Leadership coaching

If you lead a team, a project or an organisation and feel like it's time you had some outside support, I'm here for you.

Is it a presentation you need help with? Have a look at presentation coaching.

Don’t want a full-on coaching relationship? Maybe a one-off clarity session would be more your thing.

You've got this responsible role and it can be difficult, sometimes, to live up to people’s expectations. People need so much from you, but inside, it’s a bit more, er, chaotic at times, right?

Knowing which decisions to make, how to communicate difficult stuff and navigate sensitive situations is tough. Then there's the emails, the meetings, the budgets and the kind of public persona you have to inhabit.

It can feel like you never catch a breath.

Not that you don’t love your job, and believe you’re doing something good. You know you’re doing your best, but, sheesh is it hard.

Well, with me, you have someone who is completely in your corner. And you have dedicated time for you to just think. And process. And maybe offload.

I’m a huge advocate for you when we’re together, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gently challenging. That's because I believe in your potential, in your growth and in your evolution as a leader.

We go slow to go fast, because I want you to make decisions that Future You will be proud of.

So if you feel like you’d like some regular time to think strategically, and more importantly, make sure your work aligns with your personal values, I’m here.

Doing this leadership gig without a coach is unnecessarily hard.

When you have a coach, you start really having dedicated time to think things through. You begin to get a sense that things aren’t about to crash over you.

Any nagging regret you might have about taking on all this responsibility begins to ebb. You feel less like the clock is ticking away your life because you’re more able to make decisions that sit well with your values. Reflecting helps you become a more congruent person. 

You get a boost of strength when you have someone outside of the situation to sense check things with. 

You also have less friction getting done what you actually need to get done. For example, you’re more able to find the balance between fighting your corner and including others, because you’ve had time to think it through!

Organised, scheduled reflection time gives you more perspective so you’re less thrown when inevitable obstacles crop up. This means less drama in your life, which can be a relief.

And ultimately, because you’re getting more of the important stuff done, you’re more able to switch off at the end of the day and live your whole life. 

Meg has been amazing to work with as I navigate leading in complexity. She has helped me make sense of how organisations and people in them behave and how one can lead in a way that unleashes the power of the collective. She created a space for me to challenge my own assumptions and gently held me to account for doing what I said I would! Transformative coaching for me as a leader.’

Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton 2015 – 2018, currently CEO of Fair4AllFinance and Co Chair of the Inclusive Economy Partnership

Working with me is like borrowing some extra insight (and steadiness and compassion) when you need it.

By lending you my brain and heart, I give you extra processing power. We look both at what’s in front of you and what’s ahead of you so you can find your way forward. Sometimes we’ll zoom out to long time horizons, systemic impact and your role in the world. At other times we’ll zoom in on the detail of a meeting or conversation that’s looming.

As a coach, I hold the space for you to grow.

I support leaders to get even better at taking wise and timely action. In order to do this, leaders need to increase their capability and capacity in five ways.

• Leaders need to think in terms of multiple timelines. We need to be able to be in the moment right now, plus think about next week and next month and next year, as well as thinking ten, maybe twenty, heck, even fifty or a hundred years ahead.

• Leaders need to look this messy, broken, beautiful world in the eye. By the way, this includes your messy, broken, beautiful organisation! There’s something profound and necessary about not turning away from complexity, about embracing non-binary spectrums, about facing uncertainty, paradox and mess. Sometimes we want things neat and they’re just NOT. In fact, if you can be somewhat at peace with the chaotic truth of the world then you can still take wise and timely action, instead of freezing or getting overwhelmed.

• Leaders need to spot systemic patterns and flows of history. The ability to go ‘This is (partially) an example of this...’, or ‘This is a bit like this and this…’, 'This feels a bit like...' or ‘Something like this has happened before…’  means you can discover links that allow deeper change to happen.

• Leaders need to embrace their own humanity and the humanity of others. We have to grow the ability to include more and more people’s perspectives in deeper and deeper ways. This is a hallmark of someone who can find plans and solutions that are sustainable, supported, robust and inclusive. It's also vital that you work within your limits as a human being, so that things are sustainable in the long-term. 

• Leaders need be aware of the quality of their awareness. Thinkers like MIT’s Otto Scharmer have a hunch: the better the awareness of the intervenor, the more effective the system intervention. How warm, how open, how gently focused, how wide, how steady and how still you are when thinking, listening, speaking and doing, is key to how deep your influence can be.

Go here to find out more about why I've chosen to work with leaders.

Just 'finished' - these things never finish - a few months of weekly coaching with Meg and I can say it's one of the best things I've done for myself both professionally and personally. So much thanks, Meg.

Kate Towsey, Research Ops Manager, Atlassian

We work together at many levels.

Sometimes we go in really high-level, finding our way through the complexity and mess from a philosophical, conceptual viewpoint.

Sometimes we’re right down there with our feet on the ground. We're building clear plans for meetings, presentations, conversations or writing you’ve got coming up soon.

Sometimes we’re right in the middle of your human life, working on how you can be present and how manage your commitments.

It’s my job to support you in becoming the leader you want to be, moment-to-moment, and, frankly, the leader the world needs you to be.

When we’re working together, you have unlimited access to me.

For leadership coaching, I don't work by the hour but on a monthly fee. Go here to find out more about why I frame my fees differently.

FEE

Leadership coaching is

£900 GBP

for unlimited appointments

On a three- to six-month renewable contract

paid in advance.

During that time, you can book in as much time as you want or need, either on the phone/Skype/Zoom or face-to-face if we’re geographically close.

To be clear, I actively welcome phone/online coaching clients.

You can schedule appointments from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, UK time and even some Saturday mornings.

That means if you’re in North/South America, we can speak in your morning. If you’re in Australia/NZ/Asia, we can do your late afternoon/early evening.

Most people choose to meet up every couple of weeks for 90 minutes or so to talk. Well, mainly you talk and I listen.

What a leadership coaching session with me tends to look like

• You book in a time and date. (I’ve got a super-handy calendar booking link where you just book the time straight into my schedule - as far in advance as you want.)
  
  
  
  

• We meet at the agreed time, and catch up on what’s happened since the last time we met.
  
  
  
  

• I say, "So, what do you want to talk about?"
  
  
  
  

• You start talking.
  
  
  
  

• I listen. Often for ages.

I’m listening for what you’re saying, what you’re not saying, what’s behind what you’re saying, how what you’re saying fits in a wider context and what the energy and shape is of what you’re describing.

I listen for structure, for patterns, for when you’re being most you - and I gently question areas where I suspect you’re not paying enough attention.

I listen in stillness, just asking clarifying questions, often with a super-serious look on my face (apparently - sorry!). 

• I ask questions.

Sometimes I might get you to go up to patterns.
Sometimes I might get you to zoom in to detail. Sometimes you just find what you need to know by talking it out.

I often ask questions about things that seem incongruent or that it seems like you glossed over.
I sometimes help you to step out of your perspective.
I sometimes help you to go under the topic, to explore emotions or find connections.

All to help you find your way through. 

I know you’re not scared of emotions and neither am I - in fact, they’re a vital part of your life as a leader. So our conversation never sidesteps how you're feeling.

• Some coaches are a bit funny about giving advice but if you want it, I’ll weigh in at times; especially if there’s an idea from group dynamics, conflict resolution and so on that I think will benefit you. I’ll give you reading homework if that’s your thing, or just explain useful concepts and frameworks to you in the moment.
  
  Sometimes I might share my perspective, my instinct, what I’ve seen work elsewhere or what this reminds me of.
  
  
  
  

• Whatever happens, you end up in a place of considerably more clarity and usually with obvious next steps.
  
  
  
  

• Sometimes I’ll give you some homework which can be something to work on, something to try out or something be aware of between now and our next session together.
  
  
  
  

• We finish on time. I know you have places to go and people to meet.
  
  
  
  

• If you need support or want to share something outside of our sessions, maybe you’ll What’sApp me. At times I might check in to see how a meeting went, or whatever.

Rinse. Repeat.

I can be an accountability partner too - but never in a guilt-making way. I've even been known to text a client mindfulness reminders so that they appear on their Apple watch!

If you’ve got something particularly intense coming up, you can book longer or more frequent sessions - whatever support is right. There are a range of time slots available - even 15 minute calls!

It’s up to me to say if it ever gets too much. It never has turned out that way as my clients tend to be super-busy on their end and I block my time out when I need it on my end, so things seem to all balance out.

Although I find this lens really useful, I don’t coach via a particular methodology but constantly draw from a variety of stuff I’ve metabolised along the way. I’m a total nerd about so many aspects of group and individual life - you get the results of my metabolising!

Meg and I have worked together for years on maximising my natural existing strengths and supporting me to live into a new level of leadership. The work has been reflective, supportive and challenging, I have not only used the work we have done together to maximise my effectiveness, but the work has had considerable effect on the work I have done with others, and across my whole institution. I like the fact that Meg is also on a continual journey herself!

Professor Helen Higson, Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor at Aston University

If you suspect this might be the right time for you, get in touch.

We'll book in a 15-minute chat to check if we both feel it's right. 

If we both want to go ahead, we'll agree and I'll invoice you so you can pay in whatever way works (PayPal, Purchase Order, bank transfer...)

You pay, you book in sessions and we start!

Use the button below to book in a 15-min chat.