Strategic leadership and culture partnership
for executive teams navigating growth, transition or cultural tension - and wanting alignment between strategy, behaviour and impact
In periods of change, it’s rarely capability that’s missing, more often it’s alignment.
Senior teams are carrying complexity, competing priorities and high expectations. Strategy maybe clear on paper, but lived culture tells a different story.
I partner with executive teams to bring these elements into alignment.
Together we:
Clarify the leaders’ behaviour required to deliver strategy
Surface patterns that are limiting trust, accountability and performance
Navigate power, identity and culture with greater awareness
Strengthen collective ownership and decision-making
Create the conditions for sustainable inclusive performance
This is not an off the shelf intervention, or a single away day.
It is a strategic partnership, combining deep insight, structured challenge and practical support. Our work together can include my delivering a combination of the following:
Executive Team Development Sessions
Executive Coaching - individual, group or team
Facilitated Strategic Conversations
Targeted Leadership Development
While I increasingly contribute to gender equity strategy discussions, much of my work focusses on embedding inclusive leadership behaviours and shifting the lived experience of culture - where real change happens.
The starting point is always the same:
Clarity around what you are trying to achieve and honest reflection about what may be getting in the way.
Request a confidential conversation
If you are leading an executive team through transition or cultural complexity, lets explore whether a strategic partnership would support your next phase
What I Do
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Executive Coaching
Confidential high level coaching that strengthens leadership clarity, presence and impact in complex environments.
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Strategic leadership and culture partnership
Partnering with executive teams to align leadership behaviour, culture and strategy for sustainable performance.
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Women's Leadership and Gender Equity
Designing and delivering initiatives that strengthen women’s leadership capability and embed gender equity in everyday culture.
Case Study
Executive Team Alignment - a combination of individual and team coaching and team development
The Situation
Tom was a newly appointed Managing Director leading a service and sales business which was part of a much larger business. He inherited an under-performing operation and there was demand from the larger parent company for the business to move in profit. Tom quickly identified the structure of his director team as being out of balance and silo working pre-dominated. With a desire to turn things around quickly, Tom restructured the team. This was met with resistance and cynicism, resulting in complete inertia.
How Executive Team Alignment Helped
Initially, coaching focused on assisting Tom in handling his directors' behaviour, initiating conversations with each to address resistance. Tom acknowledged he had implemented the restructuring without involving his team and emphasised the necessity of the change. His transparency built trust and boosted his confidence in being team-oriented.
A two-day workshop was conducted to enhance leadership behaviours and address team dynamics, including addressing withheld misunderstandings, differences and assumptions. Tom received tailored coaching beforehand to encourage openness during the workshop.
Increased trust was evident as individuals took risks in sharing and providing candid feedback. Establishing clear behavioral expectations regarding team alignment laid the groundwork for ongoing work and coaching.
The team collaboratively developed a vision that revitalised the strategy and included a commitment to implementing the structural change. Further coaching for the directors supported their continuous growth in behaviour maintaining alignment within the team. Ongoing team sessions reinforced the progress achieved.
Results - Three months into the programme of work, Toms structural changes were implemented and the team continued to work cohesively and effectively. Nine months later the business had gone into profit making clear headway in becoming market leaders in its specialist sector.
At a glance
Challenges:
New director, lacking confidence
Underperforming operation
Silo working and low trust
Resistance to change
Inertia
Results:
Team trust and cohesion developed
Leader confident and engaging his team
Momentum built
Change implemented
Business turned around and profitable
From the beginning Mary built relationships, setting up an environment and process that was safe and allowed us to open up. The turning point moment was the uncomfortable conversations we had in the first workshop which were a 'moment of truth' followed by the awareness that to work as an aligned team we needed to sustain that level of honesty and accountability.”
Tom, Managing Director, Large Retail Company
(Personal details witheld for confidentiality)
