Mary Gober International

Mary Gober is an internationally-recognised expert, whose work actively and rapidly helps organisations implement their service strategy, improve service ethos, relationships and interactions with customers.

Beyond its application in improving service culture and customer experience, Mary’s material is also being used to enhance how employees engage with their organisation – taking more ownership and responsibility, being more solution-oriented in tackling problems, achieving targets, handling difficult situations, being more self-motivated and managing their own career progression.

The Essence of Mary’s Work
The essence of Mary’s work is the ‘Psychology/Mind-set, Language & Actions of Service – The Gober Method’™. This optimal way of operating is presented in seminars delivered by MGI Consultants or in-company trainers/managers, client-specific DVDs and other digital media.

Why is Mary’s Methodology Successful Globally?
The success of the methodology is because it:

- is made relevant and linked to each client’s specific requirements and goals
- complements an individual’s unique personality, giving them immediate and natural ways to relate more positively and confidently to people both inside and outside the workplace
- enables everyone to, collectively and consistently, deliver the customer experience they aspire to
- is embedded and sustained by managers in workshops showing them how to dynamically model, coach and link the behavioural changes to increased organisational metrics
- creates a more exciting, fulfilling, happy, functional and progressive place in which all individuals can work, learn and grow

Lifetime Achievement Award
Mary received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Customer Service Training, in London in 2010.

What is Mary doing currently?
Mary continues to refine and develop the ‘Gober Method’, and personally contributes to the design and delivery of seminars to clients by her Accredited ‘Gober Method’™  Consultants worldwide.

Since 2003, through Mary Gober International Ltd, Mary has been providing flexible and cost-effective ways clients can access and use her methodology – ‘The Psychology/Mind-set, Language & Actions of Service’™.

To gain a rapid understanding of her work, Mary Gober International hold 2-Day Open Seminars, every six weeks to delegates from the boardroom to the front-line.  We also offer a complimentary Half-day Executive Briefing, regularly throughout the year, to groups of senior executives and managers wishing to evaluate the ‘Gober Method’™ for their own businesses.

Flexibility in methodology content and delivery
Content is modular so clients can choose the specific material they need from the full content. It can be delivered in seminars or in shorter, hourly sessions delivered by client accredited trainers and managers under licence, by our experienced Accredited ‘Gober Method’ Consultants, client intranet, other digital media … or through a combination of these delivery mechanisms.

Train-the-Trainer or Content Licence
A Train-the-Trainer process is available. Some clients prefer to simply licence content and integrate it into their established people development curriculum.

Embedding & Sustainability
A key feature of Mary’s work is how she develops managers’ capability, to lead, embed and sustain the attitudinal and behavioural improvements the training engenders. This is done in our Embedding & Sustaining Workshop (Learn It, Live It, Link It and Lead It™). This shows leaders how to really embed the skills their people learned in the training so the change is sustained and they can maximise and realise the long-term benefits and measureable business results that justifies the investment in time, money and people’s energy. This Workshop can also be delivered by clients themselves, under licence.

Why do clients use the methodology?
Mary’s work is used as a part of a comprehensive change process or in a targeted implementation in one or several areas of a business to boost specific organisational metrics.

Where does Mary live?
Mary leads her team at Mary Gober International in the UK.  She makes her home primarily in the UK (passed the UK Citizenship Test in 2011 – which she is very proud of!) and in the USA.

How did Mary come to base her business in the UK?
In 2000, at the invitation of British Airways’ subsidiary, Chameleon Training & Consulting, established the Mary Gober Division and accredited their training Consultants to deliver the ‘Gober Method’ training and leadership embedding activities, under license, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In April 2003, the successful Mary Gober Division evolved into Mary Gober International Ltd to deliver the
‘Gober Method’ and all associated services globally. This was as a result of British Airways’ decision to close Chameleon Training & Consulting due to the aftermath of the events of ’9/11′. The Senior Managers from Chameleon became the owners and Directors of Mary Gober International Limited.

Mary’s first 21 years of worldwide experience
In January 1979, Mary established Mary Gober International in the United States.  She specialised in the design, marketing and delivery of management development and customer service training programmes – her ultimate speciality – the ‘Gober Method’.

Mary presented in-company and public seminars, and keynote speeches throughout the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Europe and South Africa.

She wrote and directed client-specific DVDs, trainer guides, wrote quality service books, articles and curriculum. Clients included Fortune and FTSE companies, privately-held businesses, public-sector organisations, educational institutions and professional bodies.

After 21 years of independent consulting and training worldwide, Mary received a request from British Airways, the Chameleon Training & Consulting subsidiary, to license and deliver her unique and internationally-proven methodology in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

How behavioural training, with a special focus on customer service, became Mary’s specialty – her work in the Middle East
In 1979, Mary received a rare and unique invitation to join the Management Training team at the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.  For a  2 year period, she delivered their newly-developed, 10-day supervisory skills training course. She also redesigned and delivered the interpersonal communications 2-day training programme and coordinated the Out-of-Kingdom Career Development Programme for Saudi Nationals. The training programmes were delivered to a diverse multi-cultural mix of Middle Eastern, Asian, British, Canadian, American and European engineers, technical specialists and production employees.

The requirement for Customer Service Training
In 1979, Mary left full-time employment at ARAMCO to establish her own training and consulting company, Mary Gober International, to deliver behavioural training in the United States.

ARAMCO became Mary’s first client. They asked her to design and deliver a training program to equip all service-giving departments (including medical, housing, food service, recreation, maintenance, security, mail, human resources, information technology and telecommunications) to significantly improve the service they gave to the ARAMCO employees who lived and worked both on and off compounds and production facilities.

Aramco believed that, through a strong service culture, they would be able to attract a higher calibre of employee and reduce the significant percentage of employee turnover, especially in the expatriate population which attracted a high recruitment cost.  In their Saudi National employees, ARAMCO wanted to start the process of developing a service ethos and culture as part of their growing sophistication as a formidable corporate player on the world stage.

Mary designed the programme, then trained and accredited ARAMCO Trainers to deliver the training in both Arabic and English. She also designed a specific programme for managers and supervisors on how to lead service-giving teams.

The early years in Mary’s career
In 1975 and 1976, Mary worked in social work for a large, suburban school system – Jefferson County Public Schools in Lakewood (Denver), Colorado.  During this time she:

- conducted in-service training for administration and faculty on the management of atypical behaviour problems in children
- led a diagnostic team to assess and place handicapped students in special education classes and, where appropriate, integration into normal classroom settings
- provided direct therapeutic services to these handicapped children, their families and to other students who were demonstrating disruptive behaviour in the classroom

In 1973 and 1974, Mary held a faculty position as the Executive Assistant to Dr. Robert B. Davis, Director, Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Her responsibilities included:

- budget administration and control
- interviewing and hiring computer specialists
- supervising research staff
- synthesising and coordinating research findings and reporting to funding organisations like the National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
- preparing and presenting proposals with cost projections to potential funding groups
- handling public relations for projects

Mary’s Education
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

MSW (Master of Social Work), Human Growth & Behaviour
1971 – 1973

University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
BSW (Bachelor of Social Work), Speech Communication & Human Relations, Psychology
1968 – 1971

New Trier Township High School East, Winnetka (Chicago), Illinois
1963 – 1967

Mary would love to hear from you …

If you wish to speak to Mary or a member of her team at MGI, please do contact us.