What is Transformative Leadership?
How can I help? On this page, and in this website, I’ve attempted, no doubt inadequately, to describe the work I do, and what I, uniquely, bring to my professional relationships with people like you.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
What’s Next, and What’s Right Now for You?
You probably work in the public sector, one of the larger or international NGOs, an impact-oriented corporate or medium sized business, or a social enterprise. You might head a strategic, policy or functional team, and ‘leadership’ for you includes managing up and across as well as managing down. Your next move which will likely be a Director or executive level role , where ‘leadership’, while important now, will become increasingly so, but your motivation isn’t about the career, it’s about the contribution.
You’ve been on one or more leadership development programmes, you understand the models, the frameworks, you ‘get’ the jargon (although you might cringe), and, knowing there is always more to know, you have a good overview of the landscape at least, and the skills and competencies you’re expected to display.
You probably have some ‘should’ goals, or immediate goals; things you think make for a good leader, perhaps areas that have been suggested to you, places you want to develop. These are probably front of mind for you: influencing, visibility, leadership style, thinking strategically, authenticity…
However you might also have, or might develop during our time together, a desire to explore some ‘want’ goals, places to look just for the sake of looking, because you think there might be something to see. These are usually oriented towards questions like like 'who am I?' and 'how can I show up as my best self?' because you know that’s where meaningful impact comes from.
Even if they feel a bit fuzzy, those deeper questions might fall into the zone of connecting the dots of what you already know with the bigger questions so that everything you’ve learnt, and still have to learn becomes exponentially more useful.
As well as concrete outcomes, you’re likely looking for a coaching relationship that gives you some or all of the following:
A safe space for personal discovery
My clients tell me consistently that they chose me because they felt they could be themselves, open up, and be offered a new, sometimes stretching, perspective, which is how, of course, you get the most value out of coaching.
It’s also a guided journey. I find the clients who make the most leaps, and become the most expertly attuned to a new kind of leadership, are those who are hungry to reflect or take on tasks between, and to bring ideas and challenges back to our sessions, not in a ‘this is a programme, follow it’ way, more like a ‘design your own adventure’ way.
Deep-rooted integrity
You know there is a deeper exploration of what might be called 'authenticity' or 'integrity', something that brings more of ‘you’ to the surface and feels genuine and solid beneath everything you say or do.
We all have a sense for it, it’s why you’re here, checking me out, and you want more of it showing up in who you are at work.
The feeling of integrity is like a guiding star that provides clarity to make decisions and take actions that are consistent with that 'better self', as well as a way to navigate, something that allows you to know when to change course, which way to go, and how to provide direction for the people around you, especially in turbulent times.
Unwavering compassion
Open-hearted connection isn’t a weakness, it gives you a strength which, when others can only rely on what they know, you can rely on who you are. What this means is you will never be in a situation, no matter how challenging, where you don’t know what to do.
I find that’s good to know for those of us who want to take on the ‘big stuff’ in life and work.
And, from me to you, it’s the same. One of the things my clients comment on is my unwavering stand for who they are beneath everything they think about themselves.
Unexpected light-heartedness
Not taking yourself too seriously is not at all the same as not taking your work, or other people, seriously.
When we understand who we are as humans, we see that failure and discomfort are features not bugs, which is soooo liberating, and means that your capacity for great work, and for empowering and equipping others to do great work does not rely on eradicating your, or their, imperfections.
Sounds like a conundrum? Or at least not obviously logical? Challenge me on it—that's what I'm here for.
Accelerated impact
Of course, you want results, me too! And... you know you do better when 'you' get out of the way.
Some coaches call this ‘performance’ or ‘achievement’, but there is something far more powerful than a target or destination, and if you know where impact comes from, and how change happens, then you can create deep engagement and influence no matter what your expertise and direction in the world, and no matter what your current or future role.
Astonishing PRACTICALITY
I know these words can sound fuzzy and touchy-feely, but clients report concrete results far, far beyond their expectations or their organisation’s norms.
What if achieving what you want (and beyond) is completely possible, but not in the way you think it will happen? What if achieving the depth of impact that you want is not impossible, and does not require the amount of ‘work’ that you think it does. Because, trust me, it doesn’t.
And there is no need to trust me, why not test me?
A different kind of coaching conversation
Coaching is always 'you' centred which is why it is vague until we talk; you bring the questions and, together, we explore the answers. Sometimes these seem like unanswerable questions which usually means you’re not giving them enough time. And, sometimes, it means they are questions to live into.
This is one of the reasons that words on a page are a poor substitute for a conversation, and why,
What do you want?
might be the most important sentence on this page.
Sometimes the bravest and most important thing we can do is show up. ~ Brené Brown
If you’re curious, all good conversations start with ‘hello’.
A Few Words on Me
“A born talent at bringing out the best in others…
…Solid. Brilliant, Intuitive. Authentic”
You can read more about my background and qualifications here, but the short version is that I worked in international economics and public policy (which is why a lot of my clients come from those sectors) before my fascination with what makes us tick and both why some people do better than others but also why the same policy interventions do not always give the same results took over. This eventually led me to my current profession and an ever-deepening mastery of leadership and coaching.
I’m a Certified Advanced Coach (two years training and hundreds of hours of practice, including supervised and assessed sessions), and I work mainly one-to-one with clients, through their organisations or in direct partnership. Like I said, you can read more here, connect for a conversation here, or find out how I work here.
It's only impossible until it's done... ~ Nelson Mandela
