Worldwide Performance Coach Training for Leadership

Client Reviews

We regularly receive testimonials and reviews that our programmes are not only the best coach training courses, but the best leadership training that participants have ever experienced. Below are some examples of the reviews received. For a full list of our clients click here.

  • “It is the best course I have been on and the most useful one to me in my entire life, not just at work. I am glad the company is investing in it. I will willingly take part in more calls and will continue with the practice. On a lot of courses, once the course is over you go back to daily routine. With this, because we had the assignments it made me think about what I had learned and put some discipline in there and made it more useful.” – Dawn Calderbank, VP Retail Channel EMEA at NCR (National Cash Registers).
  • “ One feedback was even that it was the ‘best training ever’. And PM employees do have quite often the opportunity to attend a training, so this is absolutely a compliment.” – Joyce Heijgen, Manager HR Business Partner, Czech Republic PMI.
  • Best coaching course“The best course I have completed. It has really transformed my outlook.” – Rory Price – Senior Project Manager, England Rugby.
  • “The Trust now has a cadre of senior leaders who have grown together, and a great springboard to explore further performance improvement.  We also grew as an organisation by sharing the experience with other executive teams – personally I found that very powerful.” – Caroline Clarke, CEO, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • best coaching course“A 10/10. This is the most important four days of training I’ve had in a very long time. This transforms me.” – Michelle Russell, GE Healthcare.
  • “Having been involved in many aspects of training within IKEA at all levels over the past 10 years, the Coaching Program facilitated by Carol Wilson & James Wright was miles ahead of any in-house program relating to Coaching that I have been involved with.” – Phil Rogers IKEA UK HR Expansion Development Manager.
  • “I’ve experienced dozens of trainings… only three matter because actionable: MANAGER-AS-COACH was one of them. Years after, I still use the process and tactics at work and at home. Thank you Carol!” – Dr M’Bayang Thiam, PMI (Philip Morris International).
  • “Very easy content to digest. There is a world outside technical life.” – Shubham Dadel, Technical Manager, IG India.
  • Best coach training course“I think this course is fantastic – It’s exceeded my expectations” – Sarah House-Barklie. Head of HR, Facilities and Internal Communications, Nectar Loyalty.
  • “We have really valued the training provided by Culture at Work. People always enjoy the courses and say it is often the best training they have attended. It really adds value to people’s life – both work and personal.” – Kirsty Duck, HR Manager, GE Healthcare.
  • “I cannot express enough how grateful I am for the opportunity to be part of this training programme. After just 2 days of training, I have been able to utilise the skills and found I have completely changed my approach to management. It has been incredibly rewarding to help colleagues to work through solutions themselves, and to have been in a position to offer help and support. I could not recommend the training highly enough. I cannot recall any other training that has had such a profound and immediate impact on me as this programme.” – Lanre Fatuga, Operations Manager, Trauma & Orthopaedics, Therapy Services and Pain Management.
  • “An excellent course, very motivational. I would recommend it to all managers – in fact it should be compulsory! I thoroughly enjoyed the course and am looking forward to applying what I have learnt. The trainers very knowledgeable and supportive” – Mandy Williams, Culture and Strategy Manager, Finance and Resources Department, Westminster City Council.
  • Best leadership course“Overall we have seen energy levels increase, relationships within the team have improved and managers feel more empowered to do their roles. The training sessions were a mix of theory and practice and the team were given the opportunity to put the new/refreshed skills to work in a ‘real’ work session. Indeed our CEO rated the Coaching Skills for Leaders session as 10/10.” – Caroline Blackman, Head of Organisation Development, Delivery Partner, Olympic Delivery Authority.
  • “Such an insightful course, with learning which has already impacted my management style and interactions across the board. Imagine it changing the Royal Free culture – now that would be amazing. The thought of being able to coach Royal Free staff on their career journey is both exciting and rewarding, with the added bonus of knowing it will be impacting my growth and skills as well as impacting others daily.” – Marcia Laycy, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • “A thoroughly excellent course – it really made me think. I will apply the learning within my management role and in my personal life.“ – Ant Lineker, Finance Manager, Westminster City Council
  • “Not only was this process extremely valuable for me and my colleagues who attended, it was also of value in building organisational strength in the longer term. We are committed to building an inclusive culture of coaching and mentoring amongst our senior leaders, and this training helped us to progress towards this ambition in an inclusive way” – John Deverill, Managing Partner, GE Healthcare.
  • “Excellent facilitation by James. I am amazed by the connect and rapport he could build virtually with the participants in just 3 hours.” – Meenakshi Wadhwa, Johnson & Johnson
  • “My biggest takeaway was learning that a supervisor’s role is to concentrate on improving the relationship the coach has with their coachee, it’s not to develop the coach specifically. I really enjoyed the somatic, body work exercise we did. Also the participants were all lovely people and James did an excellent job as our trainer!” – Tony Phillips, Coaching Approach
  • Best coaching course“I honestly have never had such consistent positive feedback from any course I run, and I run a lot. It was interesting that after doing six straight days of running coaching courses last week how my dialogue with leaders changed this week. I tell people often that the reason I believe in coaching and in your model is that it makes me be the best person I can possibly be and this week has certainly been an example of that. Thank you once again for the opportunity to experience this personal and professional growth.” – David Fitzgerald, Senior Education Officer, English Schools Foundation, Hong Kong.
  • “Great content and training style. I was really impressed with the presenters and learning styles. Loved it, thank you, really thought provoking.” – Sarah Risby, Head of Commercial, Westminster City Council.
  • We know we can’t claim that all improvement is directly linked to the coaching programme, but we do know it will have significantly contributed to our improved scores. The hard data along with the narratives paints a picture of outstanding progress towards a coaching culture. All of this in a context of an organisation that acquired two hospitals in 2014 and moved to a group model in 2016.’”- Caroline Mabey, Deputy Director of OD, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • “I have entered this journey as a way to test the water and get closer to something I have always felt was close to my purpose. The coaching framework (and me being a coachee and a coach) has allowed me to shed light on quite a few blind spots and I feel now hooked to this experience and journey. Listen actively, keeping the framework and tools close, being detached as the key to being useful, but above all trusting the process and being my authentic self are the principles I take with me as I embark on this exciting path of knowing me and helping others along the way.” – Jose Enrique Gonzatti, Delivery Director Visa Managed Services for Europe.
  • “The final sessions with James I found extremely useful. Sticking with G and R and not rushing into options was useful and something I will do in future. The idea of detachment is something that has stuck with me and something that I will try to do as much as I can to remember this. I also really enjoyed the Best coach training coursesession on ‘Generative meetings’ and bringing a coaching style to meetings will have such a big impact. It is something I plan to implement in my meetings.”  – Catherine Plover, HR Business Partner, Hounslow & Richmond Healthcare NHS Trust.
  • “The training materials, guidance and practice opportunities with my course partners and coachee have massively benefited my personal awareness and approach to everyday conversations, and I’ll definitely make reference to these to develop my coaching skills further. The GROW Diamond I find a fantastic tool and cannot wait to introduce the Generative Thinking Meeting Guidelines into my upcoming project working groups. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity of this course and all its taught me in such an engaging, encouraging, motivating way!” – Jessica Pomroy, Workforce Projects Officer Kingston Hospital.
  • “A really great practical course, with great trainers. The practice was invaluable, and observing coaching examples demonstrated by the trainers.” – Anita Stokes, Lead Strategic Finance Manager, Westminster City Council.
  • “Reflecting on all of these sessions, I can see that using the EXACT model to prioritise goal areas is vitally important, especially when the Coachee comes with such a broad goal, it is a great tool as it helps to structure the session and also allows you to move through the GROW model with all exploration being goal focussed.” – Malini Craig, Witton Park Academy
  • “The course was fantastic.  I plan to incorporate this into my everyday interactions, line management, as well as continue with some private coaching clients. It was so valuable and really highlighted the value of coaching to me.” – Sophie Harle, Director of HR, Tanglin Trust Singapore
  • Best coach training course“Since I have learnt the basic ideas behind coaching and have been able to employ some of them I have started to see changes in behaviour and effectiveness. In one particular service line meeting which included six consultants, two operations managers and a senior nurse, I asked the team to each give their opinion one at a time, while not thinking of their own answer but focusing on what the person speaking was saying. In order to help them not to focus on their own answers I gave them permission to pass when it came to their turn, or just agree with a previous point. The effect was that there were no interruptions, each person had the floor to themselves for a period of time and the whole team remained attentive. The overall effect was that the meeting did come up with some useful actions and I was pleased to get positive feedback from two of the team at a later date that they felt that that meeting had gone well.” – Tim Wickham, Consultant Paediatrician at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • “I actually really like the online format. Zoom works perfectly and it is great to be able to do this course from the comfort of my own home.” – Svenja Keller FPFS, Killik & Co UK.
  • best leadership course“I really enjoyed and found useful to talk about leadership styles” – Agnieska Noworol, KYC Manager for IG EMEA.
  • “This is the first time I have used GROW in a group setting and it has been incredibly powerful to see the tangible benefits for people. My confidence levels have surged because I now have clarity on my role and feel better equipped to facilitate some fairly tough, emotive discussions. This has removed a layer of pressure that I hadn’t realised I had placed on myself which means I can now focus on developing my own style, technique and approach to team development.” – Sarah Latham, OD Project Lead, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • “So very happy to be on the course with great people and fab trainer. I adore coaching and your organisation.” – Mandy Hawkes, Amanda Coaching
  • Best coaching course“This course has been amazing. It has been beneficial to me both as a coach and a coachee, and I have certainly grown in both aspects. I really have enjoyed it , and plan to continue my coaching going forward. It was very interactive, with open and approachable trainers, a great pace, and lots of practice. Throughout the course I feel that I have grown and developed. A great course, I really did get a lot out of it.” – Zoe Waters, Senior Finance Business Manager, Westminster City Council
  • “I’ll just come right out and say – it was perfect. The things that really matter to me have all scored highly. It is rare that one course meets needs/expectations in all areas” – Sue Akroyd, Head of Professional Development, Foundation for Community Dance.
  • “The course has been a huge window to the potential of coaching, and it has been such a pleasure to be part of it and enjoy the moments shared across all members in the group. Coaching also has a place at home (family and friends). My young daughter has said, “this is great dad, I like this!” where I’ve introduced aspects to her (e.g., how she manages issues at clubs and more recently school). It been incredibly rewarding to be part of the course. Personal thanks to James for showing us in such a fabulous way how it can be mastered.” – Ben Homer, Assistant Director of Strategy & Transformation, Hounslow & Richmond Healthcare NHS Trust.
  • “I enjoyed the more EQ focus rather than the focus on models I have seen in previous training. I have found this course more accessible and enjoyable than the ILM 1/ILM 3 I attended previously.” – Paul Lenaghan, Marketing Services Director, Nectar Loyalty.
  •  “I have learnt a great deal from this course on how to deliver coaching and mentoring sessions to different people. I am looking forward to implementing this and putting this into action with my patients and staff within my work organisation. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to enrol onto this course and complete in full.”- Lavina Ramlingam, Stop Smoking Specialist. Hounslow & Richmond Healthcare NHS Trust.
  • Best training course“I discovered through the coaching course that people have their ups and downs and we can guide them to discover their way around by simply letting them think! Most people do not like to be lectured or advised – they only want to be motivated to solve their own problems. I truly believe now that the key to influencing people is by empowering them; if people can change themselves they are capable of doing amazing things. The experience I had as coach, coachee and supervisor gave me a broad perspective and a kind of a 360 degree image of how the coaching really works and how coaching can be a very powerful tool.” – Osamah Almugren, Assistant General Manager, Head of Learning & Development, Alinma Bank, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • “An excellent course that has made me self-aware of taking a coaching approach as well as reflecting how I could approach things better. The key benefit is putting into action the leadership behaviour of coach throughout life. Receiving coaching has made me clear on new ways forward that will make a big impact.” – Alex Thompson – Club Management and Governance Manager, England Rugby.
  • “I came into this course having done a couple of coaching sessions around the GROW model and therefore felt quietly confident about my understanding of coaching: it was all about following the path through the GROW structure and echoing back words the coachee had said. With the power of hindsight (and at many, many points during the course) I have reflected on how naive I was and how much more there is to being an effective coach.
    As I have done more practice I have appreciated that you can move between the 4 elements and it is about allowing the coachee to lead the conversation and go where it most benefits them, not about working methodically through each stage of the GROW model in turn.
    What I found particularly powerful was the setting of goals, using the EXACT model making sure that the goals have a focus, and that is something the person is motivated and energised to achieve.” – Edward Duncan, Head of Year in the Junior School, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
  • “I have learnt so much from this programme. I gained more knowledge about coaching and how effective it can be towards people’s development.” – Uzochukwu Umemezie, Engagement and Wellbeing Manager, Hounslow & Richmond Healthcare NHS Trust.
  • Best leadership course“The Generative Thinking meeting coaching approach is something that I will definitely continue to use when conducting or facilitating meetings. Allowing each contributor to share a goal, we were able to acknowledge and build upon each other’s ideas without writing any off. It was an eye-opening experience for me as the Head of Department as quite often it became a snowball effect of exciting ideas. We now have some actionable points that have had ownership opted in on by team members.” – James Bleach, Head of Design and Technology in the Senior School, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
  • “Very valuable for my leadership development, and a thoroughly enjoyable experience which will impact on my work at the organisation more widely.” – Mike Barnett – Area Manager, England Rugby.
  • “I am so pleased with what I have learned through my coaching journey, and extremely happy with how the course was set out from start to finish. I found the practice coaching sessions with other trainee coaches extremely helpful. They allowed us to give and receive open, honest and constructive feedback, and helped me to gain a great understanding of what a coach is. Thank you, James and Chloe, for this great course, it really made me feel at ease and possible to feel like I can coach!”- Lauren Walser, Projects & Performance Co-ordinator, Westminster City Council.
  • “An engaging and motivational course. Very empowering and confidence building.” – Hilary Dyer, Media Buying Manager, Nectar Loyalty.
  • “I learnt about GROW model and will be using it in my everyday life. The GROW model has help me slow down with my quick to jump in to answer or solve a problem for the other person.  In doing this coaching course it has made me realise it is ok to remain silent and not to feel awkward with not speaking or silences.  I know by doing this course has helped my confidence and I have started to be more inclined to hold back and feel its ok to say nothing when things go quiet.” – Cathy Heneghan, Recruitment & Retention Business Partner, Hounslow & Richmond Healthcare NHS Trust.
  • “Really positive – much less pressurised and better than previous coaching course. It’s really been fantastic with the level of practice and feedback we’ve been offered alongside the theory. My confidence has really improved.” – Ellie Haralampous, Client Manager, Nectar Loyalty.
  • “I would like to give a real life example of the power of this open and inclusive approach to team management. Late at night I was working on the intensive care unit (I am an intensive care doctor) and we, the team, were struggling with an extremely sick baby; the nurses that were looking after the baby with me were attending to drawing up some drugs for the baby while I continued to try and keep the baby stable. Despite my best efforts the baby was gradually getting worse to the point I feared that we might lose her.
    Another nurse who was not directly involved with the care of this baby was heading for her break but noticed that the baby was in difficulty and came over to ask if I needed any help. In my mind I was running through all the possible options which I thought might help the situation, but none of my actions seemed to be working.
    Without thinking, I asked the nurse what she felt might help. I think I might not have done this previously or at least not in such an open way. She made a suggestion that I initially discarded but then explored with her further. Our short conversation resulted in a change in treatment for the baby that stabilised her condition and ultimately contributed to saving her life. This may sound dramatic but I truly believe that my open questioning helped the team manage a potentially disastrous situation.” – Tim Wickham Consultant Paediatrician, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • best leadership course“I have to tell you something, very honest, very sincere. Since February I joined the R&D department in a group where I am in charge of scientists dealing with chemical substances and toxicology. This is about a 100 light years from my engineering background. And I have not felt a second lost or destabilized by the situation. With me, I brought people management and coaching (and its active listening …) skills. Unbelievable.” – Dominique Andrey, Manager Logistics Engineering PMI, 6 years after training on our Manager-as-Coach course.
  • “I cannot express enough how grateful I am for the opportunity to be part of this training programme. After just two days of training, I have been able to utilise the skills and found I have completely changed my approach to management. I was able to apply the skills immediately upon my return to work to help a member of my team work through a particular problem she was having managing another member of staff.
    I have also used the skills to support a colleague, who I noted had come off a particularly difficult telephone call, was clearly frustrated and stuck for a solution. I have also used the skills in a team meeting to gain feedback from the team on how they felt the meeting went, and what if anything could be improved. It has been incredibly rewarding to help colleagues to work through solutions themselves, and to have been in a position to offer help and support. I also sought feedback to understand how my approach was received, as none of these staff members were aware I had taken a coaching approach when they were speaking with me.
    The feedback was positive and only spurred me on more to work on the skills. The coaching skills principles (GROW model), are easy to apply to a myriad of situations that I have found myself in (including speaking to a friend about a personal problem he had whilst in the pub!). I have since discussed this programme with a number of colleagues and could not recommend the training highly enough.
    I cannot recall any other training that has had such a profound and immediate impact on me as this programme, and I eagerly await the next part of the training.” – Lanre Fatuga, Operations Manager Trauma & Orthopaedics, Therapy Services and Pain Management, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
  • best coaching course“I was very fortunate to have been a delegate on a Train the trainer Coaching Course that James Wright delivered and I would have no hesitation in recommending him or indeed participating on any future training course he should deliver. James has many strengths and is a very competent trainer/coach with a great personality and likeability. He knows how to engage with all types of people and I really liked the fact that both he and Carol really cared for us on our course and always had lots of time to guide and coach us even in the evenings or our down time. Carol and James had also made a huge effort to have a great knowledge of IKEA before starting our course, which showed a lot of dedication and a desire to understand and exceed our requirements.” – Jo Murphy, UK/IE Leadership Services Manager at IKEA.
  • “The depth of the course was great and gives hope for real behavioural change across our organisation. Speaking personally, despite having attended a number of business coaching courses during my career, there were some significant learnings from the Culture at Work course which have improved my coaching and leadership skills; whether it be quotes that resonated with me that I draw on in my day to day work, improved awareness of listening skills, importance of belief and trust in your coachee or the concept of detachment. This has all contributed to me being a more capable coach – inside and outside work!” – Lucinda Pullinger, HR Director, England Rugby.
  • “This has been one of the most useful courses I have ever taken part in.” – Lyn Hunt, Headteacher.
  • best leadership course“It’s a couple of days now since the training in Executive Business Coaching. I feel non-stop like I have to say thank you very much for this opportunity. We had 3 intensive days of practising, demonstration, changing coach-partners, stepping out of comfort zones sometimes… This is an extremely useful and unusual experience and it is really motivating to do everything possible to use it properly with various people and situations around us – totally helpful and self-developing. Will do my best now to pass the assessment, get better in the technique and contribute to spreading it to others.” – Tatyana Neshta, VP Finance and IT, Hilti, Russia.
  • “I honestly believe the whole team enjoyed the coaching experience and that it will make a difference to the way the team works” – Eivind Slaaen, Head of People & Culture Development, Hilti Corporation.
  • best leadership course“With an engineer education, I quite naturally built my understanding of the world through a rather scientific and technical approach. The years have taught me that the world is above all made of people who, as individuals, have their own way of seeing the world. And obviously, they do not all have an engineering background. With the time, I had the opportunity to move from engineering to managerial positions, from pure technical skills to people management, with all the diplomacy that is required. The years have allowed me to increase my interpersonal understanding and leadership skills supporting and developing people who work around me. And yet, it has always been a challenging and difficult task to encourage, motivate and guide people, sometimes leaving me with a feeling of helplessness. Then, this year came to me with a gift, a precious and immeasurable gift: Manager-as-Coach training.
    None of the previous courses around people management I ever attended has brought me such a powerful and impactful method to help people reach their own goals. It has been a real eye-opener and a revelation of what a coach is”. – Dominique Andrey, Manager Quality Assurance, Philip Morris Products SA, Switzerland.
  • Best coaching course“Excellent as always! Lots of new tools to take forward and immediate use for a couple of the tools to find a solution.” – Coral Ingleton, L&D Manager, Kent County Council.
  • “The coaching sessions I held were transformative for me in terms of what coaching can bring to individuals and that, when done correctly, coaching is truly about ‘self-directed learning’ and the coachee having the answers.” – Michelle Chavaillaz, Manager Corporate Learning, PMI.
  • “This has put a whole other angle on coaching for me – like finding the missing part in a jigsaw! Thank you.” – Carol Bull, Organisational Development Consultant London Borough of Bexley.
  • “The best course I have attended – huge potential for personal development and the development of the school.” – Carole Sharp, teacher.
  • “This has been the most valuable training I have received in my 6 year career- but has also had a profound influence on my personal life too. The facilitators were inspiring, motivating, challenging, fun and adaptive. Thank you so much!” – Kerry Evans, Primary Teacher.
  • “The Manager-as-Coach program helped me to build the right mindset; not because it made conceptually sense to me, it is because I could implement my learning right away and see the impact on people. After five years, I regularly coach people from other functions, and the good news is, I still enjoy it and feel proud of myself – not something small 😊. At the same time, I could also use this program for my organization i.e. to enhance my team’s managerial capabilities and effectiveness by applying coaching leadership style. I must say, I am happy with the progress we had as HR Services organization. I take this opportunity to thank our partners for their super professional and effective coaching – it works and worth the effort.” – Can Kullukcu, Director HR Services PMI.
  • best leadership course“What I most valued was being together as a team, confirmation of boundaries and how to deal with the line between coaching and telling. A positive, enjoyable and insightful course. Four years later I am still using coaching almost on a daily basis, but have to admit that it doesn’t feel like coaching now, just a good way to support people.” – Charles Larkin, Director Finance, Planning and Administration – PMI Nordics Cluster.
  • “As a Manager HR within PMP SA organization I would like that a coaching culture is embedded in every leader starting from the top management down to the level of our front-line leaders who have the big responsibility to drive our employees towards the same direction maintaining a good level of engagement and motivation. These drivers will allow us to continuously improve our performances.” – Simona Robotti, Human Resources PMP (Philip Morris Products), Neuchatel.
  • “Follow-up and perseverance are not always easy with the busy agendas we all have … however I can see more openness and willingness to invest the necessary time for coaching. Overall, the first steps towards establishing a Coaching Culture are being done and we are ready for the journey ahead of us. My personal learning objectives have been met and are now part of my formal objectives for the rest of the year: I am applying attentive and active listening more often and effectively and I have improved my capability and dedication to the true role of any manager – to develop others and help them to GROW! There are nights when I think ‘I did a real good job today’. A big ‘Thank you’ for that!” – Sandra Silva, PMI Leadership Institute.
  • “For me ‘manager-as-coach’ was one more training. At the beginning, I was sceptical about what could that bring to me on top of the OPEN culture we have in place, the different leadership trainings I took in the past and the one to one session already in place with my direct reports. At the same time, most colleagues who have participated were pretty unanimously positive about how it changes the behavior. I have to say that very quickly I’ve been convinced about the approach and the benefit it can bring me, my team and the full organization. Personally, I’m very satisfied to have attended to the training, because it definitely help me to be a better leader, coachee and coach.” – Javier Saiz, SC Planning & Controlling Manager, Philip Morris Products.
  • “Great pace. Very clear to understand” – Emilie Diop, Rewards Manager, Nectar Loyalty.
  • Best management course“James is very open, approachable and sets a good tone. Useful content and well structured. Good balance between practice, ‘teaching’ and group examples. Great content – very helpful and a great way to become more confident and adept at coaching.” – Liz Higgins, Commercial and Strategy Director, Nectar Loyalty.
  • “Very relevant content and awesome explanation. James makes the training very exciting and motivating” – Pedro Ramos, Snr Planning Executive. Nectar Loyalty.
  • “Overall, from this enrichment class, not only did I learn about how to coach, I also learnt a lot about myself, in terms of character and emotional intelligence, and in general, the mindset that I need to be at, not just to succeed/ achieve something, but also just to become a better person altogether. The sessions were incredibly fulfilling, and enjoyable.” – Karen Chan, Year 11 student at South Island School, Hong Kong.
  • “A huge thank you for setting up and delivering the inspiring coaching course. People who attended the training have been keen to praise the course and are delighted with what they have got out of the experience and are keen to use the skills in their teams. I do believe that the impact will be in empowering more people to have an even greater sense of being able to influence not only the lives of young people but their own lives as well” – Jenny Fennell, Education Adviser, North Somerset Schools Coaching Partnership.
  • best leadership course“I loved James’ style and anecdotes, his credibility and light touch/curiosity, the Generative Thinking meeting, the reactions of participants and the level of engagement.” – Patrick McMaster, Senior Learning & Development Partner at England Rugby
  • “I feel more confident about supporting staff who have particular issues that ‘lock’ their ideas. Thank you for enabling me to understand and unpick another way of helping people find their own answers” – Lynne Yelland, Headteacher.
  • “The facilitators were real experts who guided my development without ever preaching. Thank you so much for a great set of training.” – Peter Turner, Primary Headteacher.
  • “During the practical assignments, I had an opportunity to interact with quite a few colleagues across the globe, whom I had never met before. Through coaching, I realised that people are the same everywhere, everyone carries their own fears. It has given me insight into how humans behave, and it is the same kind of challenges everyone faces, in their day to day activities. This helps you see the whole world as one global collaborative environment. Overall, it has been a life changing experience for me personally.” – Preethi Shankar, HR Manager, IG India.
  • “The manual was well structured and helpful. I also found Carol Wilson’s book very readable. I hope to convey the coaching ethos to all staff, parents and pupils. A huge thank you – it was an excellent course which has left me even more certain that coaching is an area I would like to expand into.” – Jacky Kerly, Deputy Head.
  • best leadership course“I like the content of the training, part of it was a reminder for me, part was new. Person leading the training encouraged participants to speak. It is not easy to conduct the meeting via Skype and keep participants involved. However it is not a case during our sessions, people are actively taking part in all discussions.” – Anita Latuszek, Compliance Team Lead, IG Poland.
  • “I thought the course was brilliant and other colleagues have said they thoroughly enjoyed it and they are keen to continue using their coaching skills across the business.” – Catherine Parsons, Learning and Talent Advisor at England Rugby.
  • “By the end of the coaching course, I felt a kind of euphoric feeling, that something similar to magic was possible. I now believe that with the right language, attitude, and purpose everyone is capable of coaching and being coached.” – Donavan Zegna, Head of Integrated Technology in the Junior School, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
  • “I enjoyed the participating nature of the course, it kept me engaged over the session and helped me to think about what was being discussed.” – Tom Brown, Head of Trading Services, IG Australia.
  • “My active listening skills have definitely improved throughout the duration of the course. Besides following the GROW model, I also kept my focus on the solutions, rather than the problem; this enabled my coachee to remain excited and, consequently, she was more willing to delve deeper, acquiring greater awareness, as well as gaining greater depth as regards her understanding of the issues and solutions.” – Flora Xu, Teacher of Chinese in the Senior School, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
  • “A huge big thank you for 6 brilliant days of coaching training for our staff. Feedback has been 100% positive with comments such as ‘Transformational!’, ‘The best CPD I have ever had’, ‘The best training I’ve had in years’, ‘Simply life changing’. We are so excited about creating a coaching culture at Alice Smith and moving forward.” – Dr Sarah Howling, Secondary Principal, Alice Smith School Kuala Lumpur.
  • “I thoroughly enjoyed the course particularly the sessions toward to end of the course. Generative Thinking has been huge for me in my current and future role. I also find myself having more sporadic coaching conversations with peers.” – Courtney Conlon.  Job title: Assistant Head of Year, Tanglin Trust Singapore
  • “It was an excellent session and James was as good as ever in leading it.” – Mark Saltmarsh, Player Pipeline Manager, England Rugby.
  • best coaching course“By embracing and strategically incorporating coaching into the fabric of our language of interaction and reflection opportunities, we are moving beyond superficial performance management structures and tokenistic professional development.
    By placing the spotlight on our individual and collective responsibility towards each other as learners and team members, and providing the means to actuate this through the introduction of Professional Growth and Accountability structures grounded in trust, reflection, self-directed goals and collaboration, relationships have been transformed and professional growth and team accountability have been accelerated.
    By investing heavily in coaching training for our teachers – and increasingly so for parents and students – and building a coaching philosophy across our school, we are now shifting our cultural outlook, enhancing collegiality and resilience. This has led to further innovation in the classroom and pastorally, particularly in the areas of assessment, feedback and restorative conversations, and greater cohesion in our school community.
    The results from our 2017 staff survey were striking in terms of the positive upturn in teacher perceptions of their own learning and place within a learning community – 100% of our teachers stated that they enjoy coming to school each day.” – Dr Sarah Howling (Secondary Principal) with Maria Osowiecki and Jaime Thistleton (Vice Principals), KLASS Alice Smith School Kuala Lumpur
  • “James was a great trainer for the course. He has excellent knowledge and was able to explain the content in a high level of detail and provided practical examples to help understanding. James was patient despite the varying levels of knowledge within the group and encouraged interaction at all sessions.” – Richard Arlett, Activities & Sport Director, Tanglin Trust Singapore
  • “I found the ‘Imagine you have achieved it, what does it feel like? What would be the benefits?’ question very helpful as it created a future focus as well as revealing what motivated the other person. This positive approach meant that my goal become something to achieve rather than something to avoid.” – Benyna Richards, Director of CPD, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore
  • best coach training course“The model works not only in verbal discussions but also in email and instant messaging exchanges as well.” – NCR Manager
  • “The supervision training has given me much more confidence that there are tools and techniques that we can use and explore more in our supervisory role and indeed in coaching. What I really value is that I’ve had the chance to work with almost everyone in the group, and that has been such valuable practise. The group supervision session was so insightful, because you can observe, you can listen, and you can learn from others. What I’m taking away from the course is invaluable knowledge and skills that everyone shared with me. So for me that was just brilliant.” – Michelle Kelly, Director, Intuition Discovery & Development
  • “Thank you very much James for your great facilitation of this training. I have received a lot of positive feedback on the program, training and most importantly regarding your impact on this training. Thank you very much to show the power of coaching to our leaders, I can hear that they had chance to experience it quite intense way with the additional practice opportunities with internal & external talents and they enjoyed it.” –Serpil Dede, HR Director, HRBP Europe/ANZ, Corporate Functions & Transformation at Reckitt.

Our training programmes are accredited by the ILM (leadership arm of City & Guilds) and the Association for Coaching.