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Ben Wales

500+ hours of coaching experience

Leadership Coach · Executive Coach · Team Coach

Reading, Guildford & London

United Kingdom

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Overview
About me Credentials Reviews
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About me

Leadership Coach Reading, Guildford & London

A leading coach to CEO’s, executive teams and individual leaders I am known for enabling big shifts in a short time.


CEOs & MDs After 19 years leading companies I know it’s rarely plain sailing and can be lonely at the top. For CEOs my programme powerfully combines 121 leadership coaching, peer coaching with 12 successful CEOs plus expert speakers.

I work with company leaders who’ve a significantly stretching 3-5-year vision in organisations from £5m to £75m turnover (PE/investor backed or independent). Expect deep challenge with pace, accountability and support.

Leadership Teams Senior teams that choose me want to be the #1 team of their type. Often, they’re experiencing uncomfortable, limiting conflict which, with team coaching, can be harnessed into cohesive, creative productivity. I coach teams to develop exceptional levels of trust, commitment and accountability and inspire their organisations. They become clear about their identity, purpose, performance and approach and this leads to results.

Individual Leaders 121 coaching remains at the heart of my practice. I coach leaders at points of personal change such as a new senior role and during periods of high challenge. I am often sought out by leaders who enjoy constant stretch yet are mindful of the line between burning brightly and burning out.

Recent Assignments
• CTO, technology sector. Focus: “to turn around the division I need to change from manager to leader and gain influence at board level.”
• CEO, manufacturing industry. Focus: “to step from European to global growth I need impact across the organisation; culture, direction, decision making, developing new strengths and strong teams.”
• Senior Leadership Team, telecoms. Focus: “to remain #1 in our market and become international the SLT needs to become a transformational leadership team with long reach and able to lead impressive growth and transformation and develop our world class culture”

My Story 20 years after a career pivot from rocket science into start-ups and scale-ups I’ve led a new business to IPO, grown another through the 2008 credit crunch and founded a London consulting practice which grew across Scandinavia and won the plaudit ‘A business to inspire Europe’.
Looking back, three threads underpinned these successes and are prominent in my coaching today:

• Vision: Stretching, compelling and found by seeing beyond the practical to the possible.
• Team: Great teams are rare yet, with knowledge and focus, can be built quickly.
• Longevity: People and teams burn out. Vitality, resilience and constant growth is essential to lasting success.

Although I’m blessed to have been successful, I have scars including a failed start-up and burn out. These also shape me as a coach.

Outside work I continue to build my coaching skills at Henley Business School where I gained my post graduate qualifications in coaching and I am a charity trustee.

Arrange a free exploratory chat at a time convenient for you in My Calendar and I'll look forward to talking with you.
Credentials
Professional body membership

Association for Professional Executive Coaching & Supervision

Level of membership/accreditation

APECS - Professional MemberAPECS - Practising Executive Coach

Qualifications

Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching and Behavioural Change (Henley Business School)

Postgraduate Certificate in Coaching and Behavioural Change (Henley Business School)

Professional Certificate in Coaching (Henley Business School)

EverythingDiSC authorised partner including 360 feedback, leadership and productive conflict focussed profiles

NLP Practitioner (ITS NLP / Ian McDermott)

Reviews
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Ben's knowledge and ability to draw out the crux of a challenge has helped me to order and make sense of our current operating environment and challenges. I have come away from our call feeling empowered and invigorated and; alongside the additional metrics, guidance and reading he has given me to help with the issue I am focussing on; has given me a boost of confidence in my own abilities and growth potential. Thank you, Ben! I am looking forward to our next call! GM, Operations Manager

14/09/2022

It's hard to put the value of my coaching relationship with Ben into one review. He brings clarity at times of flux, cuts through chaos and provides an environment where I am incredibly supported to make the right decisions. Being a senior leader can at times feel lonely. I know I can pick up the phone to Ben at any time and am never made to feel that an issue is inconsequential. Put simply, my life is better for having a coaching relationship with him! SE, MD

16/05/2022

Ben has had a staggering impact on my life in the year that I have known him. An exceptional coach that can unpack complex situations, creating space for new perspectives and asking better questions. In both group and 1-2-1 settings, Ben always finds a way to get "unstuck" and has a unique ability of breaking down seemingly insurmountable challenges. I couldn't recommend him enough. - PN, COO

19/01/2021

Ben is a class act, and has managed to achieve where many others have failed: influencing behaviour, making the learning stick, and affecting real change. The leadership development programme that he has guided me and my colleagues through has been in a completely different league to those I have previously experienced. As a consultant member of a SLT I continue to feel very fortunate, personally and professionally, to have been introduced to Ben and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him. NE, HR Consultant

25/09/2019

I've known Ben for about a year now and have had a great experience in that time. He introduced me to the concept of Vistage, and respectfully and enthusiastically pursued me until my interest was piqued. I joined his group and have never looked back. He has a great, empathetic style and manages to get the balance right between listening and guiding. He is adept at distilling deep, complex business issues into the one or two key elements that can really help to move things forward. Seeing the wood for the trees is one of his greatest strengths. When we meet, I often have difficult business issues to process. Without exception, I always leave our discussions with a clearer view of the path ahead, and feeling much better about the particular issue that has been on my mind. Ben is an all round top guy. It's a pleasure to know him and I can't recommend him highly enough. D.B. CEO.

08/07/2019

Ben is an exceptional coach whom I hired when faced with making one of the biggest business decisions of my life. I knew of Ben's reputation: he is insightful, incredibly bright and equipped with a brilliant toolkit and an ability to get quickly to the crux of the matter and to therefore help his client to get there and to find their own, workable solutions; the results were incredible for me. With his coaching I was able to find the right direction in a very difficult and confusing time and, along with it, purpose, calm and renewed focus - which felt like quite a challenge before we began! Thank you Ben, I wouldn't have got here without you - happy, loving my work again and a TEDx Speaker!!! HM Company Director & Speaker

28/12/2018

Ben's ability to hold the space and his deep, intuitive listening helped create lots of new perspectives and possibilities for me.This led me to the right decisions for me and my business and I know I am on the right path now. He also held me to account in a subtle way yet in a way that I knew I would not be "let off the hook" SJ Managing Partner

19/12/2018

Ben’s Coaching is first class. I knew Ben by reputation; now I know him for inspiring considerable confidence, growth and performance in my team. It’s important to choose the right coach - I chose Ben. JS HR Business Partner

15/10/2018
Specialist areas
Difficult Conversations Emotional Intelligence Influencing Skills Leadership Personal Impact Personality Profiling Resilience Strategy Team Coaching Partner Offer
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