Frequently Asked Questions
A few things worth knowing before we begin.
How the work works, what to expect, and the practical questions that usually come up before getting started.
Before we start
You do not need to have everything worked out.
Most people arrive with a situation, a question or a sense that something needs to shift. That is enough.
These are some of the questions that come up most often about coaching, advisory work, working with organisations and what it is like to work together.
About the work
The approach.
The role can shift between coaching, mentoring and advisory. The purpose stays the same: clearer thinking, stronger ownership and meaningful movement.
Parallel Perspective is an executive coaching, leadership and advisory practice built around one simple idea: changing what you can see changes what you can choose.
The work creates space to step outside the immediate pressure of a situation, challenge assumptions, understand what is really going on and decide what to do next.
In coaching, the focus is primarily on helping you think, reflect and find your own way forward.
Mentoring brings more of my own experience and perspective into the conversation. Advisory goes further again, with more direct input, recommendations and challenge where that is useful.
In practice, the balance can shift depending on the situation. I will always be clear about which role I am playing.
Commercially grounded, deeply human and endlessly curious.
I tend to ask direct questions, challenge assumptions, look for the patterns underneath what is happening and keep bringing the conversation back to what matters and what you are going to do next.
Yes. The substance of coaching conversations is confidential.
Where an organisation sponsors coaching, we can agree appropriate objectives and ways to review progress, but the detail of individual conversations remains between us unless otherwise agreed.
For individuals
Finding the right fit.
You do not need to know which service you need before getting in touch.
I work primarily with executives, senior leaders, emerging leaders, founders and people navigating significant career moments.
The common thread is usually responsibility, complexity and a desire to think, lead or move forward more intentionally.
That said, coaching can be useful for all sorts of people at all sorts of moments. If the way I work feels relevant to where you are, you are very welcome to reach out.
No. Often the first useful piece of work is getting clearer on the real issue.
You can start with a challenge, decision, opportunity or simply a sense that something is not quite working.
If you are particularly unsure where to begin, Find Your Starting Point is designed for exactly that.
Yes. A single session can be useful when there is one particular issue, decision or challenge you want to work through.
Longer coaching engagements make more sense when the goal is sustained behaviour change, leadership development or support through a longer transition.
Executive Coaching is ongoing development around leadership, performance, decision-making and how you want to show up.
Career Moments is tailored coaching around a more specific chapter, such as starting a new role, navigating redundancy or a career shift, working out what comes next or returning after time away.
Executive Partnership is a closer, higher-access relationship combining coaching, mentoring, strategic perspective, thoughtful challenge and responsive support between scheduled sessions.
If you are unsure which fits, Find Your Starting Point can help you narrow it down.
Yes. Many organisations fund coaching through leadership development, professional development or learning and development budgets.
Career Moments can also sometimes be supported through onboarding, transition, outplacement or redundancy arrangements, depending on the situation.
If your organisation is paying, or you need an invoice or internal approval first, get in touch and I can make the process straightforward.
Most coaching is run online, which keeps things simple and makes it easy to work together regardless of location.
Once you are underway, you can use the online booking system to choose and change session times as needed. In-person sessions can still be arranged where they make sense.
For organisations
Beyond one-to-one coaching.
The work can extend from individual leaders to teams, leadership groups and broader organisational challenges.
Organisational work includes leadership development, workshops and facilitation, speaking, strategy and growth advisory, and coaching for individual leaders.
Engagements are shaped around the actual brief rather than forcing the organisation into a fixed programme.
Yes. Some sessions are designed to build capability, for example communication, influence, leadership, decision-making or constructive challenge.
Others are more facilitative: helping a team work through priorities, surface friction, align around change, make decisions or move an important conversation forward.
The format follows the outcome, rather than forcing the challenge into a standard workshop.
Yes. I speak at conferences, leadership events, internal gatherings and can also participate in panels and moderated conversations.
Speaking can draw on signature ideas such as curiosity, perspective and action, or any of the leadership, communication, team and decision-making themes used in workshops, adapted for a keynote, conference talk or shorter session.
The best starting point is to share the audience, event format and what you want people to leave thinking or doing differently.
Yes. An engagement can combine organisational objectives with one-to-one support for leaders.
Where coaching is organisation-sponsored, expectations around objectives, confidentiality and progress are agreed clearly at the outset.
The impact can travel much further than the person or team in the room.
Better judgement can change decisions. Better communication can change conversations. Stronger leadership can lift the people around it, create more room for others to grow and strengthen capability across a team.
The intervention may be finite, but the flow-on effect does not have to be.
Practicalities
How it works.
The practical side should be simple. The thinking can be the hard part.
Individual coaching is available as a single session or as longer engagements. Current options and pricing are shown on the Individuals page and through Get Started.
Career Moments have a defined program structure, while Executive Partnership is an ongoing higher-access relationship.
Organisational work, workshops, speaking, panels and advisory engagements are scoped according to the brief.
If you want to talk through what makes sense first, a complimentary Perspective Call is the easiest place to begin.
It depends on what you are working toward.
Some people need one focused conversation. Others benefit from several months of structured support, particularly when the goal involves leadership development, behaviour change or a significant transition.
Once you are set up, sessions are managed through the online booking system.
You can choose from the available times and move a booking when needed, rather than having to coordinate every session by email.
A Perspective Call is a complimentary 30-minute conversation to understand what is happening, what you want to be different and whether there is a useful way for us to work together.
There is no obligation to continue. If there is a fit, we will agree the most useful next step.
Start with Find Your Starting Point.
It is a short interactive conversation designed to help you get clearer on what is really going on, what might matter most and where it may be useful to begin.
No. If you are clear on the individual support you want, you can go straight to Get Started and begin the onboarding and booking process.
If your organisation is paying, you need an invoice or internal approval, or you are enquiring about organisational work, it usually makes more sense to get in touch first.
There are four simple ways to begin.
If you already know what you want, go straight to Get Started. Book a complimentary Perspective Call if you want to talk something through, send an enquiry if you would rather write first, or use Find Your Starting Point if you are not yet sure what you need.
Keep Thinking
Not every useful question needs an immediate answer.
If you want to keep exploring, try a Parallel Prompt below and see what it opens up.