Eric Schmidt, during his time as Chairman and CEO of Google, said that the best advice he ever got was to get a coach.  For top leaders in an organisation a coach can be an external sounding board, a support but equally someone who holds them to account. A coach can help them work through new ideas or business conflicts, which, very often, they want to clarify or resolve for themselves before bringing it further within their organisation. The coaching process steers the client to think differently, to take account of non bottom line, but equally important aspects of a decision. Very often organisational politics, inherent bias or lack of clarity gets in the way of making the best decision.

Executive coaching is no longer reserved for top leaders. Increasingly organisations are offering coaching to managers and potential leaders as a training tool to help develop their people skills, gain greater self awareness and improve emotional intelligence. This approach brings many benefits to the organisation such as greater employee engagement, and staff retention while enhancing the return on investment.

Through Astra Coaching I offer one-on-one coaching to individuals within the workplace. I have several years experience as a leader within a large business environment bringing with it valuable skills and understanding of workplace and people challenges. This background is complimented by my training and practice as a professional coach.