1-2-1 Leadership Coaching
Lucy Whitehall coaches high performing leaders to thrive during change.
How to spot when your leaders need coaching
People show up to work to do good work. If someone is not performing, or displays behaviour that is concerning, HR leaders need to be asking why? What is holding them back?
- Restructuring and organisational change
- Hybrid and other new ways of working
- Onboarding and career transitions
- Recruitment and retention of top talent
- Supporting leaders and managers in new roles
- Enabling strategic thinking and delivery
- Succession planning
- Enhancing wellbeing strategy initiatives
- Team building and team mediation
- Addressing grievances and poor behaviour
- Performance management
- Addressing sickness and absence
- Addressing bullying in the workplace
- Cultivating a psychologically safe corporate culture
Choosing the best leadership coach for your business
7 key factors to consider when selecting a leadership coach:
Qualifications
Look for ILM Level 5 or above, or a degree-based qualification.
Accreditation
EMCC/ICF/Association for coaching qualifications demonstrate that your coach is working to very high standards.
Ethical guidelines
What ethical guidelines does the coach abide by? Accredited coaches operate to the highest standards of diversity, equality, inclusion, confidentiality and psychological safety.
Specialism
Do they have an industry specialism or a coaching specialism. For example, employee wellbeing.
Background
For example, you may want a coach who has experience of your industry, or who works with organisations at a similar stage, e.g. start-up, acquisition, merger, growth.
Supervision
Does the coach themselves receive confidential support and oversight on their coaching service delivery?
Continued Professional Development
When did your coach qualify and have they completed any CPD work since?
Lucy Whitehall coaches high performing leaders to thrive during change.
Lucy Whitehall is Director of Transform and Thrive. She specialises in supporting leaders in professional services through transition.
Transform and Thrive was started in 2014. Since then, Lucy has delivered high quality coaching for senior leaders in professional services.
Lucy prides herself on delivering the highest quality, person-centred coaching experience for her clients. She has a deep knowledge of Positive Psychology, Coaching Psychology, Neuroscience and Leadership and over 20 years’ employee wellbeing expertise.
Hear about why Lucy chose coaching as a career. She also has lived experience of burnout and depression in high-pressure work environments. This drives her to deliver expert support that enables leaders to thrive in demanding environments. Lucy brings personal lived experience as well as academic rigour to her client work.
Lucy is a passionate believer in the power of wellbeing to drive success and excellence at both an individual and organisational level.
Looking for a coach for your senior leaders, partners, or C-suite?
BOOK A CALL WITH LUCY IF YOU'RE CURIOUS ABOUT COACHING
FAQs
We have internal coaches. What are the benefits of an external coach?
Internal coaching is a great tool to use and supports individuals with their career progression. Their specialism will focus on personal career development. An external coach operates independently and objectively.
The benefits of that to the client are:
- Increased psychological safety
- Increased confidentiality
- Equity of the coaching relationship
It is important for the client to feel safe and equal in their coaching relationship to get the most benefit from it. This allows the client to open up and be vulnerable without fear of consequence.
For more information on the benefits of internal and external coaches, watch this video.
What is strengths-based coaching?
Strengths-based coaching enables clients to identify where they’re naturally proficient and helps find innovative, creative ways to use their strengths for maximum impact. This helps them be productive and perform well. It also has the added benefit of improving clients’ psychological and emotional wellbeing.
Watch this video for more information on the performance outcomes of strengths-based coaching.
What is Coaching Psychology?
Coaching Psychology is the application of psychological concepts and theories. It looks at the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals and how they can adapt, modify, and be flexible to improve psychological and emotional wellbeing. Coaching Psychology also enhances performance and applies complex, nuanced theory in practical ways.
This video explains more about the role coaching psychology plays in improving people’s psychological and emotional wellbeing.
We have an employee assistance programme. How does coaching complement that activity?
EAPs vary in their quality and staff engagement levels. Often, there are many useful training webinars or counselling services attached to them that can complement wellbeing coaching activity.
Coaching sessions from Transform and Thrive, are deep level experiences that are person-centred and transformational. The knowledge gained in the sessions helps people understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours and how to modify or amplify them to better serve themselves and those around them.
The sessions lead to sustainable, transformational behaviour change.
What are the benefits of coaching a single individual, as opposed to the whole team?
The leadership shadow is the impact that senior managers and leaders have on their teams and organisational performance. There is a ripple effect of coaching individuals that filters through the fabric of the company. When senior managers and leaders are coached to be whole, healthy, human beings; to stay well and operate at the best of their ability, that impacts so many people inside the organisation.
High quality, person-centred coaching is an investment, both financially and in time. It’s not always possible to extend this high-level offer to all leaders. However, the benefits will be felt throughout teams and the organisation as a whole.
How involved is the commissioner in the coaching process?
A tripartite supported approach, with repeated, directed attention transforms people and organisations. This means, as a commissioner, you will be involved in the contracting process and be kept up to date with progress.
How long is the coaching relationship?
The recommended minimum number of coaching sessions would be 6, typically spanning 6 months. Standard coaching relationships fall between 6-10 sessions, generally spanning a year. Consistent support can be for as long as you wish.
How much should you expect to invest in coaching?
If you are interested in commissioning coaching, book a 30-minute discovery call with Lucy to talk it through.
TESTIMONIALS
"I wanted to focus on goal setting, break out of my rut and gain some forward momentum for the next stage of my career. Coaching showed me that I’m more ambitious than I realised and now I have a clear idea of where I want to end up. I have started using Eisenhower’s/Covey’s matrix to prioritize tasks, and learned how to set goals and use visualization to advance and move forward."
"As a result of coaching with Lucy, I’ve realised that after 26 years in a single role, I can find another position where I can both enjoy myself and add value. I have found a new role in the charity sector which I really enjoy and gives me a far better work/life balance."
"I liked the structure and Lucy’s intuitiveness. It was good to be able to speak about work with someone not in my work environment who could bring in an independent perspective."
"I am not sure I would have had the confidence to successfully transition back if it had not been for Lucy’s support."
"Overall Lucy gave me clarity and direction by challenging me to find solutions and strategies. She encouraged me to really think deep and drill down into the issues, at times this was not easy, but she was extremely supportive and encouraging. Lucy was superb to work with."
"Lucy was a careful listener who then asked insightful questions and deepened the discussion appropriately. As a result of my coaching sessions I feel calmer and more balanced in assessing life choices."