Coaching & Mentoring

One-on-onE

Much of my professional coaching and mentoring experience was developed during the 20 years I spent as Founder and CEO of The Forest Trust. I grew the organisation to a staff of over 260 people comprising folk from more than 25 nationalities working on projects in almost 50 countries. This enormous breadth of cultural and geographical diversity was a great platform for learning about people and how to help them grow and flourish, professionally and personally. Beyond that, all of the work I led during that 20 year period was coaching and mentoring Chairs, CEOs and Senior Execs from businesses, NGOs and non-profits to understand and speak their values and then to use them as their guides to navigate through seriously wicked environmental and social challenges. That work continues today.

Through my own journey of being crazy busy, of launching a start-up, surviving the early years and then growing it to thrive, from the elation of high achievement, to the low of burn-out-related heart surgery, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve learned that the path to a full and effective life lies in getting deeply and unwaveringly connected to who you are - to what’s essentially you, yes, to your Duck. So many of us work hugely busy lives but give too little, if any time to nurturing ourselves. This has significant and often unseen - before it’s too late - consequences for our health and lives.

When we do seek nurture, we take massages, we rest, meditate, listen to music or do other great things, but many times these focus on care for the external body. I think we need to spend more time getting connected to and nurturing our inner well-being and listening to the guidance that comes from that place. I call this, “a different way ” and I’ve done so much of my own exploration into what I need to do to get to that “way.” In my one-on-one coaching and mentoring sessions, I help people explore their own inner life and consider how they’re doing nurturing it and listening to its guidance.

within organisations

In addition to supporting Chairs, CEOs and Senior Execs one-on-one to explore their own “different way”, I support organisational teams.

As organisations grow, they change. The dynamic, exhilarating tensions of a start-up meld into different challenges as structures get embedded, multi-skilled individuals become teams that morph into siloed departments, growth targets ramp as investors or funders come on board and personal expectations for professional growth enter the mix. “Internal politics” that didn’t exist in a structure of one can become destabilising and incomprehensible. Founding CEOs are not always equipped for this next phase, and organisational cultures can shift in ways that don’t feel right.

I help leaders and their organisations get connected to what does feel right, to who they are, their values, their “Big Why.” It’s about their organisation being connected to its own unique “different way". People want to know why their organisation exists, why they come to work every day at this place. It’s not always self-evident or if it is on Day 1, by Day 624, things may have changed. Yet these sometimes invisible changes can derail organisations and the people within them. People want to grow and develop and if those opportunities aren’t there, the drain of turnover can be debilitating. Attracting the best talent so often depends on personal and professional growth opportunities within an organisation. At the same time, people work so hard and focus so madly on hitting targets that they get wrung out, they suffer and the risk of poor decisions and burn out rises. This is so often accepted because it’s the norm yet this grand suffering hurts both the individual and the organisation. We don’t focus enough on radical self-care.

I help organisations build cultures that help them navigate these challenges. Through one-on-one coaching, workshops and retreats, my partners grow put their values centre stage.