Coaching
I use a range of strategies to enable clients to learn and gain insight.
I am predominantly a non-directive coach. First and foremost, I am interested in you, and aim to help you to understand how your beliefs, values, actions and behaviours have impact as a leader.
I am also interested in aiding you to find solutions to your leadership challenges. I use listening, questioning, reflection, positive affirmation and paraphrasing to support you to understand your situation, widen your thinking, consider your options and help you to commit to a way forward.
I balance a personable approach with high challenge with permission, honesty, support, good humour and full confidentiality.
Why invest in coaching?
Current research (Tatiana Bachkirova, 2024) identifies a range of ways in which coaching can enable deep learning for leaders. For example, coaching has the potential to develop you to become more effective in:
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Building and developing an effective culture with clear expectations - leaders learn to create and embed a culture of wellbeing and support balanced with high levels of expectation and success. Leaders learn to work with others to build a strong culture of psychological safety, within which the team is able to openly share challenges and take risks without fear.
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Becoming more strategic – especially when leading in a period of austerity. Leaders learn to think creatively and strategically about deploying limited financial and human resources.
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Developing and managing others, including teams – how to empower others, and also to achieve more with successful teams.
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Develop their presence and impact: improve leadership skills and become more effective in guiding their team towards having greater impact.
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Increase productivity: Leaders collaboratively identify and address any obstacles to their performance and agree on steps to achieve their goals more efficiently.
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Develop confidence
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Become a more effective communicator – leaders learn to communicate more effectively with each other, leading to better collaboration, fewer misunderstandings, and a more positive day-to-day experience of working together
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Improve time management and ability to prioritise
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Understanding the big picture
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Deal effectively with relationship challenges
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Manage change well - changes to staffing structures, provision, curriculum, helping leaders accept the resulting impact.
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Enable self-care and avoid burnout – providing support for wellbeing and work/life balance
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Supporting and developing resilience - Coping with the pressures of accountability systems, dealing with complex staffing matters
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Improved problem-solving: Teams can develop their problem-solving skills to come up with innovative solutions, making better use of each others’ ideas and perspectives