What people say about us

We enjoy our work. We believe we’re good at what we do, and are proud to have helped an ever-growing list of clients achieve a positive difference for themselves, their teams and their organisations. But don’t just take our word for it: here’s what some of them have to say…

Gucci Group logo“You have an incredible ability to listen and to understand how we are trying to impact our business. You are methodical in your thinking … think creatively … and your enthusiasm is delightful to work with … I thoroughly enjoy working with you and would highly recommend you.”

Karen Lombardo, Executive Vice President of Global HR,
Gucci Group

 

Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal logo“I found your coaching challenging, thought-provoking and stimulating. It enabled me to overcome barriers – personal and external – to achieve my goals and, importantly, the coaching motivated me, reinforced positive thoughts and gave me ‘permission’ to act.

“Your work has helped to improve overall performance, increase individual and group productivity, and ultimately deliver significant revenue to the Appeal. I would highly recommend you to any organisation.

“Thank you so much for your exceptional and valuable support.”

Nicola Masters, Director,
Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal

 

Siemens logo“You have been a pleasure to work with over the years … you have taken time to understand the culture and structure of Siemens … the solutions offered have been aligned totally to the business requirements, and continuously reviewed and developed to change with the business.”

Teresa Frost, Head of Talent Management,
Siemens

 

British Library logo“A highly skilled coach who won respect from senior managers, whose respect in this area is not easily given. He combines personal authority, gravitas, empathy and expertise in a way that creates trust and productive coaching relationships.”

Alistair McIntosh, Head of Organisation Development,
British Library

 

Heineken logo“A pleasant and knowledgeable team coach who was able to not only bring a good amount of team insights to the table, but also to open up deeper layers of the team dynamics that really helped us in bringing our team objective alive.

“Now, several months after the training, I feel comfortable to say that with the support of LeaderSpace we truly created a new dynamic to the team that resulted in a structural change. It’s a dynamic with more trust, more transparency and, most important, the willingness to get out of the comfort zone – the area where improvements take place.”

Geert Swaanenburg, Sales Director,
Heineken Romania

 

Macmillan logo“The sessions I had with my coach Jane were hugely valuable, and an incredible opportunity to learn more and understand about myself in my working life; and what I can do to be more effective, empowered and better in my roles. It was both challenging, and insightful, and the gift of having that much time 1:1 to reflect, explore, and be supported is amazing. Particularly when the organisation I’m working for was going through a very difficult and challenging period of change and re-structure. It was so helpful, and I’m hugely grateful. I’m really sad it’s ended!

“I would recommend Jane as a coach to anyone. She is highly skilled, compassionate and insightful, and a real joy to work with. Her depth of knowledge and tools that she brings were most welcome to help explore and understand myself better, and she employed them at appropriate times, rather than having any particular format or agenda. She encouraged me to lead the sessions, and focus them on what would be most helpful to me, and she was able to reflect back to me, drawing out the pertinent bits and guide me into a deeper understanding or questioning of any given scenario. I will miss these sessions a lot! Thank you Macmillan In 20 years of my career I’ve never felt so listened to, supported and encouraged, and have a renewed vigour for my work, and much clearer sense of direction and purpose. Potentially life – changing stuff!”

Hannah Currant, Prevention & Re-enablement Project Manager,
LinkAge, Macmillan Cancer Support

 

Sabio logo“The tailored approach blended an informal, personal style with great credibility and clear objective thinking. It was exactly what we needed and helped us appreciate the value that the right external input could bring to us as a team and to our wider business. The work left us with far greater understanding of the potential we had within the team and the responsibility we had individually and collectively to unlock that potential through our behaviours.”

Sebastian Henkes, Managing Director,
Sabio

“I have to admit to being a little sceptical beforehand, but the execution and adaption during the process was especially effective. The end result speaks for itself in my mind. We could not have achieved more in the time we had. Congratulations on a job well done.”

Paul Began, Technical Director
Sabio

 

Wildscreen logo“Having spoken to a number of facilitators, we chose to go with Richard as he impressed us with his enthusiasm and pre-preparation – and he listened to us very clearly beforehand to ascertain what our organisation wanted. He also very cleverly and carefully managed a range of personalities, to ensure we got the very best out of everyone present – Trustees and the Senior Management Team. It was a pleasure working with Richard … he did a great job for us.”

Harriet Nimmo, CEO,
Wildscreen

 

Workplace Systems logo“Richard’s insightful, pertinent and often probing questions allowed me to focus my thoughts in a way I had never done before and had a huge impact on my outlook and confidence, for which I will be forever grateful.”

“ARC has reinforced my compass, the guiding principles that help me navigate a world filled with policies and procedures. I’ve not only enjoyed it, I’ve taken away clear actions that will improve my performance both as a leader and as a follower of others.”

Mark Griffiths, Head of Customer Services, North America,
Workplace Systems

 

Management Futures logo“An inspirational template for a better way of leading and living. Positive, hopeful, intelligent, friendly, shrewd, eye-opening, evidence-based and incredibly generous… provoking fresh insights and creating a renewed, refreshed sense of purpose.”

Phil Hayes, Chairman,
Management Futures

 

“Jane has a tremendous ability to empathise with people. That combined with a surprisingly insightful commercial understanding means that she asks the right questions and listens well. There’s a real relevance to what she says. In fact, she takes the mumbo-jumbo out of coaching and presents it in a way that is understandable and can be acted upon as a result. She’s really helped me to understand both my and other people’s personalities in a way that gets into what is going on subconsciously and brings that to conscious awareness where it’s far more useful. When I started working with Jane I was transitioning from a high-profile and very demanding position as CEO of Wagamama to what can only be called the unknown! I now have a portfolio career including several positions as chairman of small to large restaurant groups and co-owning my own expanding restaurant chains. At the same time, I have achieved a hugely enjoyable work-life balance and for the first time in my life feel pleased with how my various work and personal interests are integrated. Although our formal coaching has ended I regularly ask Jane for her coaching style counsel and always value her insights. I wholeheartedly recommend Jane to anyone wanting to make a real difference to their lives through coaching!”

Steve Hill, Former CEO of Wagamama,
now Chairman and Owner of several restaurant chains

 

“I just wanted to send a note of personal thanks to you for your part in what has been a long road since the ARC programme. It was a game changer for me, and set me up on a path of self improvement and being able to find strength I didn’t know I had. I still look back fondly.”

“Bernard was excellent. He delivered in a way that kept us motivated and engaged and actually learning, often without realising it. He also provided some useful feedback and challenged us as required, which was particularly helpful for me. I highly recommend this facilitator.”

“I found Bernard to be approachable, attentive to individual needs and he gave invaluable feedback. I thought his business psychology background fitted perfectly with this course. With the added humour, Bernard made this course enjoyable and memorable. Thank you, I enjoyed meeting you.”

“Shefali was great, lots of energy and smiles.”

“She took a real interest in all delegates.”

“She was very observant and was really engaged in providing us feedback.”

“I liked her feedback: very insightful.”

“Shefali clearly enjoys what she does and I was inspired, in particular, by the session she ran on MBTI.”

“Shef was very knowledgeable and was good at getting us engaged in the topics through stories and examples.”

“Dean was very enthusiastic, understood the issues faced in our workplace and provided the right level of challenge to my excuses.”

“He is a very good facilitator and kept my interest. His feedback was very accurate and insightful and I therefore found it very valuable.”

Senior Managers and Directors, professional services firm

 

“I cannot recommend Jane highly enough. Her sincerity and ability to put me at ease from the outset quickly led to a high level of trust between us, enabling me to open up so much more than I would with colleagues, and to some degree, at home. I can only describe the coaching sessions as the most comprehensive review of ‘me’, my values, drivers and behaviours that I have ever experienced – and that’s coming from a point where I thought I was already quite self-aware. Jane had a remarkable ability to listen and distil what I was saying to challenge my thought processes and ideas, and help me explore different avenues using her insight. She was supportive in equal measure, adapting to meet my personal needs. The whole process has helped improve my career focus and management of issues that lead to stress/anxiety/frustration. The latter has certainly produced positive benefits for relationships at home too. For that, I will be eternally grateful. Thank you Jane.”

Neil Foss, QA manager at General Pharmaceutical Council

 

“I have known Jane as an executive coach for almost two years. As a very genuine person with much integrity, Jane has a natural ability to make people feel instantly comfortable and put them at ease in a very trusting environment. Yet she can successfully challenge ideas and thoughts to channel improved reflection, self-awareness and analysis to aid positive decision-making and assist with career direction.

“Jane has a unique talent for coaching and is a great listener who is highly focused on the client and the achievement of their own personal goals. It has been a pleasure to work with Jane and I highly recommend her services for anyone seeking an executive coach who can successfully help managers and leaders to know themselves better and maximise their true potential!”

Sarah Harriman, Marketing and Communications Manager, global packaging company

 

“Vanessa supported me through NHS North West’s Director of Nursing Development Course and challenged me to think about my own needs within a very demanding role and home life. She made me think of things that I would not have previously explored and… has helped me approach the questions differently and taken me outside my ‘comfort blanket’ without it feeling too scary. She helped my confidence in applying for a very senior role which I got with her help! I would fully recommend her as a coach.”

Director of Nursing, NHS North West

 

“I’ve worked with Richard on a couple of large scale leadership/talent development programmes and found him to be exceptionally talented and precise. He shows a genuine passion for the technical and ethical aspects of the solutions he designs, together with strong customer insights about how to position them to very challenging organisational stakeholders. He’s also a great coach with remarkable patience and tolerance.

“I’ve worked alongside many business psychologists and he’s certainly top of my list when new opportunities arise to work together – soon again I hope!”

Graham Watson, Talent Development/Learning and Development Manager
(interim at British Library, DEFRA, BOC Gases, CIPD)

 

“It’s been a very good process. At my level, there’s a real lack of feedback. The assessment really made me think about my leadership in this organisation and has definitely kept my mind occupied over the December holidays!”

Director of Finance and Support, multinational retail group

 

“This process has meant a lot to me. It is the best ever review of yourself – the Number One for sure in my 44 years of life. It feels very deep and very thorough: you really get to know yourself and your development areas, and I came away with a number of tips and tools. This kind of experience is rare and it’s nice to work in a company that has adopted this approach. I think everybody in my organisation who has a big management role should have this kind of assessment and feedback, not just people at my level and above, and I’m going to take it up with HR.”

Head of Sales and Operations, leading multinational retail company

 

“I have been coached by Jane over the past year. As a coach myself, I have engaged several coaches over the past 15 years. I have found the coaching I have received from Jane to be the best I have received, and therefore have no hesitation in recommending her to others. She has been instrumental in helping me achieve some of my shorter-term objectives, as well as assisting me to move towards my longer-term goals.

“I have been incredibly impressed by her ability to ask great questions, and her intuitiveness to know where and when to probe further. I have found the coaching to be challenging yet supportive, very pragmatic and re-energising. As a result, I feel more courageous and ready to take the next steps towards achieving the transition I would like to make in my life, both with regards to my career and to my lifestyle more generally.

“Coaching is a gift and I’m lucky to be having it.”

Rebecca Stevens, Head of Group Talent, oil and gas industry

 

“The coaching has helped me to think more and worry less – quite an achievement.”

Head of Corporate Fundraising, national charity

 

“My one preconception about coaching was that it was about talking and no action, but how wrong I was! Jane has helped me immensely in implementing practical changes in both my work and personal life, and helped me to focus on my future career and life opportunities.”

Head of Events, regional charity

 

“Our Global HR and Learning Team gave the programme a resounding endorsement, praising its simplicity, relevance and level of challenge. The participants themselves found the programme very powerful: immediate, highly refreshing, thought provoking and practical. They also appreciated the down-to-earth way it helped them examine the complexities of their working environments.”

Group Head of Change Management, global FMCG Manufacturer

 

“The programme is an invitation to be unconventional, to test one’s boundaries, to be oneself. The air of mystery surrounding the programme and its content is closely guarded by the programme’s alumni. This has created a buzz of excitement, and a sense of the programme being a ‘must have’ at the Senior Manager level – not just a slot on the management curriculum or a box that needs to be ticked.”

Head of Firm-wide Learning, professional services firm

 

“Many, many thanks Sarah to you for creating and facilitating a fantastic programme for the leadership team. My mind is still buzzing with thoughts and ideas and I’m confident that we have now established a real momentum. I will send further thoughts when I’ve had an opportunity to digest but wanted to take the first opportunity to voice my appreciation for your effort, professionalism and commitment.”

Acting CEO, education sector