Case Studies and Testimonials

Coaching and Mentoring

Case Study #1: Developing as a manager

The client: Sue is Financial Controller of a major transport organisation who had a track record for delivering high quality financial information.

The issue: While Sue knew that she was a great technical accountant, she lacked confidence in her management capabilities.

The process: Our initial focus was on helping Sue to recognise her significant achievements, skills and the self imposed barriers that were holding her back as a manager. We then spent a lot of time on building her skills through role play, discussion and Sue putting into practice her new learning between sessions.

The outcome: Sue has developed a whole set of management competencies that she is putting into practice day to day and is also using as the foundations for realising personal ambitions.

Case Study #2: Leadership Coaching for a Health Professional

"Having reflected on the coaching sessions I have found them to an invaluable tool for assessing my own capability in performing my role and to gain a collection of ideas that I can use to further develop in my career and in life outside of work. Talking to someone who is not directly involved in my role or my employer was important - it encouraged me to open up more and I have benefited from the feedback, interpretation and unbiased opinion.

I like to talk openly and the sessions were a very positive stimulant - they made me think quiet hard about the values I have and helped me to understand that there are sometimes undiscovered ideas, as well as skills, that are not utilised or realised often enough.

During the coaching sessions I agreed to take forward some actions and always felt encouraged to tackle situations or challenges I encountered. The sessions included looking at strengths, areas for improvement, aspirations, career development, achievements and lifelong ambitions.

I would recommend that anyone who considers having coaching sessions enters into them without any pre-conceived ideas and talks honestly and openly – I used this approach and I gained a lot in a very short amount of time."

Kurt Djemal,
Microbiology Laboratory Manager
Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust

Case Study #3:  Developing a Leader

"Thank you for the coaching session yesterday.

It was again very helpful in that it enabled me to pull together my thoughts and questions that have evolved from attending the leadership and management course. Key areas of focus for future development were identified as well as valuable pointers for the preparation of future project posters and presentation.

Previous discussion of areas highlighted from the leadership impact report and the 360 feedback assessment enabled me to focus on weaker areas of my leadership and management approaches and identify ways to improve these.

I found that your approach was open and friendly with the ability to suggest improvements in the weak areas identified without appearing to be critical or judgemental.

I would wholly recommend your coaching sessions to others who need similar help and support in these areas."

Graham Terrey
Head Biomedical Scientist in the Microbiology and Infection Service
Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

Training Courses

Presentation Skills

The client: The South East Coast Strategic Health Authority takes the lead on Finance Skills Development across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

The requirement: The Authority sought our help to create an introductory level presentation skills course for those relatively new to giving formal presentations..

Our approach: We developed a highly practical course that provided the opportunity to learn, build confidence and put the learning into practice.

The results: 84% of those attendending rated the event excellent.

Speaking and Short Workshops

Creating and Delivering Powerful Presentations

This two hour event was delivered on behalf of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants South East.

Delegate comments included:

"There was the right mix of theory and practical which made it very engaging"

"Duncan was very good at presenting which gave a good idea of how it should be done"

"It was an excellent introduction to creating and delivering presentations"

"I felt that it was pitched very well with just the right mix of information and practice"