Ross Hadden HR Director

I have known Ann for over 20 years and hired her services in 3 different Companies to undertake One to One coaching and group coaching.  Ann has the ability to very quickly assess and adjust her coaching style to suit the situation, she has coached at all levels from very senior members of staff at Executive levels to young dynamic graduates.

In my capacity as HR Director of a FTSE 250 Company, it was vital to me that all training interventions were effective and this was especially the case of coaching, because Ann has a boutique company this allowed her to get to know our business, strategy and especially our culture which in turn made her coaching at all levels extremely effective whilst maintaining the trust and confidentiality of the employees being coached. As you would expect I regularly sought feedback on the effectiveness of the coaching, not the specific content of the conversations’ but on Ann style and ability to help and give clarity, and I can confidently say that everyone who Ann helped was very complimentary and, in many cases, wanted the coaching to continue beyond the agreed time.

Having now known Ann for so long and seen how many people she has impacted in my businesses; I can highly recommend her as a coach in all capacities.

Lynne Edwards HR & Training Consultant

Following a period of business change we engaged with Ann to develop our leadership capabilities. As a business we knew where we wanted to get to and that we needed a tailored programme, specific to our business and staff needs.

We found the approach that Ann took in terms of really listening and getting to know our business refreshing, and in marked contrast to other providers, many who rushed to give a hard sell on ‘off the shelf’ coaching options. Ann’s approach had several benefits; firstly it meant that Ann immediately made a positive impact and her detailed knowledge of our business challenges combined with her specialist coaching and facilitation skills helped to convert even the more sceptical staff members. This approach also meant that working with Ann became a real partnership, allowing us to create a bespoke 3 tier coaching programme to support our emerging stars, mid-level managers and more senior members of staff.

Ann’s ability to unlock and empower individuals by giving them the tools and knowledge to move forward successfully was a critical part of the success of our leadership training and the power of her coaching continues far beyond the duration of her programmes

Mark (client)

Before I started working with Ann the constructed version of myself was one of control, excessive high standards and someone who didn’t think of themselves, always looking to please others. I was extremely driven, and I expected everyone to be the same as me. When they weren’t, I was regularly disappointed, which was not helpful.

With the help of the coaching, I started to get in touch with the real Mark on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. The coaching has given me a real opportunity to re-evaluate my life and behave differently as a result. Learning new ways to manage and engage my team, peers, and bosses. Creating strategies for how I respond to different situations has helped people see the real me. This has helped me redesign many relationships at a deeper, more authentic level. I now use my skills in a more productive way, to be successful, and to be taken seriously at a senior level, within an asset management business.

Ann is one of the most talented individuals I have met, she manages to make the coaching sessions relaxed, almost like speaking with a good friend. I wish I experienced coaching like this 20 years earlier. If you are in a senior role and looking for someone to help you, not only overcome challenges, but looking to transform yourself, Ann is someone you will want to get in touch with.

Clare (client)

I first met Ann when she delivered a coaching for Leader’s course with my employer at the time. The atmosphere that was created with her and her colleague Lynn was different from any other training I had attended. I felt I could relax and more importantly I felt safe. That day something changed in me. During an experiential exercise I released that I don’t relate to words I relate to colours, shapes, and energy. In that moment I realised that it was ok to be different, and I could be authentic. I had just been given permission to be me for the first time in my life. Our homework that evening was just to go home and do something different and see what happens. I went home full of life and fun and in that instance, I was met with fun and affection. 2 pieces of learning in one day, I can be me and I can impact those around me. Since that day I have learned so much about myself and learned to get out my own way. As I continually work with getting out my own way, I try to see the person that is in front of me at any given time. It is not words that I use but energy. I have learned to trust myself; I have learned to manage my boundaries. If I need to hold my ground with quiet authority, I can do that comfortably and stay in the relationship with those around me (rather than being blunt and offending others).

When I attend the Time out & relaxation sessions, I join with my head feeling like some crazy cartoon character with a cloud above their head and by the time it is finished I feel like I have become “unstuck” that everything just opens and a cloud has been lifted.

Although there are many more examples I can give where the coaching has changed me, the greatest impact has been with my relationship with father. My father is a relationship person, he loves to sit close to you and hold deep meaningful conversations. Through understanding myself on a deep level I was able to get out my own way, drop my boundaries’ and start to build a completely new relationship with him. This has brought such joy to us both especially since my mother died.

Since that training, I understand myself, others and my place in the world, on a physical spiritual and emotional level and continually strive for more insights to help me make sense of myself and the world around me.

Lesley (client)

When I first met Ann, I was trying to figure out where I was going in my life, and trying to figure out the world around me. Especially in my new job. I didn’t understand the situation that I was in, with a new boss, new job and very different company culture.

I had no idea what people were doing, what their motivations were for the strange behaviour I perceived, and no matter what I tried, nothing was working.

It was the perfect storm of confusion for me, as along with all of that, I didn’t know how to express what I was feeling. I didn’t know that I would have to learn a new vocabulary to articulate my feelings. Up until that point, my career had followed a particular route, study hard, get the degree, do the management training course, get appointed to senior positions at a very early age and work in organisations that followed a particular format of success, and make money. That I had no time or energy to spend.

As I look back, I can now see that this situation for the first time allowed me to stop focusing on the external world’s view of success and learned to look inwards to what I wanted.

Through the coaching I started to learn how to articulate my feelings, understand not only my energy, but the energy other people bring and manage that energy in a productive way. These insights have been transformational as up until our coaching I just thought everyone picked up on the same things as me. And I now know, they don’t. I now trust myself more and trust in a sense of something within each of us that can´t easily be explained.

8 years ago, I changed my life. I was looking out the windows and it was grey cloudy Scottish winters day and I said to myself and the universe “I want more to life than this”. Simultaneously, and unknown to me, my now husband had a feeling that someone from another country was his soul mate and would one day come to find him.

With my new confidence and trust in myself I made the leap to live in Spain, where I met my husband and started a completely new life. Since then, I´ve moved to a beautiful island and now run a successful change management consultancy and training business. The skills, tools and insights that I have learned during the coaching are such an integral part of what I now do that I look back and can´t understand how I was able to function in the world without the knowledge, and self-awareness that I have now.

Meeting Ann and working with her over the years has been a blessing, and a health-saving factor in my life as well. I´m much clearer in what I want from life, and in taking care of myself and my boundaries and I would never have achieved that without Ann´s continuing support.