About Us | Meridian Growth Partners

The Beginning

Where It All Began

Meridian Growth Partners was founded in 2011 by a small group of coaches and organisational psychologists who shared a common frustration: the personal development industry was full of noise, but short on substance. They set out to build something different.

The name Meridian was chosen deliberately. In navigation, a meridian is the highest point the sun reaches — the moment of greatest clarity and possibility. That idea sits at the heart of everything we do. We help our clients find their meridian.

"We didn't want to build another training company. We wanted to build something that would genuinely change the way people experience their professional lives."
— Elizabeth Harwood, Co-Founder

From our early days working with a handful of London-based professionals, we have grown into one of the UK's most trusted personal development and consulting firms — yet our values have never changed.

2011

Founded in London by Elizabeth Harwood and David Ashworth, with a focus on executive coaching for senior leaders.

2015

Expanded to Manchester and Edinburgh; launched our first group leadership development programme.

2019

Introduced organisational consulting practice; reached milestone of 200 clients served.

2026

Today — over 500 clients, 40+ programmes, and a team of 22 practitioners across the United Kingdom.

The Meridian Growth Partners team in a collaborative session

What We Stand For

Our Core Values

These four principles are not aspirational posters on the wall — they are the lived commitments that guide every engagement, every conversation, every decision we make.

Integrity

We say what we mean and mean what we say. Our clients trust us with their most important professional challenges, and we honour that trust with radical honesty and unwavering confidentiality.

Excellence

We hold ourselves and our clients to a standard of genuine excellence — not perfectionism, but the disciplined pursuit of doing our very best work, every single time, without exception.

Transformation

We are not interested in incremental adjustments. We believe in deep, authentic transformation — the kind that lasts because it comes from genuine insight, not surface-level behaviour change.

Partnership

We don't deliver development to our clients — we do it with them. Every engagement is a genuine collaboration built on mutual respect, shared accountability, and real investment in outcomes.

How We Work

Our Approach

We have never believed in one-size-fits-all solutions. Every professional is different, every organisation has its own culture and its own set of challenges. Our role is to understand both — deeply — before we begin.

Our approach draws on evidence-based frameworks from coaching psychology, systems thinking, and organisational behaviour, combined with the kind of practical wisdom that only comes from years of working alongside leaders in the real world.

Deep Discovery

We begin with a thorough diagnostic process — listening carefully, asking the right questions, and gaining a genuine understanding of where you are and where you want to be.

Bespoke Design

No template is applied. We design a programme or engagement tailored precisely to your context, challenges, and ambitions, drawing on our extensive methodology library.

Supported Action

Insight without action is wasted. We work alongside you through the process of change, providing support, challenge, and accountability at every step.

Measured Impact

We close every engagement by measuring what changed, ensuring outcomes are real and lasting — and identifying what comes next on your growth journey.

A Meridian consultant in a coaching session

"We don't just coach people through problems. We help them develop the capacity to solve the next ten problems themselves."

David Ashworth, Co-Founder & Lead Consultant

Recognition

Awards & Accolades

We are honoured to have been recognised by our peers and the broader professional development community for our commitment to quality and impact.

2025

Best Coaching Practice of the Year

Recognised for outstanding contribution to executive coaching and measurable client transformation across the UK professional services sector.

Association for Coaching — UK

2024

Top 10 Leadership Development Firms

Named among the top ten leadership development providers in the United Kingdom for the second consecutive year, based on client outcomes and programme quality.

HR Magazine Annual Awards

2023

Excellence in Organisational Transformation

Awarded for demonstrating exceptional impact in organisational culture change, with independently verified improvements in employee engagement and performance metrics.

CIPD People Management Awards

Where We Work

Proudly British, Genuinely National

We are a proudly British organisation. Our roots are in London, but our work spans the length and breadth of the United Kingdom — from Edinburgh to Exeter, from Belfast to Bristol.

We believe the very best personal development happens in person. That's why we have consultants embedded in communities across the UK, able to deliver truly local engagements without compromising on quality.

We also offer flexible online and hybrid delivery, ensuring that geography is never a barrier to growth.

London (Headquarters)

Edinburgh

Manchester

Birmingham

Bristol

Leeds

Cardiff

Belfast

UK Locations

Practitioners

500+

Clients Served

15+

Years in Practice

"There is something special about the British professional culture — its reserve, its understatement, its quiet resilience. We work with it, not against it. That's what makes our approach work here."

Our Story