What I Do
“My job is to help people to get out of their own way, develop new insight, or rewrite old behavioural code. Coaching draws solutions out of you, mentoring puts knowledge in. I’m a coach who won’t leave you floundering – I have the experience to switch to mentoring if a bit of psychology or leadership thinking would help.
Even when people think their situation is hopeless, they are broken, or the challenge ahead is overwhelming, My commitment is to enable you to find a way to handle what life has thrown at you and to know what to do next.
Executive Coaching
If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness. Read that again.
Unknown
I’m a systemic coach of whole people, who can bring all of themselves and anything that is getting in the way of being the leader or person they want to be. I don’t judge.
I coach individuals, senior teams, and families who want to leave a legacy, and I specialise in complex change and endings.
I might be a good choice of coach for you if:
- You are navigating a major life stage, personal dilemma or change and you don’t know what comes next, you feel stuck.
- You want more, or more is being asked of you than you know how to give.
- Relationships that matter are breaking down, or your resilience is running low.
- You suspect the past affects how you are responding to the present, and will dictate your future if you don’t do things differently.
- You’ve been told you are a perfectionist, a people pleaser, or struggle to trust others; you may also have been waiting for validation of being ‘enough’ that never came.
Coaching will give you protected, safe time to talk, to figure out how you feel, and to find the answers and insight you need to move forward. I assume you have the answers but would value working this through with someone objective. If you don’t have the answers, we can figure them out together.
Where I add more than a typical coach is my breadth of skillset. As a business psychologist, systemic coaching & constellation practitioner, certified conversational intelligence coach (CiQ), trained in body language, mindfulness, family systems and emotional intelligence, all grounded in the latest neuroscience. Even if you run out of answers, I won’t run out of things to try. You can trust I will always know the science behind the technique – nothing ‘woo woo’; although I’m not afraid to do things differently. This might include working with emotions and instinct, not just being in your own head. Growth isn’t always comfortable, but you will feel the difference.
Coaching is a significant investment of time and money. Why I’m worth it, is due to over 25 years coaching at senior and board level in the private and public sector, nationally and internationally. Experience gained in FTSE listed companies, high growth SMEs, the public service, Parliaments, Whitehall, NGBs, NHS including Public Health, WHO and not-for-profit organisations.
Mostly, my reputation is that what I do works. Ask anyone who has been coached by me, whether for 3 sessions or 15 years. And I actually care about your success – it’s not an act.
What you get in a six-month programme
- Self-coaching pack – including a journal, pen and a guide to forming the outcomes you want from coaching.
- 1:1 coaching conversations in your offices, home or virtual. Session 1 will focus on what you want to resolve and the final session will review progress and agree any next steps. These are typically 90-120 minutes every month for six months.
- Behavioural profiling– we can assess your day-to-day preferences compared to other leaders, using gold standard psychometric tests. We can explore your motives, values & preferences; and what might derail your career under pressure.
- SOS calls – if you find yourself facing a critical decision, presentation or meeting and you’d value my perspective, just call, if I can help I will. You get 2 15 min calls per programme.
- Theory worksheets – if we cover any models or leadership theory you may need in the future, we’ll provide digital worksheets.
- Email support – during the programme you can email at any time for ideas, perspective or to share successes. I love hearing about those.
If needed, we can speed things up or slow them down, and there is a short, focused version of the programme for interviews, assessments, or other time focused goals. You can also complement your programme with a personal 360 review of around six colleagues where Hazel will speak to each person individually in confidence to understand your strengths and areas for growth. She’ll provide a summary report for you.
Your investment is in the range of £2500 to £6000 plus vat, we’ll confirm the exact cost when we know which programme you need. Programmes are invoiced at the start, with any out of pocket expenses for times when I come to you.
You will also need to set aside the time to learn, and to reflect. Feedback tells me this is one of the best investments you can make in yourself.
There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche
And if you like the idea, but prefer a different style or investment, I can recommend other coaches. I have a fantastic network around me, including a wide range of other coaches and psychologists – so if the fit isn’t quite right, don’t worry.
Facilitation & Advisory
With almost 30 years’ experience of developing leadership development programmes for professional services, parliaments, manufacturing and further education, I’m a bit of a dab hand at developing executive teams.
Facilitation can be in person or virtual, and includes team coaching. We can explore the latest thinking about leadership, culture and behaviour, firmly grounded in what works in practice and, no surprise, a lot of psychology; whatever you need I can probably design and facilitate it. Or I may know who can if I’m not the right fit.
I am also a trusted advisor for strategic organisational development and complex, systemic change. I often facilitate strategy or purpose sessions and work with senior teams to explore the impact of change and to find a better way to have the conversations that could change everything. If you think someone with my background could be useful to explore the human angles, please do get in touch.
Learn the rules like a professional, break them like an artist!
Pablo Picasso
The more you can zoom out and embrace complexity the better chance you have of zooming in on the simple details that matter most.
Eric Berlow
Knowing how things should be done allows me to break the rules sometimes, to create memorable moments. As a facilitator, my job is to hold a space in which the right conversation can be held. This means creating trust, psychological safety, balanced with challenge.
Family Business support
I support families at the heart of successful businesses from founders to successive generations aiming to honour the family legacy and make their own mark – usually whilst trying to raise the next generation of good human beings.
As part of my work with families, we explore a family charter which sets out the values and behaviours that define what it means to be part of your family. This can shape everything from wills and estate planning to pre-nuptial agreements, investment strategy, and the family’s philanthropic philosophy for generations to come.
As a systemic coach, I focus on working at a deeper level, changing mindsets, exploring complex multi-generational dynamics, and equipping family members with the resilience, confidence, and self-awareness to make a difference for themselves and their family or organisation, balancing personal and professional goals. I also support individuals to resolve conflict, personal dilemmas and when the stresses of the day job cost too much on a personal level.
My work is rooted in family dynamics, which is usually where everything starts. This is why I love supporting family businesses to thrive. Most enjoy having different ways of looking at situations and developing new tools as a family – with their family’s team coach.
Support for business owners or family members with significant family wealth requires a specialist team that can provide advice and support over many years as part of a trusted network. This usually involves the family office and specialists in the stewardship of human and financial capital. I make a useful addition to a family office team.
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Pericles
Speaker & Podcaster
Ranging from keynote speeches on psychology, female leadership and systems thinking, to a range of talks including ‘if it’s no fun, you’re doing it wrong’, ‘the dark arts of influence’ and ‘I’m not mad, I’m just not you!’ – plus more serious leadership and business topics for annual conferences and executive / board timeouts or workshops.
My podcasts and blogs are usually about the joys and sorrows of business ownership, and my research interest in endings of all kinds – mostly because this allows me to be hopeful and practical, and I am told, inspirational.
Balancing the two elements of the Stockdale Paradox – a grounded understanding of how things really are with an unshakeable belief that things will work out ok, I have a lot to say about both. Usually with my trademark energy and humour, grounded in good research – nothing flaky, fluffy or ‘post fact’.
What People Have Said
Supervision and professional practice
Coaching around 500 hours a year, Hazel is passionate about quality supervision – working with a highly experienced supervisor, and peer supervision from other practitioners. Supervision is how coaches continue to develop and maintain their own equilibrium, and it is a requirement for professional coaches.
