If you’re wondering what executive and leadership coaching really is, how it works, and what it might do for you, this article is for you.
What is coaching?
Coaching has developed over the last 30 years or so through sports coaching, psychology, philosophy and organisational behavioural science. Today, it is a professionalised field with many specialisms, and many coaches are trained, accredited and members of professional bodies.
I describe coaching as a highly personalised form of personal development. It offers a confidential, non-judgemental and thought-provoking space to work through personal and professional challenges and opportunities. It’s a chance to explore - and put into practice - what you want to change, strengthen or achieve in your life and work.
As your coach, I act as a trusted thinking partner: someone outside your context who listens carefully, asks open and insightful questions, offers honest observations and useful challenge, and helps you turn insight into practical next steps.
Coaching is not therapy, though it can be therapeutic. Therapy focuses on healing and resolving past pain or mental-health challenges; coaching focuses on your potential, what may be holding you back, and creating a fulfilling path forward. Sometimes you need one more than the other; sometimes both.
What is the difference between executive and leadership coaching?
For me, the difference is who I’m working with and what we focus on. There is crossover, but broadly:
Executive coaching is for CEOs, directors and established senior professionals. It is a robust thinking partnership for exploring sensitive issues and complex organisational challenges, working through your thinking, and enhancing your impact. If you are navigating board relationships, strategic decisions or organisational change, this is likely to be the best fit.
Leadership coaching is for senior managers, and heads of department. It focuses on leadership development: deepening self-awareness and unlocking your leadership style, approach and capabilities. If you are growing into a bigger role or want to lead your team more effectively, this may be the right starting point.
Why do people have coaching?
The higher up you go, the less honest feedback you tend to receive. That can make it harder to see what is really happening, or why things are not working as they should. Senior leaders also carry significant organisational and board pressure. Coaching offers space to manage that pressure, stay strategic and future-focused, and lead with greater confidence and clarity.
For senior managers and heads of department, coaching often focuses on developing leadership skills - particularly managing upwards or leading a team. Perhaps your current approach is no longer working, the team is struggling, or you have been promoted, moved sector, or stepped into a larger role.
People also increasingly seek coaching independently, particularly when they want to work out what they need next in their life or career, or want support that is separate from their workplace.
My approach
My approach is entirely bespoke: shaped by where you are, what you need and what you want to achieve. I don’t offer a set programme of content because I don’t think it is as effective. Instead, we co-create the work together, taking time to understand how you think and learn, what you are stuck with, and how we can work best together.
My coaching is also informed by two decades in senior and CEO roles across arts, culture and charity settings, alongside research into leadership and a PG Cert in Coaching for Behavioural Change from Henley Business School. That experience means I well understand the kinds of pressures and culture you are working within.
Where useful, I can blend coaching with mentoring, particularly with first-time CEOs or newly promoted heads of department. To ensure this blended approch works well, I am always clear about which mode we are in and careful to offer insights that illuminate rather than limit your thinking.
What to expect from a coaching session
Every coaching engagement begins with a free, no-obligation discovery call. It is a chance for us both to explore your situation, what you hope to gain, and any questions you have about me, the process, or whether this is the right support for you. It will also give you a sense of me, and what it might feel like to work together.
When assessing who you want to work with, two important questions to ask yourself are: do I feel excited to work with this person? Do I feel I can trust them and be open and honest about what I’m struggling with?
Should we agree to work together, in the first session we’ll spend time exploring your aims in more depth: what you want, why it matters, and what might get in the way. From there, we co-design how we will work together and then keep checking in as along the way.
Throughout our coaching engagement, I will use reflective questions and observations, and suggest tools and exercises we could try that may open up your creative and strategic thinking.
I always like to stress to people that the work they do between sessions matters as much as the coaching itself. Continuing reflection, or committing to actions, helps you progress and put new ways of being and doing into practice.
If any of this resonates, I’d be glad to talk it through.
Contact Me: Discovery Call / Email / LinkedIn