Business demands that people are match fit. As leaders and people in business we are expected, and expect of ourselves, to be able to lead with confidence and with strength. Nothing else is good enough. Our businesses demand excellence. We demand it ourselves.

Paradoxically life is not like that. As human beings, we experience anxiety when we feel we are not good enough, when we do not match our own often exacting standards for excellence. We have strengths but we can lose confidence in ourselves and limitations seem to get the better of us. It is the eternal existential dilemma: being good enough is never good enough and yet we can never be good enough.

My work with clients is about recognising that what we most need is the means to accept our strengths and our limitations and to find solutions to our dilemmas, not by quick fixes or by running away from them; but by confronting our dilemmas and working through the solutions we need to find to move forward. As such I look to provide one to one coaching to leaders who maybe embarking on a new role or who are facing unanticipated difficulties in an existing situation: who maybe leading a new team or experiencing conflict with specific stakeholders. They may be experiencing significant levels of personal stress or be unclear on the future direction of their career. Whatever the situation, coaching can be a powerful vehicle for building a bridge between the present situation to one where we can transform or stretch what is possible for us to realise in the future. As such I focus on creating those conditions of trust, confidentiality and containment that enable our clients to see honestly and openly the situation they face and build ways of moving forward.

My coaching arrangements within organisations also recognise that businesses sponsor people to get coached. As such I seek a full briefing from the business sponsor at the outset and a sponsor debrief at the end of the assignment. Coaching sessions are typically operated to a time limited approach – I work with clients normally over a period of 3-6 months dependent on the outcomes sought by the person and the business.