HOW WE WORK

“For there is always light,
If only we’re brave enough to see it,
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
– From The Hill we Climb, Amanda Gorman (American poet)”

Our values and our philosophy

Our philosophy rests on the following beliefs:

We all have full professional indemnity insurance, are members of
professional coaching bodies, undertake regular continuous
professional development and supervision, and abide by professional coaching codes of ethics, including the Global Code of Ethics https://www.globalcodeofethics.org/

We first explore with potential clients what you would like from working with us. With coaching, the initial exploratory session is free of charge. If we don’t feel we can be of assistance or that you’d be better engaging in a different type of intervention, we will say so. If we believe we can support you, and there’s a good fit for us both, we’ll happily engage in a customized developmental partnership which can be online or face.

I’m a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher and teach MBSR to the general public. I also deliver training and development in mindfulness, including as part of leadership development, and consult on mindfulness to businesses. I’ve run mindfulness learning events for organisations including in the financial sector, the NHS, News UK, the Open University, Imperial College, i-coach academy, and Coaching without Borders (Hungary). I regularly run open Mindful/Conscious Coaching programmes, including a one-day programme via the Academy of Executive Coaching See Events.

I co-founded the International Summit for Mindfulness and Compassion at Work, which has taken place so far twice in Madrid (2017 and 2018) with keynotes from experts including Professor Megan Reitz from Ashridge, Dr Alison Carter from the Institute of Employment Studies, and DrJutta Tobias-Mortlock, formerly of Cranfield Business School.

I regularly attend mindfulness retreats, including in Plum Village, a
community founded by Thich Nhat Hanh.

My publications include Relational Mindfulness for Coaches: Enhancing presence, awareness, wisdom, compassion and courageous collaboration (with Dr Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Routledge 2025), Mindful Coaching: How mindfulness can transform coaching practice (Kogan Page, 2013), Coach Your Team (Penguin, 2019), and Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation (Kogan Page, 2015). Chapters on mindfulness include in Mindfulness in Organisations: Foundations, Research and Applications (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Professional Coaching: Principles and Practice (Springer, 2019), Mastery In Coaching (Association for Coaching/Kogan Page, 2014), and on compassion (Compassion focused coaching, with Palmer & Irons, in The Handbook of Coaching Psychology- Eds Palmer &Whybrow, Routledge, 2018). In addition, I’ve written thousands of articles on health, business, HR and other topics since I started out as a journalist in 1987. Publications I’ve worked for include The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Observer, The Daily Mail, People Management, Personnel Today, Doctor, Hospital Doctor, Occupational Health, Practice Nurse, Community Care, Computer Weekly, IBM Computer Today, Campaign, Training Magazine, and Employers´ Law.

I typically work at the transformational, rather than transactional, end of the coaching spectrum. The coaching will often be an emergent process (albeit with overarching aims such as improving self-awareness, shifting your way of being, becoming more authentic and so on). Sustainability is key- I encourage clients to develop an ability to coach themselves, for example. I don’t do remedial coaching.

My coaching client work focuses on areas including career and other transitions; improving stress management & resilience; enhancing emotional intelligence; transformational and compassionate leadership, and responding to the climate crisis. In additional to mindfulness, Embodied work/somatic (working with the body’s wisdom), Vertical development, Systemic Coaching, and Transpersonal Psychology are among the many influences on my coaching approach. My coaching is underpinned by a long-standing mindfulness and compassion practice, which whether I work with this explicitly or not helps me be more present and grounded for my clients, more creative, more compassionate and take a more systemic lens.

Since 2009, I have been a co-owner and a company director at Coaching at Work www.coaching-at-work.com following a successful management buy-out of the business from the CIPD. Running the business successfully has included building and engaging the subscriber base including through social media, creating sell-out annual conferences, managing the editorial team and producing Coaching at Work magazine, amongst others, at times in challenging economic conditions.
In addition, I’ve been running my own business providing coaching, mindfulness training and others since 2008. Coaching and training leaders from many quarters has offered me insights into challenges and opportunities for leaders and organisations in a wide range of sectors, as has working as a journalist on numerous business publications (see Publications).

Clients

I work/have worked with leaders, internal coaches and others from organisations including Tata, and from sectors including education (e.g. Escuela Europea; Boundstone Academy; Portsmouth University); healthcare (the NHS); local government (e.g. Kent County Council); housing (Poplar Harca); professional services (e.g. KPMG); publishing/broadcasting (e.g. News UK; Reed Business Information), and sustainability (e.g. Green Alliance; Sustrans).

I’m a founding and core member of the Future of Coaching Collaboration (FCC) group, a multi-stakeholder group including professional coaching bodies, academic institutions including Ashridge Business School and coaching sponsors such as KPMG and GlaxoSmithKline. The FCC has the aim of collaborating, professionalising and innovating to safeguard the coaching profession.