Business coaching is the practice of providing support and advice (if needed) to an individual or group to help them change or learn. Good coaching can help people build a more accurate picture of reality, instil positive thinking and create tangible steps forward.
Examples situations where a business coaching can help include:
Improving key relationships
Leading change
Coping with change
Instilling new ways of working
Career changes
Beginning a new role
Tackling stress
Bringing a team together
In fact, there are lots of different situations where coaching can help individuals or teams. What’s important is that, with a coach you have the opportunity to take time to really think through a situation, look at the different options and come up with a personalised action plan which ultimately helps you develop and move forward.
Lots of people! Business Coaching is not just for the C-Suite. Coaching can help many different people from senior executives, middle managers and individuals– anyone who needs time to think and commits to working with their coach.
The first step is a “Chemistry” meeting which usually lasts for up to an hour. This provides an understanding of the coaching process and allows the client to think about what they want to be coached on and how to get the most out of the coaching. Most importantly, this is an opportunity to assess whether a good chemistry exists between us, before we enter into any formal business arrangement (there is no fee attached to this meeting).
Assuming the chemistry meeting goes well (which it usually does!), we’ll arrange to time to meet and tentatively agree to a number of meetings. Typically, this is 4-6 meetings over a 6 month period this all depends on the client requirements.
Our business coaches each have over 25 years’ experience in the technology sector with most having over 20 years at major technology companies working locally, regionally and globally. During this time, they will have held a number of roles including group management, program management, change management and chief of staff. This will have involved them working with many senior company leaders and their teams on issues such as team alignment, strategy development and implementation as well as managing major organization changes.
Our business coaches are typically Meyler Campbell qualified and since graduating will have worked with a number of executives and leaders helping with many different business challenges. A number of them are also qualified Prosci Change Practitioners and all are members of the Association of Coaching.
Their approach is open and friendly, but they will not be afraid to challenge you. They take time with each client to explore what their true issues and challenges are, their underlying thinking and assumptions and investigate the possible options to move forward. This proven, and winning, approach focuses on helping people identify their strengths, helping them understand what they can learn and do differently and making sure people have an action plan they feel energized by and are committed to. Our business coaches aim to provide support, encouragement and advice from their broad experience as well as calling on research and tools to help clients. Their objective is to be a “critical friend”.
Contact us at SixtyToForty to arrange an informal “chemistry” meeting to see if we can help you to develop yourself or any members of your team.
Email: info@60to40.co.uk
Phone: 01483 654270
I was lucky enough to be coached by Kate during a time of change and challenge. Having experienced coaches in the past with mixed results, I was, deep down, somewhat pessimistic about how Kate would be able to help me. My fears were not realised however, as Kate is an excellent coach. She is a fantastic listener and has a real strength in playing back what she hears, pulling together key and relevant themes and in a very constructive way, holding up a mirror to what is really going on. Through incisive questions she helped me to see some of the challenges I was facing in a different light and identify practical ways forward which I totally owned. Kate is thoughtful, smart and insightful and reflected a genuine respect and optimism for me as a coachee. I always looked forward to our sessions and always came away feeling that I had a way forward. Kate is immediately approachable and open, easy to talk to and yet focused. I would definitely recommend her as a coach.
Jane - VP, HR in Media organisation
Kate is a unique and hugely talented Coach. One of her defining talents is that she is also a successful and experienced business woman. I have been the beneficiary for many years of some of the best Coaching/Senior Executive training including from IBM, British Telecom, Accenture and KPMG. Among all of this, Kate stands out as an enormous talent.
There are many salient attributes, that define Kate’s unique approach to coaching and mentoring, which enable her to create an unobtrusive, flexible framework, that ‘nails' real results. These include her empathy, her high intellectual and emotional intelligence and her deep and wide understanding of industry and business goals. She has an innate ability to navigate to the core of the challenge whilst, in parallel, grappling with complexity and huge amounts of information. She can tease out the relevance of an individual’s personal talent and aspirations and she leaves you with a strong sense of self-achievement and confidence in one’s ability, at the end of every session. She produces a structure that is more than just being coached. You find yourself taking ownership, responsibility and empowerment in order to consider what is best for you.
At every session, we achieved results whether tangible or subjective - what should be the next steps, what were the priorities, what to let go free, what not to worry about, what was out of my control. She will undoubtedly add sustainable value to any role she plays and her future clients will benefit enormously from a lady who is a truly outstanding coach and mentor.
Michele - Senior Consultant KPMG
