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Case Studies

Owner/Manager of Graphic Design Company employing 8 Staff

The coachee came to me initially with several issues:

His stress levels had gone through the roof and he was finding himself having heated arguments with his business partner on a regular basis. He was find it difficult to relax at the weekend and found it difficult discussing work.  He was worried that this was having an impact on his blood pressure and he was also overwhelmed with his workload

This particular coachee found it extremely beneficial talking through many of the issues he was currently facing, and in so doing was able to see them in a different way.  We established some structure in his day-to-day schedule,  including organising his office space so that he could take control as well as delegating some minor tasks.  He began to take a more strategic role when he wasn’t weighed down with so many minor tasks.  This also freed his mind up to think more creatively.  We also discussed his communication skills and key relationships and established that he hadn’t fully made the shift from enthusiastic entrepreneur to fully-fledged business owner with new and different responsiblities.  When he was able to step back and see how much progress he’d made both personally and professionally this also increased his confidence levels.

My role was to help him get organised, focus his mind, help him to think more strategically and change the perception he had of his role.

The outcomes for him were huge in that he was able to relax at weekends, he became more organised, focussed and much more confident and decisive in his role. 

Owner Manager of SME with 3 staff

The coachee had set up his business three years earlier and had dedicated a huge amount of resources to establishing his business.  His initial challenge was his previous role was in a much larger organisation where he had a team around him which left him free to concentrate on strategic planning and leadership challenges.  Moving into self employment was a big shift for him which brought with it concerns over his ability to sell his products and services - without the support of a team around him.  This is a common challenge for individuals leaving the corporate world to set up on their own, it can leave them feeling quite vulnerable, and without the skills to do this confidently. Also having to get involved in minor admin issues and take a lot more on himself stretched his resources to the limit.  Plus he found that his time management was a real challenge.

Strong efforts were made on his part to tackle his time management, and by making the shift from being a pure corporate animal to take on a more entrepreneurial mindset made a significant impact.  He also began to delegate and bring in key people to handle areas that were not his strengths. Eventually once he regained some control, he began to enjoy his new role, and transitioned seamlessly into a figurehead for the business a role that he now thrives on.  He was therefore able to confidently attract a lot of new business and new exciting projects.

My role centred around helping him make the transition into being more entrepreneurial, help him tackle time management issues and his communication skills.  In the beginning he didn’t enjoy the sales side of his business, he now relishes every meeting.

Admin Manager For Accountancy Firm Employing 10+ Staff

The coachee initially had very strong views as to where her career was taking her, and had clear ideas about what coaching was to do for her.  However, it was clear that she had over-stretched herself in all areas, her health, energy levels and relationships were all suffering.  She was, in essence, now running on empty.  We looked closely at her time management, her expectations of life, her personal relationships and also all the roles that she held in her life.  For this particular client it really was a case of self discovery and raising her self awareness - plus dealing with some personal issues which had thus far had not been completely resolved. 

For the coachee the outcome resulted in her re-examining all the roles that she played in her life, both personally and professionally (e.g. mother and career woman) and because she felt confident to talk through some personal issues with me, she then relaxed and began to view herself not only as a manager, but as a person with a life to lead as well.  This led to her reassessing what her needs were and taking her own health and wellbeing more seriously.  Work thereafter was not her top priority, but one of her priorities alongside her family and other interests.  She reduced her workload, her stress levels went down, her relationships improved substantially. 

My role was there to help her take an inner journey, dig deep and move past the superficial symptoms, and evaluate herself at all levels.  This particular client really did make a seizmic shift all round, and without doubt coaching made a huge impact on her both personally and professionally

Senior Executive for large city institution

This coachee came to coaching with very high stress levels.  Her workload was causing her some concern, plus she was at a crossroads having been in the same role for a number of years and nearing retirement.  She was having serious concerns as to what she would do with her life if she gave it all up; she wasn’t yet ready to leave the buzz of the city behind her and could see nothing else for her to do that would bring the same level of stimulation and challenge that she experienced day to day, despite the fact that a lot was expected of her in her role.

The coaching helped her to see that although she wasn’t ready for full retirement, that she could prepare to transition into a new life by going part-time and exploring some other options.  We were able to look at how all the experience she had gained throughout her career would easily transition into a new role where she could become a useful asset to other organisations.  Instead of looking into the void, she began to see that in fact there were still many options open to her - and she didn’t necessarily mean the end of her career entirely if she chose to move on. 

My role was to help her evaluate her skills, see things from a different perspective and challenge the assumptions he had about her role and help her to explore some new possibilties.

Woman Returner and Small Business Start Up

This coachee had a background working at a senior level in the city of London but had given this up in order to look after her children.  She had spent weeks and weeks procrastinating over taking the final step to launch her business and was preoccupied with distractions, none of which were taking her any closer to getting started.  Plus working from home she found very unsatisfactory because, having worked in a pressured environment in London where she was used to being a key person and both a mother and career woman, she now detested being at home - she wasn’t happy looking after the house, but neither was she making any headway on her business.

There was clearly something in the way, and my role was to help her to discover what that was, deal with it and help her move on as quickly as possible.  Using some NLP Coaching, I was able to identify that the one thing that was preventing her from moving on was, paradoxically, her perception of herself.  She had not fully embraced her new situation or let go of the prestige and status that working in London had brought her.  She hadn’t fully transitioned from the corporate world and all that it represented, to being a small business owner and mother - and setting up a lifestyle business.  My role her was to help her make that mental shift which literally happened in one session.  After that within one week she had put everything in place to get her business off the ground, designed her new logo and brand and she was on her way.

Ex Banking Employee suffering with stress related symptoms

This coachee hadn’t been able to work for 12 months due to extreme stress brought on by a heavy workload and poor management of her situation.  She was toying with the idea of starting her own business, but the fall-out from losing her job in London was a fear of picking up the telephone and talking to clients.  She was also a perfectionist compounded by the regime of the banking environment and caused her to completely lose her confidence.  She was putting off looking for jobs or applying for interviews because she didn’t feel that she’d completely dealt with the impact of the stress and was worried that she would put herself back in the same place again because of being a perfectionist. 

My role was to help her to raise her self awareness and the roots of her being a perfectionist, and establish the origins of her fear of anything to do with the telephone.  I introduced EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and thus she was able to remember where her fears around the telephone originated.  Happily the EFT completely neutralised this fear.  She then applied for and was appointed in a new role which in itself boosted her confidence.  To date she has no further problems with the telephone and is making good progress.

Qualified Solicitor recently made redundant

This particular client sought coaching to help her work on where she could take her career.  Initially her thoughts were that she wanted to stay in the legal profession.  She’d invested a lot of time with her training and enjoyed the status attached to being in one of the professions, and which she was reluctant to let go of.  

She undertook a DISC profiling assessment and a skills assessment.  We evaluated these and drew up a key list of skills and attributes.  I also undertook some NLP Coaching with her to further establish whether she had any aspirational ambitions, and to help her think a little bigger.  This exercise was pivotal in opening up her mind to new possiblities, and indeed to question whether the path she was currently on was one which was entirely suited to her personality.  From here we established that in fact, she needed to change directions entirely, and that working in the legal profession wasn’t after all where she saw herself long term. Initially she found it difficult to let go of the perception she had of her role, but once she was able to establish a new pathway which was much more meaningful and more suited to her personality, this paved the way for further investigation.  She has since made the decision to spend the next 9 months travelling.

My role was essentially to help her to gain clarity, provide an environment for her to evaluate her skills and attributes.  Deep down she knew she wasn’t necessarily on the right path, and the work we undertook helped to reinforce this whilst giving her an opportunity to explore other avenues.