What is coaching ?

Coaching is a managed conversation . Together, we create a safe space that encourages a free-flowing exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing the person being coached.

Good coaching helps you recognise who you are and what you could be – and what needs to happen to achieve this.


I am not there to tell you what to do. My role is to listen, to guide the conversation and to explore responses to a series of open questions. Coaching enables learning and personal development, by drawing on both of our experience and skills to better understand the underlying drivers and the options open to you –  and to create a plan to make the desired transformation a reality.

A useful framework for the coaching is the 4A model :

  • Awareness : understanding what is really happening

  • Acceptance : working honestly with constraints and tensions

  • Action : choosing deliberate, well‑judged steps to move forward

  • Accountability : sustaining progress through reflection and review

My clients have said that coaching has helped them by:

“…providing an excellent sounding board for anyone seeking to locate the obvious amongst the distractions of their day to day.”

“…helping define where you are going and what you need to get there without telling you what to do.”

“…bringing clarity to my thoughts and feelings, allowing me to make some critical decisions with confidence.”

During the coaching,  we will work together to:

  • Establish some clear objectives – be they specific goals or broader themes.

  • Develop a deeper understanding of what is important to you and the underlying motivations and purposes.

  • Imagine some alternate futures and how you and others might perceive them.

  • Define some appropriate steps forward, and a method of assessing progress towards your objectives.

You can expect me to:

  • Be genuinely interested in you as a person and how you can develop.

  • Be respectful and non-judgemental at all times.

  • Listen intently to try to fully understand what you are communicating verbally, physically and emotionally.

  • Be committed to helping you get the best outcome.

I would expect you to:

  • Be open to me – and most importantly – to yourself.

  • Be prepared to consider many possibilities and options, not limited by today’s realities.

  • Be committed to helping yourself to get the best outcome.

Engagement Model

This can be very flexible to allow for your particular situation and your availability.   The typical process would be :

  • A free initial session to explore whether I could help, and whether we both feel that that we could work well together.  We would also discuss what some of your specific objectives would be from an engagement.

  • We agree a coaching engagement.  There are several options :

    • A number of sessions  –  typical sessions are 60 – 90 minutes and are available as a block of 6 or 12

    • A period of time – this would most commonly be for a 6 month period, and would include 1 or 2 sessions a month and all required pre-work, follow-ups and ad-hoc support.

    • A longer one-off session, such as a team facilitation session or a personal transition workshop

  • We agree any required pre-work, such as 360 feedback, or meetings with key stakeholders.