“I have engaged Lorraine’s coaching a number of times in my career so it was easy to bring her in to my current organisation when we were experiencing some tricky relationship issues in my top team. The leadership team had developed some unhealthy resentments and grievances which were impacting the whole team’s performance as well as having an effect on the quality of communication throughout. 

The most frustrating aspect of this for me was that individually, each leader was outstanding in their areas of expertise, but lacked the trust and skill to communicate well with each other. It became clear to me that there was no significant communication or decision making happening in our meetings, rather individuals would approach me outside of our meetings to communicate the truth and make important decisions. 

Initially I asked Lorraine to work with the whole team to help them understand the benefits of coaching and to build their communication and relationship skills. This took the form of a series of 3 workshops over three months which was great for me to see my team in a developmental context and to experience directly their insights. She then coached each member of the team individually to help resolve some current and historical conflicts. It was sensitive and complex work to untangle some emotions and beliefs that had festered for years. 

Some shifts happened very quickly while one particular relationship took a bit longer to really resolve, but within 3 to 4 months my whole team were able to have open, honest, relevant discussions in our team meetings. We are all confident now about expressing our real views, there is a marked improvement in our listening to each other, and we are facing the important issues and making courageous decisions about our business. 

I recommend Lorraine’s coaching to anyone looking to improve the quality of communication in their leadership teams. The benefits are not only improved and faster business decisions, but also the enjoyment of working as part of a happy and effective team.”

PF, CEO, IT Business

“Over the past two years I have been leading a team through a business divestment strategy, where the team were required for an indefinite period of time but eventually their roles would be ending, and for some this would be after a long tenure in the business.

It is important to note the team are a traditional IT Team who possess high technical skills but have previously not received any investment to support their soft skills, challenge their mind set and explore new ways to approach situations. Our mission depended on the team being able to work together and be resilient to the changing environment around them whilst the team reduced in size periodically over the two years.

The introduction of Lorraine has been one of the most important assets and success stories that has helped both myself and the team.  Lorraine has provided us with tools and coaching techniques to not only manage the mission we had to deliver but also our journey beyond both personally and professionally.

Lorraine engages everyone at all levels and the results have been incredible.  The team’s productivity and communication has improved immensely along with enabling the team to challenge their thinking and feel comfortable with change and uncertainty.

I would highly recommend Lorraine for any situation as she is able to bespoke sessions to your business and she delivers and exceeds on the outcomes and results you require.”

Michelle Ripley, CIO, Moray Group

“I accepted the CEO role knowing it would be a major challenge to turn the business around. I knew we needed to work out what levels of capability we had in the business quickly and especially to identify the leadership team’s appetite for change. I knew instinctively that we would need to both change some people, and develop people dramatically to save the business. 

Some radical re-structuring was required and some of the leadership team had low levels of trust, confidence and vision for what might be possible. The old culture of working in silos and an attachment to outdated processes was mostly out of conscious awareness. Communication was seriously poor in the top team and this rippled through to the rest of the management team with some very unhealthy relationships around the business. 

The approach I chose was to develop everyone in the senior leadership team as we worked out who would be a good fit for the capabilities required for the business. By delivering the coaching through intensive workshops as well as individually, we were able to raise awareness and build new skills rapidly. Through this approach we embedded a coaching style of leadership so the entire team could lead and develop the rest of our people effectively.

Two years on and we now have a high performing top team, inspiring vision, fresh strategy and we have already managed to implement much of the necessary re-structuring. The business functions are now fully connected and communication across the business is generally excellent. This intensive coaching approach which we engaged at the start meant we could identify our best potential, and support those who were not a good fit, to move on with new skills and fresher thinking quickly. We were able to recruit some fresh talent which reinforced the new direction giving the rest of the leadership team renewed confidence in themselves and the business. I believe we created the best possible conditions to achieve the massive changes we needed and with critical timing. All the indications are that the business has recovered and we are now in a new growth phase.”  

TM, CEO, Construction 

“When we began this journey some years ago, we knew we had a mammoth task on our hands to change our internal culture and our image in the marketplace. Historically we were perceived externally as an old fashioned bank and that translated internally to an attitude of ‘not quite good enough to compete.’ We had very little understanding of how we could begin the process of change, never mind how we could manage it through to completion. 

It soon became clear that Lorraine’s approach of working with the board and senior team to clarify our vision and discover our core values, was likely to be most productive. She worked with our key leaders individually, and as a group to make sure we had a fully collaborative direction to begin to communicate to the rest of the leadership team. Through this coaching we became aware that we wanted to be faithful to our mutual heritage and maintain our customer friendly approach, but to build a strong sense of pride in our business moving forwards.

We used the values that emerged to develop the capabilities and confidence we needed to grow, and over a series of coaching based workshops, we managed to create the momentum for the change to accelerate and embed. These values became the foundations of our transformation and are still the cornerstones of our culture today. We are now the world’s largest mutual financial institution, consistently ranked highly by the Sunday Times Best Companies to work for, and we regularly top the charts for best customer satisfaction in our market.”

JW, HR Director