Executive Coaching for Principals, Independent School Leaders and Senior Executives
Experience helps, but senior leadership still brings decisions with no obvious answer.
The more senior the role, the fewer people you may be able to think openly with, particularly when a decision affects people around you or carries significant consequences.
Executive coaching gives you a confidential place to work through what is happening, test your thinking and decide how you want to lead. It can also help you become clearer about the authority and responsibility that come with your role.
For capable leaders with significant responsibility
I work with leaders who are already capable and experienced. They are often at a point where working harder will not solve the issue in front of them.
Sometimes the pressure is immediate. A key staff member resigns unexpectedly. A senior leader is not performing and earlier conversations have changed little. A parent or stakeholder issue is escalating, or the relationship with your Board or Chair has become difficult.
At other times, enrolments or finances are under pressure, you are recruiting for a critical role, unwanted media or social media attention is building, or you are facing a strategic decision where the way forward is unclear.
Coaching gives you space to work on the immediate issue while also looking at how you are leading the role itself.
Owning the role changes how you lead
Executive leadership requires you to know when consultation has done its job and a decision is now yours to make. It also requires you to let other people take responsibility for work that belongs to them.
Coaching can help you notice where you may be holding on too tightly or hesitating longer than you need to. It can also help you see where your attention is going and whether that is where your leadership is most needed.
From there, you can become clearer about the leadership that is yours to provide and more confident in providing it.
Areas we may work on
Executive decision-making and judgement
Role clarity and leadership authority
Leading senior teams and developing other leaders
Difficult conversations and performance
Board, Chair and stakeholder relationships
Leading organisational change and innovation
Transitioning into a larger leadership role
Sustaining energy and perspective under pressure
Executive coaching for independent school leaders
Independent school leadership brings together educational purpose, governance, community expectations and organisational performance. For Principals and senior leaders, that creates a particular kind of pressure because decisions can become visible quickly and often affect people you know well.
Because I have led a K to 12 independent school, we can start with a shared understanding of the environment. You do not need to spend valuable coaching time explaining why a seemingly straightforward issue can carry so many layers.
If you lead internationally, cross-cultural expectations, staffing transitions, governance and community expectations, and distance from trusted networks can add another layer to the role.
I also bring perspectives from governance and other sectors when schools need fresh thinking beyond education.
How I coach
I combine genuine support with challenge. I listen closely and test assumptions, helping you separate the leadership issue from the noise around it.
Serious roles still benefit from curiosity. Coaching can help you see a situation differently and regain perspective.
It can also help you enjoy your leadership more.
“Working with Fran as an executive coach brought greater clarity and a sharper awareness of where my leadership energy has the most impact.”
Benjamin Clapp
Director of Teaching and Learning, United World College South East Asia, Singapore
Coaching shaped around your role and goals
I shape the coaching around you, the role you hold and the difference you want to make.
I draw on professional coaching approaches, senior leadership experience and behavioural insight. Our conversations respond to what is happening now without losing sight of how you want to grow as a leader.
One session may help you test an assumption. Another may focus on a decision or relationship that needs your attention.
My ICF credential, professional coach training and senior leadership experience inform the way I work. Where useful, I can also use DISC ADVANCED® to explore behavioural preferences and how you may be adapting your style to meet the role.
How executive coaching engagements work
Six-month coaching
One 60-minute session each month. This can suit a focused leadership goal or a transition, with regular thinking space while you work through it.
Twelve-month coaching
One 60-minute session each month across a full year. This gives us time to work with leadership challenges as they arise and support sustained development.
A different rhythm when you need it
If you are stepping into a new role or moving through an especially demanding period, we can agree a different session rhythm. If your organisation sponsors the coaching, we agree the goals and confidentiality boundaries at the outset. We can include DISC ADVANCED® when it would add useful insight.
Frequently asked questions
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Executive coaching is for experienced leaders with significant responsibility, including Principals, Heads of School, senior education leaders, CEOs and executives. It is particularly useful when decisions become more complex or you have fewer places for candid reflection.
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Bring the issue that is taking too much thinking space: a difficult people problem, Board or stakeholder tension, a critical appointment, a strategic decision, a transition or simply the sense that leadership is consuming more energy than it should.
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My coaching sessions are usually 60 minutes. Most executive coaching engagements run for six or twelve months with one session each month, although we can agree a different rhythm when your situation calls for it.
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We agree confidentiality boundaries at the outset. If an organisation sponsors the coaching, we also agree what, if anything, we will share with the sponsor. The coaching conversation itself remains confidential within those agreed boundaries.
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Coaching helps you examine your thinking and decide how you will act. I bring senior leadership and governance experience, and I will say clearly when I am offering advice or a strategic perspective. You still make the decision.
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A discovery call lets us discuss your role, what you are dealing with and what you want from coaching. We can then decide whether working together would be useful.
A strong role deserves strong thinking
If an issue is taking more of your attention than it should, or you need somewhere independent to think, I would be pleased to talk.