My clients are typically driven by the desire to be effective in challenging contexts. The demands on them are not usually matched by the support that they need – because their colleagues are too busy or the system that they are in does not attend enough to leader and manager support. Each client has it in them to be more effective for their team and organisation. Our work is to make it so.
Results achieved
A client company hired their first Health & Safety Director bringing external expertise with high expectations of change and impact. I was asked to support the new hire after his early work was failing to create the impact desired.
We focused on the easy wins, one of which in this case was using a system to measure how good the organisation was in H&S terms and what challenges they were facing. We used constellation techniques to prioritise which relationships were most important to gain traction across a distributed business. We also addressed reporting to the Board – what they needed and in what format. We worked on simplifying the executive’s agenda to deliver well on a fewer number of critical elements.
On another occasion, after a broken relationship with a long serving senior executive, I worked with the individual concerned to ‘leave well’ and to re-set what that person would now do in their career. After extensive work this individual could see more clearly the pathway that they wished to take. The coaching support guided the individual into a senior role with an organisation with a better cultural fit and a more aligned purpose.
Professional history
My 37-year career started with working for Rolls-Royce, Shell International, PwC and KPMG. Since then I have sat on a number of Boards as HR Director, COO and Managing Director. I have worked as an interim executive and have started two businesses.
My range of organisational experiences (the environments I have worked in and the roles that I have had responsibility for) have enabled me to be a useful resource to managers and leaders and to those starting up businesses or going into independent working. I can see the world through the eyes, and demands, of professionals who are often challenged to get clear and make progress in tough conditions.
Credentials & coaching approach
I acquired my coaching credentials through the International Coaching Federation in 2008 and have been coaching for nearly 10 years. I hold a degree in sociology and politics from the University of Exeter and am a qualified practitioner in MBTI and FIRO-B. In the last 25 years I have contributed widely as a lecturer and webinar leader with international business schools and universities. In the past six years I have published a wide range of online materials.
My clients say that I am immensely curious about people’s backgrounds; their pathways for their professional work and where their talents might take them. I have a strong belief in the resourcefulness of all individuals and the support that is possible to them in differing organisational contexts.