I lead our multi-cultural coaching practice and have gained experience working with clients in 43 countries. I have a Masters Degree in Executive Coaching from Ashridge Business School and specialise in the relational approach to support senior leaders, managers and function heads in global organisations to achieve their developmental or performance goals.

My belief is that trust-based personal relationships between coach and coachee play an essential role in ensuring that the coaching process results in productive learning and growth for the client. Ever mindful of this, in addition to trying always to observe best practice in line with my Ashridge accreditation, I make efforts to stay well informed about the wider economic, organisational and political influences that might potentially impact coachees' perceptions, emotions and thinking.

In my experience, at times executives want to hear well balanced external perspectives - and possibly even challenges to pressure-test their current thinking - about the business or organisational issues they face. My intent is that by continuously investing in understanding the bigger picture I can assure that, if asked, any input I do provide is relevant, appropriate and realistic. At the same time I work to ensure that in the end, coachees make their own behavioural choices.

I am certified by Hogan Assessments as a feedback facilitator to help coachees decide on action commitments in the light of the powerful insights available to them through use of the Hogan self-assessment inventories. Again, experience shows me that coachees' reflection and developmental action planning can be productively supported by combining Hogan insights with perspectives from 360 feedback and, when requested, with confidential line manager and colleague interviews.

Recently, I was invited to author content for an academic work on coaching relationships* - edited by Professor Erik de Haan and Professor Charlotte Sills - and in it I explore some of the potential influences of factors from outside the coaching room for multi-party contracts and processes.

I believe that executives who commission and sign-off the funding for coaching work should rightly expect to see positive return on their business investment as well as developmental benefits for their coachee(s). Therefore, careful and detailed contracting with the decision makers in the client's organisation is just as important to me as personal contracting with coachees - especially concerning the issue of confidentiality. Twenty five years of experience facilitating alignment at high level in multi-cultural organisations often proves to be helpful in this sometimes politically sensitive preparatory process.

Our extended group of associate coaches are also qualified to Masters Degree level in executive coaching, using a relational approach that is clinically informed.

I invest in my personal development through reflective inquiry supported by supervision, and extensive reading. I am a member of the Ashridge Alumni group.

Please call me if you would like exploratory discussions about the relational approach to executive coaching and the role it could play as part of your development strategy.

*In, Coaching Relationships (Eds. E de Haan & C. Sills) In press (Libri UK)