At One Little Spark, we believe that an Imaginative Life must be built on a foundation of integrity, care, and systemic health. While we are a boutique consultancy, we operate with the rigour of an academic institution and the agility of a Maker Mindset. This statement outlines how we manage our quality, environment, safety, and data.

1. Quality Management

We do not view quality as a tickbox exercise, but as part our curriculum for an Imaginative Life.

The Practice: Our service delivery is rooted in Emergent Strategy, ensuring our consultancy adapts to client needs while maintaining high research standards.
Feedback Systems: We utilise a collaborative and non-hierarchical method of gathering feedback to ensure our outputs are inclusive, impactful, and refined.

2. Environmental Management

We are committed to respecting the landscapes we inhabit.

Low-Impact Delivery: We prioritise a digital-first approach to minimise carbon footprints where possible.
Systemic Health: We champion resourcefulness, re-purposing materials to reduce waste and using recyclable and recycled materials where possible.

3. Health, Safety & Wellbeing

We believe that creativity cannot flourish without Safety.

We work with organisations to ensure risk assessments have been undertaken for all in-person workshops.
Following the principle of rest is resistance, we build fallow periods into our project timelines to prevent burnout and ensure sustained mental well-being,

4. Information Security & Data Protection

We treat client data with care and are compliant with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Data Integrity: All digital assets and client records are stored in encrypted, multi-factor authenticated environments. We ensure that sensitive data is secure and deleted securely upon project completion.

GDPR Compliance: We operate on the principles of data minimisation and purpose limitation. We only collect data necessary to deliver our world-building services.

Privacy Policy: Our practice is governed by a comprehensive Privacy Policy (available on our website) which outlines how we collect, store, and protect personal data, ensuring transparency and individual rights are upheld.

Collaborative Protection: When working with clients, we align with their internal data protection standards. We ensure that any collaborative “Makerspace” or digital platform used during a project meets required standards.

Data Integrity: All digital assets are stored in encrypted, multi-factor authenticated environments.
Confidentiality: We ensure sensitive organisational data is never compromised or shared.

5. Business Continuity: Emergent Resilience

We prepare for business continuity through:

Digital Redundancy: All core consultancy assets are backed up via cloud-based protocols.
Network: We maintain a curated network of colleagues who can ensure project continuity in the event of unforeseen disruptions.

6. Ethics & Fair Practice

Modern Slavery: We are committed to a world free of exploitation. We collaborate with those who share our commitment to fair pay and the dignity of work. We foster close, transparent relationships with our suppliers (such as printers, venues, and tech providers).
Anti-Corruption: We operate with integrity, ensuring our offer is never compromised by unethical financial practices.
WEEE Compliance: We take responsibility for our digital footprint, ensuring all technology is recycled or repurposed at the end of its life.

Values and Approach

At One Little Spark, we don’t just consult; we seeks to build worlds. Our work is guided by a commitment to radical joy, wellbeing, and the belief that an imaginative life is a right, not a privilege.

1. Joy

We believe that joy is a strategic and purposeful act. In a world of rigid systems, we choose whimsy, colour, and play as tools for transformation. We find the spark that makes an organisation feel alive.

2. Difference as a Strength

As a business founded by a gay man, One Little Spark is rooted in the spirit of the outsider. We value the act of looking at the world from a different angle to find the “Glitches” where new ideas can grow. We are committed to increasing visibility and representation for all marginalised voices.

We ensure our workshops and consultancies are safe space and operate a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation Protected Characteristics under the UK Equality Act 2010). We recognise neurodivergent ways of thinking and adapt our delivery methods to ensure accessibility for all styles.

3. Place, Nature & The Industrial Sublime

Based in Redcar, on the edge of the North Sea, we are shaped by the Industrial Sublime. We find beauty in the intersection of heavy industry and coastal nature. Our ethics are tied to our community. We advocate for the North East and post-industrial regions, ensuring that Imagination isn’t something that only happens in the capital.

4. The Maker Mindset

As a husband and father, I believe that the work we do today builds the world our children will inherit. We practice the Maker Mindset, treating every project with the craftsmanship of an archive and the care of a home. We honour the need for space, silence, and retreat periods to sustain long-term creativity.

5. Intellectual Rigour

Our practice is informed by a curated library of thinkers from Gaston Bachelard to adrienne maree brown. We bridge the gap between academic depth and strategic complexity, ensuring our imaginative interventions are always grounded in theory and practice.

6. Social Value

At One Little Spark, we are committed to generating social value that strengthens the fabric of our local community and the sectors we serve.

Our founder, Professor Kieran Fenby-Hulse, serves as a Trustee for the Redcar & Cleveland Voluntary Development Agency (RCVDA). Through this role, we donate professional expertise to support the strategic health of the local voluntary and community sector, ensuring that “The Spark” of grassroots activism is sustained.
We acts as ambassadors for place and seek to actively support regions in transition.
We advocate for and encourage communal creativity through our newsletter and Messhall imaginative community to democratise high-level academic and strategic thinking.