1. CEO
Became a more empowering leader and reduced high personnel turnover
4. Finance Executive
Navigated career transition and communicated with more confidence
2. Senior Manager
Strengthened management skills and credibility after promotion
5. Director
Improved marketing strategy and work/life balance
3. VP
Managed difficult relationships at work
1. CEO - leadership and communication style
The CEO was frustrated that her staff were not meeting the standards she expected and were not improving sufficiently despite her feedback. She was also concerned about the company’s high staff turnover, which was costly to the firm in terms of recruitment and development. As a result, she engaged me as her coach.
I observed her interactions with staff during meetings. With their permissions, I recorded several of these sessions. Using examples from the recordings, I gave her feedback on her leadership and communication style. She came to recognise her tendency to reprimand employees when dissatisfied with their work and the negative impact this had on morale. Together, we explored the beliefs and assumptions underlying her reactions. She owned her responsibilities as a leader to develop people and the impact of her communication style. She also practised delivering constructive feedback through role play.
In addition, I supported her in identifying the kind of leader she wanted to be. We developed a programme to enable her to practise the new leadership style and receive feedback. She also received coaching on improving recruitment assessment and performance-based rewards.
As a result, the client became a calmer, more persuasive and more effective leader. Company morale improved noticeably and firm-wide staff turnover was reduced. The organisation also adopted a more standardised and evidence-based approach to recruitment, assessment and performance management. As an added benefit, her improved communication skills positively transformed her relationship with her child.
2. Senior Manager - management skills and credibility
A specialist, who had just been promoted into a role with significant managerial responsibility, wanted to improve how she managed both upwards and downwards, while also building her credibility and visibility within the organisation. When she couldn't find a training program that addressed all these needs, we persuaded her company to support her transition with executive coaching.
In our first session, we discussed the specific challenges she was facing and established clear performance and development goals with measurable outcomes. Through our subsequent meetings, we explored the difficulties she encountered at work, identified their root causes and developed strategies to address them. She learned to adopt a more situational approach to leadership - flexing her management style based on what each team member needed in terms of direction and motivation. She also became more skilled at understanding her managers' and subordinates' expectations, which helped her collaborate more effectively with both groups.
Through role play, she practised having critical conversations and communicating with more impact. Between sessions, she consistently applied what we discussed, then brought those real-world experiences back to our coaching conversations to refine her approach.
The results were tangible. Her business outcomes improved, and she received positive feedback from colleagues across levels. She developed into a confident leader who could drive her team forward effectively. By raising her profile in meetings and with senior executives, she strategically enhanced her visibility and credibility—ultimately taking greater control of her career trajectory within the firm.
3. VP - difficult relationships at work
A Vice President at a major bank was struggling with her work environment, particularly her relationship with her manager, so she decided to work with me to address these challenges.
In our early sessions, we explored what she was thinking and feeling during difficult interactions at work. Through this exploration, we discovered something important: what made her most uncomfortable wasn't the interactions themselves, but how she was interpreting them - and those interpretations were eroding her confidence. Once she recognised this pattern, she began to challenge her own assumptions, evaluating the situations more objectively and reducing the emotional impact these situations had on her.
We also worked on rebuilding her self-confidence by shifting her focus. Instead of dwelling only on areas for improvement, she learned to acknowledge what she was doing well. This gave her a more stable, internal foundation for self confidence.
The changes were significant. She developed a stronger appreciation for her own capabilities and became more self-assured. Her relationships with her manager and colleagues became more relaxed and collaborative and she felt more at ease at work. With renewed clarity and motivation, she took concrete steps to advance her career and has since been involved in several high-profile deals.
4. Finance Executive - career transition and confident communication
After 12 years at a blue-chip company, a finance executive decided to make a change. She wanted clarity on her career aspirations and support throughout the recruitment process, but she also recognised a deeper need: learning to communicate with assertiveness and confidence. That's when she hired me as her coach.
Through deep exploration and exercises, we identified her core professional values and priorities. With these insights and role play, she learned to advocate her opinions with confidence and impact. I also coached her through interview preparation, helping her articulate the unique value she could bring to prospective employers.
Within weeks, she secured a more senior leadership position than the one she'd left. The hiring company noted that she stood out because she wasn't afraid to hold her ground - exactly what they needed for dealing with the tough venture capitalists.
Once she started the new job, she realised the role demanded more strategic thinking than she was used to. Thus, we kept working together, this time focusing on how to succeed at this higher level. She learned to step back and look at the bigger context, consider problems from different stakeholder angles and handle tricky situations with her team. Over time, she grew into a confident strategic leader. Her line manager consistently recognised her excellent contributions - a testament to how far she'd come from that first conversation about finding clarity in her career.
5. Director - improved revenue and work/life balance
A consulting company director came to me with a dilemma: he wanted to grow revenue but was burning out, regularly working 6-7 days a week and late into the evenings. Something had to change.
As we examined his market position and competitive landscape, it became clear that the answer wasn't working more - it was charging more. By raising his prices, he could be more selective about clients and projects, focusing on work that truly aligned with his business goals and interests.
However, he was concerned whether his clients would react negatively to price increases. We spent time exploring the situation and possible scenarios, and mapped out an approach: how to position the increase with existing clients, what to charge new ones and how to communicate it effectively.
Three months after implementing his new pricing strategy, he'd increased revenue by 10%. More importantly, he'd reclaimed enough time to exercise regularly - something he genuinely enjoyed and that made a noticeable difference to his overall well-being.
