people side of a business is working and when it isn’t. I’ve sat where your managers sit. I’ve felt the pressure your leaders are under. I’ve learned that the difference between a team that flies and one that quietly drains the life out of a business almost always comes down to the same things: how well people understand each other, how clearly they’re led, and whether the culture is built by design or by accident.

I’m not an HR professional. I’m a commercial leader who has spent 30 years understanding what makes people and teams perform, and what it costs when they don’t. I work inside your leadership team on a part-time basis, owning your people agenda and treating your business like my own.

What we work on together:

  • People and talent strategy
  • Leadership development
  • Team dynamics
  • Culture design
  • Performance frameworks
  • Manager coaching
  • Organisational design
  • Onboarding 
  • Retention 

How it works:

Essentials from £1,400/month · Standard from £2,400/month · Embedded from £4,200/month · 90-Day Pilot £3,500 fixed · See full pricing → or Book a free 30-minute call →

Published Author

Shining a Light on Leadership in Mallorca 

We wanted to know what great leadership really looks like. So, we went and asked.

Kirkpatrick Consult Limited - Shining a Light on Leadership in Mallorca - Book Launch - Son Prim

Available in English and Spanish

After 30 years in sales and business, we had a theory: that the outdated, top-down, command-and-control style of leadership was finished and that the leaders quietly doing extraordinary things were doing it completely differently. With empathy. With humanity. With emotional intelligence at the core.
Sally and I sat down with twelve of Mallorca’s most compelling leaders and asked them how they really do it. What we found confirmed everything. Patricia Rosselló leads with transparency and equality. Javier believes listening and hearing are not the same thing. Victor built a career on backing people and trusting his instincts. Every single one of them put people first.
The evidence is in. Read it for yourself.

Melanie’s credentials:

Strengths Coach logo

Strengths Coach

Predictive Index Practitioner Logo

Predictive Index Practitioner

International Coach Practitioner — Certified Coaches Alliance Logo

International Coach Practitioner Certified Coaches Alliance

Emotional Intelligence Practitioner — The Priority Academy logo

Emotional Intelligence Practitioner The Priority Academy

Mindfulness Practitioner — Transformation Academy logo

Mindfulness Practitioner Transformation Academy

Happiness Life Coach Certification Logo

Happiness Life Coach Certification

Counselling — NVQ Academy logo

Counselling  NVQ Academy

Sales Management LCCI Level 3 logo

Sales Management LCCI Level 3

See the work in action :

See how we’ve helped businesses like yours. View our work →

Tony P., Atlas (UK) Limited Profile image

“Mel inspires, motivates and educates in spades. She is one of those rare people that can grab the attention of any room from the moment she walks in.”

Tony P., Atlas (UK) Limited

Andy Slack, Experienced Entrepreneur & Technical CEO/CTO

“Mel knows how to foster a positive culture, enhance performance, and create an environment where teams thrive. Her leadership development and talent management strategies inspire outstanding results.”

Andy Slack, Experienced Entrepreneur & Technical CEO/CTO

Frequently Asked Questions

Clifton Strengths is a Gallup assessment used by over 26 million people worldwide that identifies what a person is naturally brilliant at. It measures 34 talent themes and shows you which ones you lead with. The assessment takes around 45 minutes online and the results are instant. What makes it powerful isn’t the assessment itself it’s what happens in the coaching conversation afterwards, when those results are brought to life in the context of your real work and real team.

They’re complementary tools that do different things. Clifton Strengths tells you what someone is naturally talented at. Predictive Index tells you how someone is behaviourally wired what drives them, how they communicate, how they respond to pressure, and what kind of environment brings out their best. PI is particularly powerful for hiring decisions, team restructuring, and understanding why certain combinations of people create friction.

No , and that’s an important distinction. Personality tests measure who you are. Clifton Strengths and Predictive Index measure how you naturally think, work, and behave and crucially, they’re designed to be applied practically, not just filed away. The goal is never a label. It’s a shared language that changes how a team communicates and how a leader manages. The businesses I work with see real, measurable change, not just an interesting report.

Clifton Strengths takes around 45 minutes. Predictive Index takes around 6 minutes. Both are completed online, in your own time, before our coaching session.

Not necessarily. It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re focused on uncovering your superpowers, Clifton Strengths is the right place to start. If you’re making a hiring decision or trying to understand why a specific team dynamic isn’t working, PI is often more appropriate. If you’re not sure, book a free 30-minute call and we’ll work it out together.

Both tools work for teams of any size from a leadership team of four to an organisation of several hundred. The programme is always tailored to the team. If you have a large team, get in touch and we’ll design something that works for your scale and budget.

The assessment is just the starting point. Every programme includes individual debrief sessions, a full-team workshop, and a leadership session. There’s also a 30-day follow-up to ensure the language and insights are embedded in how the team works day to day. The goal is lasting change, not a one-off workshop everyone forgets by Friday.

Still have a question? Just ask. Book a free 30-minute call →