About me
Executive Coach - London
35 years business experience in complex, multi-national, multi-stakeholder environments operating at board level in communications, marketing and sales.
I specialise in working with leaders who are taking on new responsibilities, stepping up to a bigger role or preparing for promotion, where the impact of coaching can be transformational.
My background
I have spent my career working in big corporates, most recently as chief communication officer at Visa. That means I understand the reality of dealing with competing commitments and interests, supposedly working towards the same goal; how to help a leader manage these complexities, and move forward.
Coaching style
I find the most valuable conversations happen when I ask questions and listen for longer. I challenge from a real-world perspective as your thinking partner to help surface better solutions.
Beyond the public view of the organisation, I am curious about the challenges that leaders are facing, and how coaching can help.
Whenever it makes sense I like to take coaching out into the open air, encouraging clients to step away from their computers to walk. I have found that open spaces are great for generating new thinking.
Here are some examples of how coaching has made a difference to my clients:
• Becoming aware of the pressures facing executive leaders, led to an improved working relationship between a divisional director and SVP.
• Recognising that she doesn’t need to do everything led to improved awareness of where a new leader adds most value, and reduced stress.
• CEO/chair relationship – challenge to CEO to run the business led to increased feeling of responsibility and drive to get things done.
• COO considering how to steer company through a merger – balancing competing views about the other organisation, what’s best for current organisation, team, clients, shareholders, as well as relationship with regulators. Exposing the whole raft of interested parties brought awareness to the pivotal role that he was playing in the negotiations.
Outcomes as a result of coaching.
Academic research supports the effectiveness of coaching in business situations and I have seen first hand how it can improve:
• self -awareness and self-belief
• alignment with corporate goals
• engagement with peers, teams and wider stakeholders , leading to improved performance and results.
• retention, nurturing the talent pipeline and developing leaders of the future.
Please contact me for an initial discussion to explore your needs.
Credentials
Professional body membership
European Mentoring & Coaching Council Global
Level of membership/accreditation
EMCC - Accredited Senior Practitioner
Qualifications
Professional Certificate in Coaching, Henley Business SchoolMSc Coaching and Behaviour Change, Henley Business SchoolMental Fitness Coaching, CognomieEMCC Practitioner Programme, The Performance Coach
Reviews
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Fiona coached me on leadership and career development in 2019/2020, as I was the only female member of an executive team. Fiona came across very professional and friendly. Fiona provoked my thinking but never made me feel uncomfortable. After each session I was able to see the problems discussed from a different angle and come out of the meeting with an action plan. She helped me perceive challenging situations more rationally and take thing less personally. Fiona challenged me to step out of situations and see the positives. During the sessions I could voice any issues and ideas and explore opportunities that I had not considered before. As result I have hugely improved my confidence at work and have become more vocal in expressing my career goals. S.H.
31/01/2022
Fiona helped me to assess my future plans, identify my strengths and areas where I could be behaving differently to be more successful. She gave me space to think through my goals and asked the questions I needed to be asked to help me find the right path. Our sessions led to me uncovering insights about myself that have directly led me to have greater confidence to choose better working relationships and respond and communicate with clients in a more effective way. In the past year I have finally achieved some of the goals that I have been working towards for some time and I would relate a good deal of this success to the time I spent working with Fiona. A.W.
24/01/2022
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