Listen for what matters
Time and attention to understand the person as well as the problem, including what may be difficult to say out loud.
Clearer thinkingwhen the answer isn’t obvious.
I work with people facing greater responsibility, difficult decisions or a sense that something needs to change. Together, we look closely at what is happening, uncover what matters and work out what you want to do next.
10+ yearsleading large, diverse teams across three nations
£500m+annual revenue accountability
Level 7qualification in coaching and mentoring
Coaching
A space to think,
not advice in disguise.
You already bring experience, judgement and ambition. My role is not to tell you what your answer should be, but to help you see more clearly what is happening, what matters and what you want to do next.
I offer a warm, confidential and non-judgemental space. The work is specific to you: how you think, what you say and what may be sitting underneath it. That allows the questions and challenge to respond to you rather than follow a script.
How I coach
Ask questions that fit
Questions shaped around you, your situation and how you think, rather than pulled from a script.
Challenge with care
Honest observations that help you test assumptions, move beyond the comfortable answer and decide what comes next.
Is coaching for you?
You do not need a perfectly formed question.
Coaching can be useful when something feels important, unresolved or ready to change.
- Stepping into greater leadership responsibility
- Leading through ambiguity, pressure or change
- Building confidence, influence or presence
- Working out what you want next
- Making a decision you have been circling for too long
“Helping people realise what they are capable of has been a thread throughout my life.”
Why coaching
It started long before I called it coaching.
I started teaching martial arts at 14. I later ran my own training company and taught English as a foreign language. I did not think of any of it as coaching then, of course, but I became interested in the different ways people learn, build confidence and make progress.
That interest has stayed with me through roles spanning customer experience, business analysis and commercial leadership. The work I have consistently found most rewarding has involved helping someone make sense of a difficult situation, recognise a strength they may be overlooking, or work out what they want to do next. Sometimes the useful thing is to listen; sometimes it is to ask a question or offer a challenge. What matters is paying enough attention to understand what that particular person needs.
I now coach alongside my senior leadership role and am completing a Level 7 qualification in Leadership Coaching and Mentoring. The course is adding formal depth and discipline to an approach I have developed through years of leading and working closely with people.
Experience
Leadership grounded in real work.
I am Head of Commercial Strategy in the transport sector, where I lead a department of 50 and am accountable for more than £500 million in annual passenger revenue.
Across 10+ years, I have led teams and functions in commercial strategy, business analysis, revenue protection and ticketing, and safety and security. I have also run my own business. I understand the reality of leading people while managing competing priorities, senior stakeholders and outcomes that matter.
That experience does not make me the authority on somebody else’s situation. It means I can understand the context without losing sight of the person within it.
Start a conversation
A useful first conversation does not need a perfect agenda.
If you are considering coaching, or simply want to understand whether working together might be useful, email me.
seanpatrickboyd@gmail.comNo form. No mailing list. Just an email.