Executive Coaching
Space to think, reflect and work out what comes next.
Executive coaching provides confidential, protected space to step away from the immediate demands of work and think properly about the questions that matter.
I work with senior leaders and professionals navigating complexity, change, relationships, career decisions and questions about their role, contribution or professional identity.
My approach draws on organisational psychology and my experience of working in and with complex organisations. I bring curiosity, challenge and a wider organisational perspective, but coaching is not about me providing the answer. It is about creating the conditions in which you can explore what is happening, see things differently and decide what is right for you.
Coaching topicsHow I coachDevelopment programmeProfessional practiceWorking with me
A different kind of conversation
Senior roles can involve a great deal of interaction with other people while providing surprisingly little space to think.
There may be colleagues, managers, teams and professional networks around you, but not necessarily someone with whom you can explore an issue openly, without needing to have already formed a view or worrying about where the conversation might lead.
Coaching creates that space.
What I value most about coaching is the opportunity to give somebody the time to think. Often we already hold much of the knowledge we need. The value can come from being able to articulate something, question an assumption, make a connection or see a situation from a different perspective.
Sometimes a relatively short conversation can change how we understand a problem.
What might bring you to coaching?
There does not need to be a problem to solve or a predetermined development objective.
You might want space to think about:
Professional identity and purpose
What matters to you in your work, the contribution you want to make and how you want your career to develop.
Change and transition
Making sense of a changing role, organisation or professional situation and deciding how you want to respond.
Relationships and difficult situations
Thinking through challenging relationships, conversations or patterns of interaction at work.
Career choices and what comes next
Exploring possibilities and deciding what you actually want, rather than simply following an expected career path.
Confidence, contribution and feeling valued
Understanding what you need from your work and where your sense of contribution, recognition and value comes from.
Complex organisational situations
Stepping away from the immediate issue to understand what else may be happening around you and what is within your influence.
Greater responsibility
Thinking about how you want to approach a more senior or demanding role without assuming there is a single model you need to fit.
The agenda is yours. These are examples rather than a coaching curriculum.
How I coach
Space to think
Good coaching does not need to fill the conversation.
I want to create enough space for you to explore what you are thinking, including ideas that may initially be uncertain, contradictory or difficult to articulate. Part of my role is to listen carefully, notice what seems important and ask questions that help you examine it.
Discovery rather than advice
In much of my professional work I am asked to bring expertise, evidence or a recommendation. Coaching is deliberately different.
My role is not to solve the problem for you. I will ask questions, challenge assumptions, reflect things back and sometimes offer an observation, but the aim is to help you reach your own understanding and make decisions that are right for you.
That takes discipline on both sides. It also means that the thinking and decisions that emerge remain yours.
The person in context
I am an organisational psychologist, so I am interested in the person and the context in which they are working.
A difficulty experienced by an individual may also involve relationships, management practices, job design, organisational structures, technology, culture or wider patterns of change. Coaching should not automatically turn an organisational problem into something the individual needs to fix.
My socio-technical systems background means I naturally pay attention to these connections. We can explore the wider situation while remaining focused on what it means for you and what you want to do.
Psychology where it is useful
My coaching is informed by psychological research and nearly twenty years of experience as an organisational psychologist.
That does not mean turning every coaching conversation into a psychological analysis. Evidence, models and psychometric tools can be useful when they help someone think differently, but they are tools rather than the starting point.
The conversation comes first.
Working with me
I work primarily with senior leaders and experienced professionals who want time to think carefully about their work, career or a particular situation they are navigating.
People come to coaching for different reasons. Some have a specific decision or challenge they want to explore. Others want a longer-term space for reflection as their role, career or circumstances develop.
We would normally begin with an initial conversation to understand what you are looking for, whether coaching is appropriate and whether we are a good fit to work together.
If we decide to continue, we agree the purpose and practical arrangements for the coaching together. I do not use a fixed programme or take every client through the same sequence of topics.
Why work with me?
I am a Chartered Psychologist and Professor of Organisational Psychology, with nearly twenty years’ experience researching, teaching and applying psychology to questions about people and work.
My career has involved working with people across universities, government, public services and other complex organisations. Alongside my academic work, I have held senior organisational roles concerned with culture, inclusion, engagement and organisational change.
I bring that experience into the coaching room without assuming that I know what somebody else should do.
My background also includes training and experience in psychometrics. Where there is a clear purpose, psychological tools can form part of our work together, but they are not a requirement for coaching.
Coaching Professional Development Programme
Alongside my wider coaching practice, I currently offer a limited number of reduced-fee places through my Coaching Professional Development Programme.
I am completing advanced professional development in executive coaching through Henley Business School. The programme provides opportunities for additional clients to work with me while contributing to the development and accreditation of my coaching practice.
These are full coaching engagements, with the same approach to contracting, confidentiality and professional practice as my other coaching work. For some places, I may ask whether a client would be willing to have selected sessions audio recorded for assessment as part of my Henley programme. This would always be discussed and agreed in advance.
In return, Professional Development Programme clients receive a substantially reduced fee.
Places are limited and depend on whether there is an appropriate fit.
Professional practice
Coaching depends on trust, confidentiality and clear professional boundaries.
At the beginning of an engagement we agree how we will work together, including confidentiality, expectations and the purpose of the coaching.
My practice is informed by the professional and ethical standards associated with my work as a Chartered Psychologist and by my professional coaching training. I undertake coaching supervision as part of my continuing professional development.
Where coaching is commissioned by an organisation, we will also agree clearly what is and is not shared with the sponsoring organisation.
A space to work out what is right for you
If you are considering coaching, we can start with a conversation about what has prompted you to explore it and what you would like from the process.
There is no obligation to proceed.