Our backstory

Harbridge’s founder, Jenni Harding, has always been fascinated by what differentiates poor and average performing organisations from high performing ones. Despite a childhood plan to be a teacher, Jenni starting working in investment industry in the mid 1980s. In the early 1990s, she undertook a Bachelor of Business (Business Administration), as well as co-founding an investment management business with seven others. Her equal enthusiasm for numbers and people saw her complete a double major in accounting and management. After a break embedding and implementing what she had learnt, she completed a Graduate Certificate in Change Management and then an Executive MBA.

Despite a massive toolbox of strategies, models and processes, she discovered that the strategy, people and change management theories didn’t always work in real life. After further research and real life experiences, she concluded the following:

• People come to work for their reasons and not for yours;
• A high-performing organisation cannot sustain its performance without a strong positive culture and people engaged at all levels of the organisation:
• Most of the organisational theories and practices applied today have evolved from the military, have no evidence to support them and will not engage staff or clients in the future;
• Individuals want a greater say and be actively engaged in the work they perform, want to have continuous opportunities to learn and grow as the environment constantly changes around them and need to be aligned with the values of the organisation they are working for; and
• People expect that the organisation(s) they work for are good corporate citizens who want to make positive social impacts internally and within the communities they operate in.

After more searching, reading and research, Jenni undertook a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (positive psychology is the science of human flourishing and the applied approach and practices that enable individuals, organisations and communities to function at optimal levels).

The Harbridge service offering combines traditional strategic, people and change management practices with the latest evidence-based positive psychology research and application.

We believe that the tone at the top and a strengths-based focus drives culture, strategy and long-term performance. We help to educate, coach, mentor and implement changes with individuals, teams and organisations to build a culture of engagement, experiential learning and continuous improvement that will allow staff and organisations to continually develop and evolve in an ever-changing world.

We don’t just want you to be effective and efficient, we want you to achieve excellence by being exceptional and extraordinary.

Our beginnings

Harbridge Optimal Performance commenced operations as Harbridge Investment Partnerships in April 2008, providing strategic, operational, compliance and due diligence services to the investment industry. We changed our name in August 2017 to reflect a broader service offering. To learn more about our mission, team or history, or to read the kind words from some of our clients, please select one of the icons below.