The Executive Coaching Element of my Portfolio

...and why you should contact me if you're looking for an executive coach to get the very best out of yourself, your team and your organisation.

I run Antony Harvey Executive Limited as a specialist executive‑coaching and leadership‑development practice.  I’ve been talking a lot lately about my approach to coaching and I thought I’d go into a little more detail today.

I work primarily with:

·      C‑suite and senior executives  

·      Directors and partners in professional services  

·      Founders and scale‑up leaders  

·      High‑potential future leaders in larger organisations   

My focus is on helping you:

·      Clarify your strategy and priorities  

·      Lead people and change more effectively  

·      Build emotional intelligence and resilience  

·      Make better decisions in ambiguity and pressure  

·      Align your work with your values so you stay motivated and fulfilled  

In line with respected coaching thinking (John Whitmore, Richard Boyatzis, Daniel Goleman and others), I don’t see coaching as advice‑giving. Instead, I treat it as a structured, outcome‑focused partnership where we raise your self‑awareness, broaden your leadership range, and translate insight into disciplined action that makes a measurable difference.

What Kind of Business Coach am I?

A Pragmatic, Evidence‑Informed Executive Coach

I position myself as a business‑focused, evidence‑informed executive coach rather than a generic life coach. That means our work together is:

·      Explicitly tied to your organisational outcomes: performance, engagement, leadership bench‑strength, succession, culture, growth.  

·      Informed by well‑researched frameworks such as:  

o   The GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will)  

o   Emotional Intelligence and leadership styles  

o   Systems thinking and organisational dynamics  

o   Adult development and vertical leadership growth  

I work at the intersection of:

·      Business strategy – what your organisation is trying to achieve  

·      Leadership capability – what you must be able to do  

·      Personal development – who you need to become to lead at that level  

Commercially Savvy, Psychologically Astute

Research in executive coaching shows that the most effective coaches combine business acumen with psychological insight. That’s what I aim to offer.

Commercially savvy:  

·      I understand organisational politics, P&L responsibility, market pressures, stakeholder complexity.  

·      I’m comfortable working with metrics, KPIs, performance dashboards and board‑level scrutiny.  

Psychologically astute:  

·      I draw on coaching tools informed by cognitive‑behavioural, systemic and positive‑psychology approaches.  

·      I pay attention to mindset, emotional regulation and identity, not just skills and tasks.  

My style is robust but supportive. I will challenge your thinking, assumptions and habits – while maintaining a high‑trust, confidential relationship.

A Partner in Thinking, not a “Guru.”

I see myself as:

·      A thinking partner who helps you slow down, reflect and gain perspective.  

·      A sounding board for complex, politically sensitive issues you can’t safely test in the open.  

·      A mirror who reflects back patterns in your behaviour, communication and decision‑making.  

I’m not there to impress you with clever answers. I’m there to help you find – and implement – better answers of your own. 

How I Work With People

Typical Engagement Process

Although I tailor every engagement, my process follows best‑practice structures described in executive‑coaching research and professional guidelines.

1.        Chemistry and scoping conversation  

·      We clarify your goals: what would make coaching a success?  

·      We explore fit: personality, style, expectations.  

·      We agree the boundaries: confidentiality, reporting lines, HR/line‑manager involvement where relevant.  

2.        Diagnostic and contracting phase  

·      Where appropriate, I use 360 feedback (interviews or survey) and/or psychometrics.  

·      We review your role, context and performance feedback.  

·      If your organisation sponsors the coaching, we create a three‑way contract (you, me, sponsor) to align on outcomes.  

3.        Coaching sessions (typically 60–90 minutes)

·      We focus on real, current challenges: strategy, team issues, stakeholder management, resilience, career transitions.  

·      I combine structured models (such as GROW) with open, reflective dialogue.  

·      We end each session with clear commitments and experiments to run before we next meet.  

4.        Support between sessions  

·      Short check‑ins by email or message where appropriate.  

·      “Just‑in‑time” coaching around high‑stakes meetings, board prep or negotiations when needed.  

5.        Review and closure  

·      We periodically review progress against the original goals.  

·      Where there is an organisational sponsor, we share high‑level progress (never breaching agreed confidentiality).  

·      In the closing session we focus on what has shifted and how you will sustain progress.  

My Style in the Room

My coaching style is shaped by the core professional competencies of the major coaching bodies and contemporary coaching psychology. Typically, clients experience me to be:

·      Challenging and empathetic – I will ask difficult questions, hold silence and name patterns, but always in a safe, respectful way.  

·      Structured yet flexible – I use models as scaffolding, not as rigid scripts.  

·      Action‑oriented – every conversation is designed to lead to behaviour change, not just insight.  

·      Reflective – I will often invite you to journal, debrief key events and notice how you are thinking and feeling.  

The Three Forms of Coaching I Use

I blend three primary forms of coaching, depending on your goals and context:

1.        Executive/Leadership Coaching  

2.        Business Performance and Strategic Coaching  

3.        Developmental / Transformational Coaching  

Executive/Leadership Coaching:

Focus: How you lead yourself, others and the organisation.  This is classic executive coaching. Together we might work on:

·      Leading and motivating teams

·      Navigating politics and stakeholders  

·      Influencing boards and investors  

·      Handling conflict and difficult conversations  

·      Building your leadership brand and presence

 Methods on which I often draw:

·      The GROW model and similar structures  

·      Stakeholder mapping and political‑landscape analysis  

·      360 feedback and qualitative interview data

·      Emotional‑intelligence development (self‑awareness, empathy, self‑management)  

 The goal is to increase your leadership effectiveness and impact, using your live business challenges as the learning laboratory.

Business Performance and Strategic Coaching:

Focus: Turning strategy into disciplined execution and results.  This form of coaching sits at the bridge between executive coaching and performance consulting. We look at how you:

·      Clarify strategic priorities and trade‑offs  

·      Translate strategy into clear objectives, metrics and accountabilities  

·      Strengthen your decision‑making (scenario planning, risk assessment, time horizons)  

·      Build an execution rhythm: meetings, dashboards, governance  

In practice, this often means:

·      Working through your current strategic or commercial issues in depth.  

·      Examining how you think about risk, opportunity and time.  

·      Identifying where personal habits – avoidance, perfectionism, over‑control – are blocking execution.  

 I’m not there as a strategy consultant to “give you the answer”. Instead, I use a coaching approach to make your strategic thinking more rigorous, creative and actionable.

Developmental/Transformational Coaching:

Focus: Shifting assumptions, identity and mindset – not just behaviours.  This deeper work is informed by adult‑development theory and transformational coaching practice. It becomes especially relevant when:

·      You’re stepping into a much bigger or more complex role.  

·      The formula that made you successful in the past is no longer working.  

·      You feel you’ve hit a plateau where more effort isn’t delivering more impact.  

 Together we might:

·      Surface and test deeply held beliefs about leadership, success and failure.  

·      Explore the stories you tell yourself about your capabilities and limitations.  

·      Build more capacity for ambiguity, paradox and constructive conflict.  

·      Revisit questions of purpose, values and legacy.  

 My aim is to make this developmental work practical and grounded in your real responsibilities, not abstract or theoretical.

Why Work with Me?

I Align With Research‑Backed Best Practice

Research and professional guidelines are very clear about what tends to make coaching effective:

·      Clear contracting and goals  

·      A strong working relationship (trust, rapport, respect)  

·      Coach experience in comparable contexts  

·      Evidence‑based methods, not fads  

·      Focus on both performance and well‑being  

 I design my work around those principles. Specifically:

·      I invest time at the outset to contract well and get clear on what you and/or your organisation truly want from coaching.  

·      I work hard to build a safe, candid relationship where you can bring the real issues.  

·      I draw on direct experience with senior leadership realities: pressure, scrutiny, politics, risk.  

·      I use tools and approaches that are grounded in organisational psychology and coaching research.  

·      I look at sustainable performance – I’m as interested in how you are, as in what you achieve.  

The Benefits You Can Expect

Clients usually see impact in three domains: self, team and business.For you personally:

·      Sharper clarity about your role, priorities and what “success” really means for you.

·      Increased confidence, presence and ability to handle pressure.  

·      Greater emotional intelligence – reading situations and people more accurately.  

·      More effective habits around time, focus and energy.  

 For your team and stakeholders:

·      Clearer communication and alignment.  

·      More empowered, accountable team members.  

·      Less unproductive friction, more constructive conflict.  

·      Stronger engagement and reduced risk of burnout.  

 For your organisation:

·      More consistent execution of strategy.  

·      Stronger leadership bench and better succession readiness.  

·      A more reflective, feedback‑rich leadership culture.  

·      Tangible improvements in business metrics that can be linked to leadership shifts.  

My USP: What Makes Me Different

There are many capable coaches in the market. Here is what I see as distinctive about my offer all of which is based on a twenty-year career in executive search, interviewing board and C-Suite level candidates, reviewing board performance, interrogating clients at these levels to ensure I get the best out of a search.  This is combined with five years spent in Big Four management consulting, learning what truly makes big organisations tick and the importance of exceptional leadership.

Board‑Level Perspective With Psychological Depth

Many coaches lean either towards:

·      Business experience (ex‑executives who coach), or  

·      Psychological expertise (ex‑therapists or organisational psychologists).

I bring both commercial and psychological depth. I can:

·      Talk fluently about strategy, performance, stakeholders and risk, and  

·      Go deeper into mindset, patterns, identity and the “inner game” of leadership.  

That allows us to move seamlessly between your external challenges and your internal operating system – which is often where the biggest leverage lies.

Rigorous, Outcome‑Focused, Yet Human

I’m known for combining a clear, outcome‑focused approach with a very human way of working.

·      Rigorous: I’m comfortable linking our work to KPIs, 360 data and business outcomes. I don’t like leaving impact vague.  

·      Human: I keep jargon to a minimum, speak plainly and recognise that senior leaders are people first – with families, fears, health concerns and aspirations.  

You should feel both stretched and supported. Research repeatedly shows that this combination – high challenge, high support – is where the most powerful developmental work happens.

Integrated Coaching: Three Modes in One Relationship

Instead of forcing you into one “model”, I integrate:

·      Executive / leadership coaching  

·      Business performance and strategic coaching  

·      Developmental/transformational coaching   

This means our work can evolve as you do. We might:

·      Start with a concrete performance issue (“My team isn’t performing”, “The board isn’t aligned”).  

·      Move into systemic analysis and new leadership behaviours.  

·      Then go deeper into the mindset and identity shifts needed for your next level of leadership.  

 You don’t have to change coaches to change focus. We can travel that entire arc together.

A Trusted, Confidential Partner in High‑Stakes Roles

If you’re in a senior role, there are usually things you can’t fully say to colleagues, direct reports, or sometimes even family:

·      Fears of failure or impostor feelings  

·      Political manoeuvring or ethical dilemmas  

·      Doubts about the current strategy or board expectations  

 I take confidentiality extremely seriously. Over time, this creates a rare space where you can:

·      Test ideas and rehearse difficult conversations before they happen.  

·      Decompress after high‑stakes events.  

·      Acknowledge uncertainty and vulnerability without reputational cost.  

 Many of my clients value me as the one person around whom they don’t have to “perform”.

Contact me if you would like to set up a free initial conversation for either yourself or members of your team.