About

The Third Space is a boutique management consultancy providing consulting, coaching and facilitation services. Our expertise lies in crafting robust strategies and organisational designs, while reshaping organisational culture and leadership narratives to serve the vision and purpose of your organisation.

Our philosophy

At The Third Space we believe everyone brings unique value into the room and has within them everything they need to contribute and create.

What is needed is a space, free of judgement [others and their own], that invites us to look at the world, and the elements at work in it, from a position different to the current. In so doing we are able to make new connections from which transformative solutions can emerge.

It is our ambition in every interaction to generate and sustain the Third Space such that we deepen the quality of our collective thinking and ignite a sense of agency that leads to decisive action. With the future in mind, we purposefully use the means by which we solve problems at hand to build the organisation’s capacity to think critically, make connections, and engage effectively in teams.

In this way we help you build self-generating teams, capable of solving tomorrow’s problems, while doing the work of solving today’s.

Our values

Who we work with

We work with leaders and organisations that believe in the power of the collective and the value of the individual, and seek to unleash this power in their own lives, their teams, their organisations and society.

Our clients come from a variety of industries, including Financial Services, Technology Providers, Retail Services and NGOs to name a few.

Meet others who have said “Yes!” to making a lasting difference in partnership with us

“Ruth has partnered with Sanlam Collective Investments over the past six years in various roles…..from designing the operating model, to consulting on company vision, values, strategy, organizational design and coaching of key staff.  She has the astonishing capability to absorb vast volumes of information in a short space of time and create structure, simplicity and clarity on the levers to pull for improved business direction and performance.

The breadth and depth of her skill and experience as a business consultant makes her a valuable asset to any team, but she also contributes elements which are a rare find in the consulting community –  authenticity and a sincere pursuit to improve people’s lives.”

Liezl Myburgh, CEO, Sanlam Collective Investments

“Thank you so much for the coaching sessions over the last few months.  They have been invaluable in terms of self-growth and moving forward with personal and business goals. Thank you for the balance you brought to our sessions – you have a great combination of heart and cerebral sharpness!  Your deep listening and skillful facilitation,  kept me focused and able to lean into the sometimes  difficult questions…. your encouragement, astuteness and lovely sense of humour brought both containment and the invitation to make necessary shifts….  Your ability to see both the details and the larger picture, is a gift!”

Gilly Southwood, Storyteller, Story Practitioner

“Ruth would be my first choice for Target Operating Model and Business Architecture type of work.  She has the rare ability to quickly grasp new concepts, articulate complete integrated business models is an easy to understand way and identify ideas to complete and strengthen the proposed solutions.  From an interpersonal communication perspective Ruth is a strong change agent, being collaborative in her approach.  I feel very comfortable having Ruth represent me and my businesses in the work she does for me.”

Gary Allen, Managing Executive: Strategic Partnerships Sanlam Corporate

“My experience of working with Ruth is that of professionalism. Ruth delivers. She is a committed individual with a sharp analytical mind. Aside from being ethical in every way that counts, what you are likely to get from Ruth is the following:

Warmth and authenticity
Brilliant writing
Dedication to delivering an outstanding product
Someone who will see things through to the end.

PS: Ruth also has a sense of humour!”

Dr Linda Ronnie, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, UCT

“The coaching time with Ruth was an extremely beneficial investment for me both personally and professionally, and helped me to clarify my vision, deal with self-limiting beliefs and define my next steps as an individual and an entrepreneur in ways that I would not have been able to do alone.”

Dominique Oebell, Co-Founder & Director of Brightsparkz Tutors

“Ruth effortlessly demonstrates credibility in the way she ‘shows up. Her eclectic set of experience, skills and qualifications comes through in her communication style. She is erudite, but extremely humble in the way she demonstrates knowledge on a broad range of topics.  I can honestly say that she built trust in a thoughtful, respectful and gentle way ….. at no point did I feel judged or insecure. In fact, I felt as if the process was being specifically designed for me as an individual as opposed to being fit into a generic ‘template’ approach.

Ruth helped me better understand how I could leverage my areas of strength and improve not only my performance, but also my self-efficacy. I enjoyed our journey together and highly recommend partnering with her for both individual and group coaching initiatives.”

Ajith Singh, Head of Retail Services, Sanlam Collective Investments

I have worked with Ruth on several consulting assignments across a range of clients over the last 10 years or so. Her intellect and conceptual ability always amaze me and she is my preferred consulting partner on any complex and challenging assignment. Ruth is particularly skilled in strategy development and is able to unpack and distill vast amounts of detail into concise and yet comprehensive frameworks. Her facilitation skills at all levels, from the most challenging executive teams, to entry level staff are excellent. She is able to intuitively understand individual and teams and guide them through change. I have also attended her two day leadership narrative course with other corporate leaders which was empowering and very well received.

Ursula Cooper, Director of Collaborate Consulting & Development; Co-Founder of FutureMe, Your Content Goes Here

Who we are

Ruth Penfold-ChanRuth Penfold-Chan (Founder)

Strategist, integrator, storyteller, coach, consultant, fanatical learner, believer in possibility. What does one call oneself when being all of these things is what brings energy to your life and makes you, you?

Simply put, I am a problem solving addict who cannot help but examine things and reflect on how they might hang together differently to create something new and adaptable. My joy comes from doing this with other people who are willing to bring their talent and passion into the room to build something of lasting value together.

To this end I also collaborate with a network of other talented, passionate individuals who are specialists in their field to maximise systemic value creation and provide additional capacity when required.

I live by Ephesians 3:20, “Now give glory to God who is able through His mighty power at work within us to accomplish so much more than we might ask or imagine.”  Yes, please!

Oh, I’m sorry you just wanted to check my qualifications?  I got carried away, you can see them here.

Like what you hear?

Say Hello!

We would love to journey with you.