Consultancy, Coaching and Leadership Development

Every assignment begins with understanding what you are trying to achieve, what is making progress difficult and what support would add the most value.

I offer independent consultancy, programme leadership, facilitation, executive coaching, mentoring and coaching supervision.

Support can be commissioned as a defined project, a series of workshops, ongoing programme leadership or individual development.

Children’s Services Improvement Consultancy

I support local authorities and partnerships to improve SEND and children’s social care services.

Assignments may involve an independent diagnostic, programme leadership, facilitation, process review, quality assurance or implementation support.

Areas of expertise

SEND improvement and reform

Support may include:

  • SEND reform readiness and implementation planning

  • EHCP needs assessment and decision-making

  • annual review processes

  • ordinarily available provision

  • the graduated response and SEND support

  • quality assurance frameworks

  • tribunal and complaints processes

  • data and performance

  • governance and accountability

  • preparation for inspection

  • partnership working and co-production

Children’s social care improvement

Support may include:

  • practice improvement

  • quality assurance

  • analysis of risk and need

  • safeguarding pathways

  • service and process reviews

  • governance and assurance

  • improvement planning

  • reflective practice

  • peer review

  • preparations for inspection and reform

Joint commissioning and partnership working

I facilitate work across education, health, social care, commissioning and wider partners.

This may include:

  • reviewing current commissioning arrangements

  • clarifying roles and accountability

  • identifying gaps and duplication

  • strengthening governance

  • developing shared priorities

  • agreeing meaningful measures

  • improving communication between partners

  • translating strategic commitments into delivery.

Co-production and engagement

Effective improvement requires meaningful involvement from children, young people, families, practitioners and partners.

I help organisations examine whether co-production is embedded in:

  • decision-making

  • service design

  • governance

  • communications

  • quality assurance

  • evaluation

  • improvement planning

Programme leadership and delivery assurance

Complex programmes need more than a plan. They require clear ownership, credible governance and active management of risks, dependencies and delivery.

I can support organisations to:

  • establish programme scope and outcomes

  • develop workstreams and milestones

  • clarify accountability

  • create proportionate governance

  • manage risk and dependencies

  • report effectively to senior leaders and boards

  • coordinate partners and specialist contributors

  • maintain focus on implementation

  • evaluate progress and impact

Lean process mapping and service improvement

Lean process mapping helps teams understand how work is actually carried out, rather than how a procedure suggests it should happen.

I facilitate workshops that bring together the people involved in a process to:

  • map the current journey

  • identify delays, duplication and failure demand

  • understand different professional perspectives

  • examine the experience of families or service users

  • distinguish necessary activity from avoidable activity

  • develop and prioritise improvements

  • agree ownership and next steps

This approach has been used in areas including annual reviews, complaints, EHCP processes and wider children’s services pathways.

Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching and Mentoring Programmes

I design and coordinate coaching and mentoring programmes for organisations and professional networks.

This can include:

  • defining the programme purpose

  • recruiting coaches and mentors

  • participant information and contracting

  • matching

  • introductory training

  • goal-setting

  • quality assurance

  • supervision

  • programme evaluation

I currently support the development of a regional coaching and mentoring offer for local authority leaders across the South East.

Coaching Supervision

Coaching supervision is a structured reflective process that supports the quality, ethics and continuing development of coaching practice.

It gives coaches space to consider:

  • what is happening in the coaching relationship

  • their own responses and assumptions

  • boundaries and ethical issues

  • organisational dynamics

  • inclusion, identity and difference

  • areas of confidence or uncertainty

  • learning that can strengthen future practice

I offer individual and group supervision to internal and independent coaches.

Leadership Workshops and Facilitation

Workshops are designed around the needs and context of the organisation rather than delivered as generic training.

Topics may include:

  • coaching and mentoring skills

  • clean language

  • active listening and powerful questions

  • reflective leadership

  • safe uncertainty and working with risk

  • leading through change

  • resilient leadership

  • governance and accountability

  • quality assurance

  • improvement planning

  • collaborative problem-solving

  • Lean process mapping

  • learning from complaints

  • developing a culture of professional curiosity

I can also design and facilitate leadership away days, partnership workshops, peer learning events and multi-agency improvement sessions.

Board Governance, Assurance & Reporting

I support boards and senior leadership teams to develop governance that enables action rather than simply generating reports.

Support may include:

  • clarifying board purpose and decision rights

  • developing reporting frameworks

  • agreeing meaningful performance measures

  • improving the connection between data and practice

  • strengthening escalation and risk management

  • establishing accountability

  • reviewing meeting structures

  • translating strategic priorities into delivery

The focus is not simply on producing more information. It is on helping leaders ask better questions, understand the story behind the data and take timely action.

Local Governance Association and Sector-Led Improvement

I work as an associate with the Local Government Association and as a consultant and programme lead within the South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme.

Sector-led improvement creates opportunities for authorities to learn with and from one another, draw on experienced peers and develop responses that reflect their local circumstances.

My work includes peer challenge, diagnostic support, project development, regional learning and the coordination of specialist expertise.

Discuss your requirements

You may already know the type of support you require, or you may simply know that progress has stalled and an independent perspective would help.

An initial conversation provides an opportunity to discuss the context, desired outcomes and the most proportionate form of support.