Meet the Team
Lindsay Taylor
Co-Founder & Director, multi-award winning author, trainer and podcaster.
Lead Facilitator for The Essential PA Programme (incorporating an Ofqual regulated qualification)
Background
10 years as a PA/EA working in the UK & US with C-Suite Executives. I’ve organised international conferences and events and led teams of administrative and secretarial staff.
17 years (and counting!) as Co-Founder & Director of Your Excellency. A qualified trainer and practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).
PAs and EAs are some of the most unsung heroes in any organisation. I am passionate about raising the profile of the profession so PAs worldwide receive the kudos and recognition they deserve.
Learning should be fun and jargon-free. We design and deliver interactive and thought-provoking training that provides instantly-usable skills.
Michael Palin – for his (Monty Python!) wit and to share stories of travelling around the world.
David Attenburgh – goodness! So many reasons but this man is such an authority on the world based on his experiences.
Henry VIII – I love the Tudor period and would be fascinated to know first-hand what life was really like during this time according to one of the prominent characters during the time.
Doing what I do here at Your Excellency! Delivering learning and development to the EA/PA professional particularly when they have those “lightbulb moments” and leave our training sessions with a boost to their confidence is amazing.
Writing – the majority of the Blog posts on our webpage are penned by me.
Our two call ducks, Dexter & Daphne, who roam the grounds of Your Excellency HQ and have been known to hop over the threshold and interrupt a Virtual Training Session!
Travelling – for work and pleasure. There’s a lot of amazing places I’d love to visit in the world and I’m determined to “check them off” and experience different cultures and sights galore!
Sunshine – I grew up in the Far East and love the heat and blue sky days.
Family!
Connect with Lindsay
Background
Together we are changing the mindset.
Being a PA or EA is a profession (not a job!). We therefore need to invest in our careers and evolve from being a supporter to a player. Having the same (or even better) awareness, skills and capabilities as our Executives will enable us to participate and partner in business initiatives and strategy.
Leadership, Strategy, Marketing and Finance (yes even finance!) is straightforward once you understand the fundamentals and the language. We always deliver our learning in a fun and jargon-free way that provides you with instantly-usable skills.
“Know your outcome” – Watch, listen and imagine the future before speaking and taking action. On many occasions I wish I had counted to 10 (or even 5) before I had “pulled the trigger”.
“My role as parent is to create memories”. What is it you want your children to tell their children about their childhood?
Walt Disney – for his inspiration. “If you can dream it you can do it”
Ian Botham – His sporting attitude of “lets go out there and have a bit of fun!”
Nelson Mandela – For his wisdom and fortitude
Helping people achieve by realising that business and life are not as complicated as they may seem. I love providing some straightforward thinking and processes and distilling complex terminology into everyday use.
Travelling – There is a big wide world out there.
My Barbeque(s) – Being with my family who all have a passion for food and a love of the sunshine makes Barbequing a perfect solution. You will however find my Barbeque in operation whatever the weather throughout the year – even during a cold UK Christmas!
Connect with Malcolm
Malcolm Taylor
Co-Founder & Director, Facilitator, Trainer and Coach
Lead Facilitator for Mini MBA for Senior and Executive Assistants Programme (IAM Accredited Programme)
Joshua Taylor
Business Development Manager, Facilitator, Trainer
Background
The EA, PA and Administrative Profession has changed so dramatically over the last few decades and even more so since the pandemic.
In order for learning and development to be instantly-usable, it needs to be demonstrated and delivered in a fun, jargon-free and easy to understand manner.
Interactive learning is the best kind of learning – you can learn from one another in the profession as much as you can learn from the trainer.
“Enjoy the moment!” – sometimes it can be so easy in life to be constantly waiting for that next milestone. Enjoy and cherish moments as they come.
“I’d rather live a life of oh wells than what ifs”
Heston Blumenthal – for a dinner that is sure to be full of unexpected surprises
Tiger Woods – despite any shenanigans in his life, his passion and drive to succeed and win is unrivalled
And… a family member from 100+ years ago! I’m not sure who, but so I could see what life was like back then and how I came to be!
Supporting people to achieve their aspirations and helping them realise what they are capable of doing, whether that is in their personal life or career.
Working with others & collaboration to achieve an end goal.
Sport! I was grateful to spend 4 years in sunny South Carolina while studying for my degree and I played some stunning golf courses. Now back in the UK I’m still an avid golfer and lover of cricket.
Connect with Joshua
Background
My career started in Accounts before I became a Personal Assistant, and then a business consultant and trainer. In 2012 I decided on a career change in order to achieve a long-held goal to become a therapist.
After my graduation from Oxford Brookes University in 2015 with an Honours Degree in Psychology, I went on to complete training to be an Acceptance & Commitment Therapist, and carried out a research project for my MSc in Clinical Hypnotherapy. I am now a Coach, Trainer and Wellbeing Therapist.
I am passionate about helping people live healthy, happy lives. I do this by offering corporate wellness solutions that facilitate and empower people to achieve their goals and live a life driven by the things that they value.
I believe that we all have the ability to cultivate the skills we need to support our wellbeing and that by becoming explicitly aware of what is important to us – our values – and moving towards those things, we can live a more meaningful, purposeful and fulfilled life. I also believe that to support others in this we must ‘practice what we preach’ and therefore I move authentically and passionately towards what I value, everyday.
A few of my favourite sayings:
You get out of life what you put in
Like what you do, don’t do what you like
A journey of 1000 miles begins with just one step
I have focused on living people, as I struggled to narrow it down to just a few people when I included those who are no longer with us, and my dinner party became a huge banquet! Also, who knows if one day in the future I might not be sat next to one of these people in real life (I can dream, right!?!).
Steven Hayes is a developer of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a popular evidence-based form of psychotherapy that uses mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based methods. As my chosen therapy model I would love to pick his brains over a lovely bowl of pasta.
Joanna Lumley is multi-talented, well-travelled and a I love her comedy roles. I think she would be an amazing dinner party guest, and I can see us drinking a glass of fizz and eating something decadent while discussing our travelling experiences.
Kate Bush has written some of my most favourite songs. Her lyrics and music are so ethereal and though provoking so I would absolutely love to talk to her and understand a bit more about what she values in life.
Connect with Lorraine
Lorraine Groves
Wellbeing Therapist
MSc (Clin.Hyp.), BSc Hons (Psychology) BSCH (Assoc.), Registered Hypnotherapist (GHR Advanced Practitioner & CNHC) ACT Therapist (ACBS) Your Excellency Wellbeing Associate Trainer
Annie Page
Owner of Annie Page & Associates, author and trainer
Trustee, Trainer and Dog Handler at Cornwall Search Dogs.
Background
14 years working as a PA/EA in various industries including blue chip companies.
18 years (so far) running her own business which encompasses Online Business Management Services, Training and Coaching for Business Growth.
NLP Trainer and Master Practitioner, NLP Coaching Master.
Administration roles within businesses are highly skilled and a career path in their own right. The people who undertake them are often the glue that holds a business together and they deserve to be respected as such.
Anything you undertake needs to have a fun element to it – we all learn better when we are enjoying ourselves – this philosophy holds true not just for people but also for training our search dogs!
Michelle Obama – she seems to be an intelligent and interesting lady.
Agatha Christie – my favourite author and what really happened when she disappeared…
Death – I think he/she gets a bad wrap would be interested in their side of the story!
Seeing the difference I can make to people and their businesses. Helping them to have a better quality of life while building a sustainable business and the knock on effect of how they then help others through their business.
Being part of Cornwall Search Dogs and the help and support we can give people when they need it.
Spending time with family and friends, laughing a lot!
Connect with Annie
Background
25 years in the business end of the media, primarily Commercial Radio, (responsible for £20m turnover & 150 headcount). Sales & Marketing bias leading into Organisational Change, Coaching & Performance management.
My face to face and virtual private practice supports individuals to address significant issues that are holding them back. It’s therapy for people who don’t ‘do’ therapy. I also run Personal, Couples or Corporate Retreats at my home in rural Derbyshire.
Your Excellency Lead Associate Trainer for Marketing and Business Event Management topic deliveries.
That people give of their very best selves when they are recognised, encouraged and given the opportunity to learn and grow.
That everyone can thrive in their working lives; there is a best fit for every individual.
That the more we understand ourselves the better able we are to make sense of the world and the people around us.
My father – I lost him too early just 3 weeks after he walked me down the aisle in 1992. I could rely on him to both make interesting conversation AND get the other guests to open up willingly.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius – because I want to know whether he really did say all the things that the internet said he did and if so, how did this thinking influence his rule of the Roman Empire.
Catherine the Great of Russia – amongst other things I’d like to show her a screening of “The Great’ to see if she recognised herself at all!
Helping people recognise the constraints that bind them and developing strategies to break those bonds.
Provoking new ways of thinking and being … in myself and in others.
Learning … I’m a sucker for anything new!
Connect with Sarah
Sarah Kalland
Therapist Coach
Trainer & Author, (Master HeartSpeak Practitioner & Trainer, Evidence Based Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist with Mindfulness, Degree in Applied NLP)
Ingrid Richardson
Associate Trainer for Your Excellency Limited
Lead Facilitator for Principles of HR (incorporating an Ofqual regulated qualification)
Background
I don’t want to admit to the number of years I have worked in Human Resources, but let’s just say it is a scary amount of time! During these years I have worked with all levels of employees from the grass roots to the Board across a range of industries from manufacturing, oil and gas, biotechnology, the third sector and sports. I now run my own HR consultancy providing support to small companies who do not have in-house HR and deliver outplacement coaching to individuals who find that their roles are redundant.
I am a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (“CIPD”) and a trainer for the CIPD professional qualifications from Level 3 to Level 7.
Be kind to everyone!
Everyone deserves happiness in their life!
I get great personal satisfaction from seeing my students develop in their chosen career and coaching individuals to enable them to perform to their best.
Don’t worry what others think of you…. Life is too short, and you need to be “you” and enjoy life.
Don’t ignore letters from the bank!
Lewis Hamilton – for his personal determination to reach the pinnacle in his career overcoming some significant barriers on the way and to find out what it really is like behind the scenes in this fast and furious sport of F1.
Michael Portillo to hear about his train travels around the world and to listen to his voice, not sure what it does for me, but it endears me to him.
Jose Mourinho, he has “attitude”!
My first love is my sixteen-year-old Plummer Terrier Spike, we both enjoy our daily walks around the countryside – he is my best buddy – love him to bits.
Horseracing, no not riding the horse but watching these beautiful four-legged athletes competing against each other, which they love. By the way, don’t ask me for any tips, as I make the betting market shudder with my 25p each way bets which I normally loose! Racing has taken me to several countries to see the world’s greatest racehorses representing British Racing. Oh and my work diary is geared around racing!
My apartment in Northern Cyprus, where I decamp regularly to re-charge, get some sunshine and enjoy the slow pace of life.
My friends who I dearly love.
