CAREER & EXECUTIVE COACHING

Unlock your full potential

WHAT IS COACHING?

Coaching is a process of enquiry and dialogue where a trained coach supports their client in self-reflection on their career direction, performance goals, and commitment to positive change. Think of it as standing in front of an ‘intelligent mirror’. The aim of my role as a coach is not to tell you what your goals or actions should be but, rather, to help you clarify these for yourself, and harness your own energy and drive to accomplish them. A coaching focus is very much action-orientated and forward-looking.

WHY IS COACHING HELPFUL?

Whether working independently or as an executive in a large organisation, everyone can benefit from coaching support at some point in their career. All working environments and roles can feel surprisingly lonely at times. It’s not always easy to find someone you feel comfortable with sharing and sounding out your career development plans or addressing issues in your work setting.

Based on my own career experience and expertise my coaching focuses particularly on supporting people facing a variety of challenges and opportunities including:

Transition

Changing career direction within an organisation or moving outside it; switching from the public to private sector; or from a corporate position to an independent consultancy role; full to part-time role; late-stage career opportunities.

Advancement

Support in identifying and preparing for promotion opportunities; help in aligning personal goals with organisation objectives.

Entrepreneurial skills

Identifying long-term life and career goals; developing and diversifying your career portfolio.

Talent Development

Development of your skills sets; confidence-building for presentations and public speaking; taking on leadership roles.

Organisational cultural change

Working with groups of people in leadership and management roles across an organisation to support the introduction and champion the benefits of a coaching culture.

While we can look at developing specific skills within the agreed scope of our coaching arrangement, more extensive support beyond this can also be arranged.

In all of these situations, a coach with an empathetic ear from outside your immediate work environment can be just what you need to help clarify your thoughts and sound out your goals. Coaching provides a confidential and safe space to work through various options and risks without the workplace pressure of having to ‘perform’. All my coaching clients have reported clear and positive benefits from their coaching experience with me.

Organisations also benefit as a motivated workforce –supported and encouraged in their roles, and with personal goals which are in tune with those of the organisation – is the most valuable asset of any business.

COACHING – IT’S ALL ABOUT UNLOCKING YOUR POTENTIAL

PAUL FORTE

MY BACKGROUND

My professional career extends over 30 years and is focused on consultancy and lecturing in health services planning and management, primarily in the UK, but also overseas. I hold academic positions at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the University of Bath. Throughout my career, I have worked closely in the development and delivery of post-graduate health management courses for practising clinicians and managers – at universities in Italy and the Netherlands as well as in the UK. I have published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

Beginning my career in university research, I progressed to a specialist analytical unit in the Department of Health in London where I worked for six years (and completed my PhD). I then transitioned from the Civil Service to become a successful independent management consultant in a competitive field, and to take up associated academic opportunities.

I have continued to develop my portfolio career: working closely with a network of fellow health management consultants as the co-founder of the Balance of Care Group whilst continuing to develop my academic roles. In recent years my interests have extended into areas including Futures Literacy (working with UNESCO) and climate change adaptation metrics.

Coaching and mentoring have always played an integral part in my academic roles, and it has been a natural and rewarding progression for me to extend and develop this experience.

In addition to an extensive range of consultancy clients (including the NHS, the National Audit Office, and the Department of Health), I had a key role in a multi-national research project for the European Commission, and have worked on projects for WHO and the World Bank.

MY COACHING EXPERIENCE

The nature of my consultancy and teaching work involves collaboration with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience, and with different support requirements. Coaching and mentoring have always played an integral and rewarding part in my academic roles and it was a natural extension to begin working with clients from a wider range of backgrounds across both public and corporate sectors.

Recent clients have worked in the Civil Service; higher education; housing; and the private service sector. I am also a mentor on the ‘Crossing Thresholds’ programme for the career development of women in the Civil Service.

As an Associate Member of the Association for Coaching – a leading UK professional coaching not-for-profit organisation – I follow their professional and ethical guidelines for my coaching and mentoring practice. This means I undertake regular coaching supervision and continuing professional development.

NEED MORE
THAN ONE COACH?

I usually work on a one-to-one basis with clients, but I am also well-connected to a network of other trusted and experienced coaching colleagues. This enables me to offer coaching for larger groups (individually or in teams) to support a sustainable, in-house coaching capacity. This is an ideal intervention for organisations wishing to move towards a coaching style of leadership and develop a more engaged and innovative workforce.

WHAT TO EXPECT
FROM THE COACHING EXPERIENCE

If you’ve not experienced coaching before, then here are a few pointers as to what you can expect.

First of all – it’s not an exam!

Think of coaching as a form of self-reflection and learning in which you are supported by me through a series of private conversations with the aim of helping you to define and decide which steps you want to take towards achieving your goals. The focus is entirely on you. I’m there to help you clarify for yourself any particular issues or goals you have and to help you think through constructive actions to pursue them.

Coaching is not teaching, therapy or having someone else solve your problems for you. It is you who are ultimately responsible for what you take away from the process and, in my experience, it is certainly true that the more you put in, the more you get back in return.

If you think that my own career experience might provide some helpful insight, then I’m happy to lend a mentoring dimension to our sessions as well – it’s entirely up to you.

You help me to help you by committing to the coaching process and contributing to it honestly and openly. If something about the process doesn’t feel quite right for you, I rely on you to let me know so we can address it together.

You can expect my complete confidentiality in our discussions unless you authorise sharing any aspect of it with others. This will be set out in a Coaching Contract which we will prepare and jointly agree at the start.

THE COACHING PROCESS

Getting to know each other

We’ll begin with an introductory phone call or meeting so I can understand your reasons for undertaking coaching and any initial goals or timescales you, or your organisation, have in mind. It’s an opportunity to get to know each other and see how we can best work together.

We will also establish if other people need to be involved in the coaching process and what form this will take. If appropriate they can also be included in this initial meeting.

Evaluation

This is a two-way process – there is ample opportunity to feedback on how the sessions are working for you and suggest any changes of emphasis that you think are needed as we go along. The aim is not only to meet your immediate objectives, but to empower you to continue the process for yourself long after we have finished.

If the coaching is taking place within a wider organisational context then we will also agree at the outset how to evaluate the overall coaching intervention from the organisation’s perspective.

Ongoing phone and online support are also available as required.

The coaching sessions

These are individually tailored, but a typical pattern is 5-7 sessions at intervals of 4-6 weeks. Each session usually lasts an hour or so with the focus squarely on helping you to become more self-aware of your opportunities and challenges, and actions you might take. These will be one-to-one sessions held in person, online, by phone or some combination of these – whatever we agree is most practical and comfortable.

If meeting in person this can be at your workplace or at a convenient alternative location. It’s not just for the indoors either – a coaching session while walking in the park can bring a refreshing perspective.

The well-established ‘GROW’ coaching model underpins my approach. This focuses on your goals, current realities you are encountering, potential options you might want to consider and wrapping-up by agreeing actions for you to take forward. Within each coaching session we might use a range of techniques to address your individual circumstances.

Sessions are totally confidential and non-judgemental; the process is all about giving you the time and space to reflect and think through how you wish to take things forward

TESTIMONIALS

Paul provided an excellent introduction to the world of Coaching for me. At first I wanted to increase my productivity and self-organisation, but during our sessions an opportunity arose to go for a new job on promotion. Paul was happy to support the diversion and provided first class coaching support and guidance throughout – although he always said I was “doing all the work”. I got the job AND my productivity and organisational planning have improved dramatically. I strongly believe Paul’s coaching and motivation was responsible for this. I found Paul to be professional and engaging throughout our sessions, and being coached has proved to be a very rewarding experience. Thank you Paul!

David W

Data Sharing Transformation Manager

I would recommend Paul to other professionals operating in a Senior Management Level as I believe his approach, skills, dedication to support individuals to succeed offers an invaluable experience.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for his patience with me during a period when things were extremely challenging for me and his unflustered approach to helping me see the bigger picture, together with the other opportunities that I could explore.
Keep up the good work Paul!

Jackie

CEO – Housing Association

‘This is my first experience of coaching and I was initially unsure how much value I would actually get from the process. I am however continuing to benefit from the genuine insight that the coaching process has provided around how I engage, build relationships and perform. I believe that Paul’s specific approach to the coaching sessions is a key factor in the level of personal insight I have developed. Coaching sessions are fluid and flexible, allowing us to us to tentatively explore a number of areas before homing into one or two key areas for a deeper discussion. Paul’s style is relaxed and engaging and he displays an uncanny knack of invariably asking the precise question that cuts through the problem to expose the underlying issue that needs to be addressed.’

David B

Senior Finance Transformation Manager

I was introduced to Paul during a period of self doubt, de-motivation and dare I say a lot of anxiety about my previous job. My series of one to one sessions were invaluable – allowing ME to realise my potential and helping ME to identify, evaluate, prioritise, and set myself some business as well as personal goals.This process allowed me to make some big decisions and the challenging conversations and support I received from Paul enabled me to navigate through what was a huge transitional period for me. A year later I came across the notes I’d made during my coaching period and I was struck by how many of those goals have come to fruition. I would recommend the coaching process and I would definitely highly recommend Paul as an individual to take you through this process.

Wendy Fisher

Ex public sector - now in the charity sector

I was mentored by Paul during my ‘Crossing Thresholds’ programme for female Civil Servants’ careers development. His experience supported me in identifying my future learning and development needs and, through a range of activities, I improved my skills and stretched myself with the expectations of gaining a new role/promotion. Paul communicated clearly ensuring I had documentable outcomes from our meetings and deadlines to ensure I achieved my learning objectives. He made me feel motivated to progress my learning and development; always focusing on me and actively encouraging me in every way. One result was that I was inspired to take on a voluntary role with Lancashire Constabulary and become a fully-fledged Restorative Justice Practitioner.

Karen B

Department for Works and Pensions

CONTACT PAUL FORTE

If you would like to discuss coaching possibilities with me, please get in touch via the contact form. We can then speak – in person, by phone, or online – which will give you a taste of the coaching experience and help you decide if I am the right coach for you.

paul@fortecoaching.com

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy