Impact Since 1980

Please scroll through the images below and click to read more.

1980 - Impact Launch

1980 - Impact Launch

Impact was launched in 1980 by three friends. Today, one of the founders, David Williams remains our CEO. Here are some of his memories of their first year in business...
"We started Impact in 1980 with nothing but an idea and a passion for developing people. We had a dream of delivering experiential learning that was inspirational, motivating and truly memorable.

Impact began from my kitchen in a rented house in Cumbria, UK, with three full-time staff, a ‘robo-phone’ – a rather cumbersome early answerphone - and a second hand van begged from my Dad’s firm. Our equipment was mainly handmade and we sent out mailshots individually typed on my grandmother’s typewriter, which, rather amusingly, had a tendency to cut out the letter ‘o’ if you pressed the keys too hard.

30 years on, Impact employs 250 full-time people with a further 100 retained associates worldwide. We operate from 18 offices around the world and deliver in over 30 countries each year. We can deliver our programmes in over 20 different languages and have nearly 400 clients globally, spanning the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Privately owned, we rely upon commercial success to survive, but we are driven by our values and by our determination to make a lasting difference to the people and organisations we work with. It fills me with pride to see us integrating our own profit-making activities, community engagement and organisational values. Impact is building a global business model that benefits our clients, our employees and the wider community in a sustainable, honest way. Not bad progress for a company that started out on a kitchen table."
David Williams
Impact Founder & CEO
[Photo shows David in 1980 with Impact's second hand van]
1982 - The Early Years

1982 - The Early Years

Impact was growing in the UK. We were winning new business after a series of programmes proved to successfully change the working behaviour of apprentices and supervisors from British Coal and the Post Office. Our follow-up work showed that people going back into their organisations often hit a brick wall from their managers who were resistant to this change. Impact made a strategic decision to target organisations at a more senior level to help create environments which were supportive in helping people grow.
[Photo shows Impact's first corporate logo]
1985 - Hotels and Expansion

1985 - Hotels and Expansion

In 1985 Impact purchased a private house on the edge of Lake Windermere. The deposit used to secure Cragwood House was made up of all the money Impact had saved so far from the company profits and a hastily arranged mortgage with the bank. Within a few months, working at night and weekends and with the help of friends and family, the four bedroom house was transformed into a 12 bedroom hotel.
[Photo shows Impact's Cragwood Country House Hotel]
1986 - Silver Screw Award
1986 - Silver Screw Award

Impact has a special internal award for staff, which is called the "Silver Screw”. The Silver Screw is awarded for the greatest conspicuous mistake of the year and is presented during our company celebration lunch before the Christmas break. The ceremony is hosted by the previous winner and is attended by the whole company, including representatives from our global offices. The first-ever winner received the award because he “broke the propeller of a company boat in shallow water”. From there the name and the design of the trophy were established!
And the award goes to...
Winning nominations for the award include:
- Somebody questioned by the police because he was dressed as a gorilla (actually he was disguised as a gorilla, waiting in a tree to surprise participants on a programme; technically the gorilla did not do anything wrong but the policeman thought he was up to something…)
- Somebody trapped in a cave by a rock fall (in fact he wasn’t, he just couldn’t see any daylight through the entrance because the sun had gone down…)
- Somebody locked out of his hotel room, naked, in the middle of the night (he had left through the wrong door of his bedroom and found himself in the corridor, not the bathroom…)
If anyone wins the award three times they get to keep the trophy, some have come close, but nobody yet has that 'honour'. Interestingly throughout the history of the Silver Screw it has only ever been awarded to men!
[Photo shows the Silver Screw award]
1989 - Impact Japan Opens

1989 - Impact Japan Opens

In 1989 Impact made its first forays into international markets. Following a two week research visit to Japan, a joint venture was established at a time when the business world was hailing Japanese management techniques as “best practice”. Impact took our style of western management training to Japan despite the popular view of the superiority of Japanese management philosophy.
Developing a second office was not without difficulties. The lessons learned in Japan provided a framework for Impact’s approach to entry into new markets, combining a global approach with cultural sensitivities. It begins with the establishment of the base by a team from the UK who service global clients from an office in the targeted country. A team is then recruited locally to be trained back at UK headquarters to establish an understanding of the company culture. The new team then gradually takes over complete responsibility for the foreign operation. Today, 85% of Impact’s programmes in Japan are delivered in Japanese.
Based in Tokyo, Impact (Japan) Ltd is our second largest operation, and the longest-standing member of the Asia-Pacific regional network.
For more information about Impact Japan please visit our English language or Japanese language websites.
Impact Asia Pacific
Since 1989 we have opened the following offices in the AsPac region.
1993 - Impact Thailand
1997 - Impact Australia
1998 - Impact New Zealand
2004 - Impact China
2007 - Impact Singapore
2009 - Impact Hong Kong
For more information on all our global offices please click here.
1991 - Mainland Europe

1991 - Mainland Europe

It was in 1991 that Impact first delivered a training programme on mainland Europe.
Impact had a vast and varied list of clients, but this was the first time a whole programme was run by the UK team outside a country where we were based.
The success of this programme led inevitably to the growth of our European operations and along with our three UK sites we now have offices in Italy, Poland, France, Sweden, Turkey and Ireland.
Impact Europe
Since 1991 we have opened the following offices in the European region.
1997 - Impact Ireland
1997 - Impact Italia
1998 - Impact Poland
1998 - Impact Turkey
2002 - Impact France
For more information on all our global offices please click here.
1997 - The first Impact Conference

1997 - The first Impact Conference

Impact decided in 1997 to trial running a Conference focusing on a subject we knew was topical and important to our clients. This trial proved so successful that the Conference has become an annual event, held in the inspirational setting of our UK headquarters in the English Lake District.
Over the years titles have included:

The Future... what does it hold for organisations?
The Edge: In Search of Competitive Advantage
Inspiring Futures: Creating and Leading Sustainable Enterprises
Guest speakers invited to Windermere have included:
Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle, Yvon Chouinard, Tim Smit and Ray Anderson.

If you would like to go on our mailing list for more details please hazel [dot] belshaw [at] impactinternational [dot] com (subject: Conference%20mailing%20list%20request%20from%20website) (contact us.)
2001 - Impact Americas Opens

2001 - Impact Americas Opens

In 2001 Impact opened an office in New York in response to client demand.

Impact had run a significant number of successful programmes in the US, and our clients were requesting we had a permanent office there. David decided to invest in an office in New York.

David said: "The USA is the obvious next market for us to penetrate in order to ensure a truly global presence. Having carried out detailed on-the-ground research and after delivering a number of programmes for key clients there over the past few years, we are confident that we have something different to offer this challenging and competitive market."

The New York office was set up by Jeremy Benton. Jeremy had three years experience with Impact in both training and sales, giving him the right blend of experience to spearhead this new operation and take on the challenge.

To read more about Impact Americas please click here
For more information on all our global offices please click here.
2005 - 1st Challenge Event

2005 - 1st Challenge Event

In 2005 Impact celebrated its 25th Birthday. Throughout the year we ran a number of different events to mark this special milestone. One of these was a unique corporate hospitality event - using Impact staff specialist skills to guide a group of clients to climb a mountain in the Swiss Alps.
Other events:
2006 - Canyon Challenge: France
2007 - L'eau Vive Challenge: France
2008 - Ski Challenge: Switzerland
2009 - Rock Challenge: UK
2008 - Impact Beyond

2008 - Impact Beyond

In 2008 Impact Beyond, Impact International’s social enterprise, was born. Impact Beyond shows Impact’s commitment to using our expertise to help build sustainable enterprises within the third and educational sectors. We believe we can do this by offering our expertise in people and organisational development to help build effective and efficient organisations.
Impact Beyond provide capacity building services to schools, charities and social enterprises.
To read more please click here.
2010 - Impact's 30th Birthday

2010 - Impact's 30th Birthday

In 2010 we are celebrating 30 years of Impact developing people and organisations!
Our official birthday was in March but we have continued the celebrations throughout the year for our people and our clients.
To join our mailing list for information about future events please click here.