Coaching for senior leaders and academic leaders
When you're senior enough that people look to you for answers, finding somewhere to ask your own questions out loud becomes harder. My coaching gives you that space — confidential, calm, and thoughtful.
Does this sound familiar?
- You're carrying decisions that feel heavier than the ones you made a year ago.
- The people you'd normally talk things through with now report to you.
- You're expected to be the calm one in the room, even when you're the one most unsure.
- You're ambitious, but also suspicious of ambition that asks you to pay with your health.
- You've read the books, done the workshops, and you want something more personal than another framework.
Leadership that lasts
Senior roles — whether in a business, a university, a research institute or a large organisation — are rarely about knowing the answers. They're about holding the questions well enough for the people around you to keep working, keep deciding, and keep trusting the direction.
I coach senior corporate leaders and senior academic leaders who want to do that with clarity and confidence, and without giving up the parts of themselves that got them this far.
How I support senior leaders
My coaching combines thoughtful, open questions with practical strategies. It's a calm, non-judgemental space where you can say the thing you can't say in the board meeting, the senate, the team stand-up or the executive committee — and work out what to do with it.
Together we can:
- Work through a specific decision or transition you're facing
- Explore a pattern in your leadership that you want to understand
- Develop a sustainable rhythm of work that doesn't cost you your health
- Strengthen your confidence as the scale of the work increases
- Think about what's next — the next role, the next chapter, the next version of the work
Senior academic leaders
Academic leadership is a distinct kind of leadership — carrying research, people, funding, reputation and institutional politics at the same time. I've spent much of my career in and around universities, including managing the NUAcT Fellowship programme at Newcastle University, and I understand the texture of academic leadership well.
If you're a senior academic leader — professor, head of school, research director, PI leading a large group, or stepping into a PVC or dean role — coaching with me is a space to think about your leadership and the shape of your work, without having to explain how a university actually functions.
(If you're looking for researcher development and training rather than coaching, I have a separate practice for that — get in touch and I'll point you in the right direction.)
What you'll gain
- Clarity in your decisions and confidence in your choices
- A sustainable rhythm of work that doesn't require heroic effort
- Stronger relationships with the people you lead
- Honest conversations that save you weeks of circling
- A better answer to the quiet question "who am I trying to be in this role?"
“Jenny is a compassionate, encouraging, and calm facilitator, who is great to work with. This session was incredibly useful and enlightening.”
Imposter Moments workshop participant
A simple three-step plan
No contracts, no pressure. A clear path from curiosity to coaching.
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Book a call
A free 45-minute conversation so we can get to know each other.
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Explore together
We'll talk through what you're facing and what kind of support would be most useful.
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Agree a plan that fits
Pay as you go, online via Zoom wherever you are in the UK or beyond — or in person by arrangement.
Imagine approaching your work with renewed confidence and clarity
Whether you're leading, building, growing or rethinking something, coaching can help you untangle challenges, think more clearly and take meaningful action in a way that feels sustainable and relevant to you.