Executive Coaching for Individuals and Teams

Adapting, learning and growing in changing environments are key challenges for senior executives if they are to excel in today’s workplace. Executive coaching is an effective tool to help executives develop the insight and skills they need to help themselves and their organisations through times of change. At the individual level it can support the development of management and leadership skills whilst at the organisational level it can support strategic and cultural changes. Executive coaching can be particularly powerful in supporting the effective management of key relationships with customers, suppliers, peers, seniors and employees. My approach to coaching is to help clients understand the dilemmas facing them in the workplace and work with them to find ways to improve their resulting responses and actions. This approach is primarily one of exploring the situation and improving understanding of what is going on, so that the client can reflect on their options, see the bigger picture and employ the most effective behaviour to achieve required business outcomes.

Experience

Throughout my career I have coached and mentored teams and individuals to achieve more than they had previously thought they were capable of. I am widely read in all areas of management science and workplace psychology, and have experience of putting theory into practice in challenging work environments. Clients tell me that I am insightful and empathetic, and that they value my ability to raise their sights above immediate issues to focus on the bigger picture.

I have worked with senior executives across a range of organizations and settings. My interventions vary depending on my clients ‘specific circumstances. I have helped clients in such areas as increasing their boardroom impact, developing their personal leadership brand or hitting the ground running in a new role. Whilst I enjoy executive coaching across a broad range of issues and challenges, there are a couple of areas where I have a particular passion;

● Helping executives manage difficult relationships more productively. Many senior executives have ticked all of the boxes in terms of experience and intellect, but still struggle to gain effective traction with their stakeholders. Being able to work effectively with teams, customers and colleagues is a pre-requisite of success in most senior roles. Understanding the dynamics and politics of the situation is crucial to preparing effective strategies to better manage difficult relationships more productively. I have significant experience of working at senior levels in large organisations and understand the importance of managing relationships in a way that supports the values and culture of the organisation.

● Helping women fulfil their potential. Although it is now over 30 years since the Sex Discrimination Act became law there are still many areas in which women have yet to achieve full equality. One in four FTSE 100 companies has no women on the board of directors and women are hugely underrepresented in both senior executive and non executive positions -only 11% of new non-executive directors appointed to FTSE 100 firms in 2008 were women. In a traditionally male oriented workplace women can have specific development and career planning needs that can be effectively addressed through executive coaching. Having had a successful executive and non-executive career myself and having coached a significant number of female executives, I can bring support and insight to coaching in this area.

Business Career

I have extensive experience of working in senior executive positions in large organisations, and have led major change programmes of significant scale and scope. I spent many years working in the telecommunications industry, mostly with BT plc where I was Chief Procurement Officer from 2001 to 2007. In this role I was responsible for all of BT’s procurement, supply chain, logistics and property functions, with a spend budget of over £7bn per annum. During this period I was also the group wide Corporate Social Responsibility Champion for BT. Previous roles at BT included leading the 13000 strong field engineering team providing customer services for the South of England, and heading up the Customer Project Management team which delivered major IT and telecoms change programmes to public and private sector organizations. I have held a number of non executive positions in the private and voluntary sectors, spanning start ups, established Plc’s, member organizations and publicly funded organizations. I work for the Cabinet Office 2 das a week as a Crown Representative, and I do sessional lecturing for a number of academic institutions. From this experience I have gained insight into how organisations function, how overt and covert decision making processes work, how relationships and politics can be recognised and managed and how strategy, goals and values need to be aligned for success. I have a wide and vibrant network across the business community.

Education, Qualifications, Professional Positions
MSc Organizational Behaviour, Birkbeck College, University of London
PhD Warwick Business School  “The role of social capital and networking in corporate board selection processes”

Certified Coach (Tavistock Institute)
Senn Delaney Master Coach course
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
London Business School Global Consortium Programme Alumnae
Common Purpose Alumnae
Level A and B BPS certified
Non Executive Director James Latham Plc
Crown Representative, Cabinet Office

Former Non Executive Director Gateway to London
Former Non Executive Director Institute of Telecoms Professionals
Former Member of the Board of Management, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply

Selected Client Companies

Client sectors include professional services, financial services, public sector, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and aerospace.