Corporate Vision December 2017

20 CORPORATE VISION / December 2017 , The teamat Sue Stockdale Ltd is highly experienced in providing executive coaching, coaching supervision, as well as designing and delivering custom-made leadership programmes. We spoke to Sue Stockdale and Clive Steeper as we find out more about the success of the company. Inspiring Leaders to Achieve Exceptional Performance! Established in 1997, Sue Stockdale Ltd’s clients range from leaders in global multinationals and elite sport, to world-class academic institutions, fast- growing companies, and not-for- profit organizations. They operate in a variety of industry sectors with clients in UK, Europe, North America, Asia & Africa. The coaching team has worked with over 300 organizations and delivered over 4,000 hours of coaching worldwide. At Sue Stockdale Limited, taking risks is something that the coaches are familiar and comfortable with, because they have operated successfully in leading-edge environments themselves. Be it in the pit lane of Formula 1, or in the icy wastes of the Arctic, the team of coaches have first-hand experience of stepping out of their comfort zones in order to achieve success. The Sue Stockdale coaches encourage the leaders and executives they work with to become comfortable with the uncomfortable in order to achieve more than they originally think is possible. The results speak for themselves: business leaders find new ways to tackle difficult business issues, CEO’s develop better capability to inspire their people, and executives learn how to delegate and manage tricky working relationships more effectively. One leader commented that working with Sue has materially improved their ability to empower, develop and challenge their team, time management and personal brand, effectively helping him to become a better leader. Sue Stockdale, with over 20 years of coaching experience, was the first UK woman to ski to the Magnetic North Pole, and has represented Scotland in athletics. It was by taking on challenges like these that she learned about the impact that mindset has on goal achievement. Similarly, executive coach, Clive, another key member of the team, worked in Formula 1 as a Tyre Designer and was Team Manager for a Le Mans sports car team in the late 1980s. He agrees that in stressful environments, it is always important to be aware of how your thoughts drive your behaviour. “A lot of leaders in business are not aware of how their own mindset influences their team, both negatively as well as positively. As coaches, we help to raise their awareness which can have a dramatic effect on not only them, but those around them.” The coaching programmes offered by Sue Stockdale and her team, are designed to meet the bespoke needs of clients to effect a change in mindset, behaviours and ultimately, results. Each coach undertakes over 100 hours of continuous personal development (CPD) annually, as well as meeting regularly to share insights, learning and reflections on their coaching work. They believe that staying sharp is what gives them a competitive edge. They are also qualified coaching supervisors, and work with other coaches to help them improve their coaching skills, both those operating within organisations as internal coaches and those that are independent, with Sue explaining the importance of 1712CV25 coaches maximising coaching capability, before Clive explains how the books the pair have written are of great benefit to clients. “Companies need to maximise the value of their internal coaching capability, and are now waking up to the idea that they should invest in CPD or supervision for them. We now do a lot of work within organisations because the trend is now moving towards having trained internal coaches, rather than a lot of external coaches. “Essentially, our books; Motivating People, Risk and Cope with Change at Work are designed to address the challenges that we see leaders facing on a daily basis. The speed of change means that those who are emotionally resilient and are able to lead and inspire their people are likely to cope better, and be a positive influence on their team. Leaders can end up getting caught up in the detail and then don’t make time to think through strategic issues. Coaching sessions can be a really beneficial thinking space for them’.