Client Stories and Testimonials
Hear from leaders and teams about the difference we’ve made together…
Claudine is an extraordinary coach. She expertly balances warmth and reassurance with challenge where you need it most. She blends her own leadership wisdom with deep listening skills and thoughtfully curated coaching strategies, to take us to places we wouldn’t have reached alone. I highly recommend working with her as a coach and trusted thinking partner.
– Chief Innovation Officer, NGO
Client Success Story
The loneliness of leadership
"My role on the Board of a 3000-strong organisation is pressured. It can be lonely and exposing. Claudine has a gift of getting to the heart of an issue, reframing it so as to make progress. She asks high quality questions which make you stop and think, backed by theory and analytical skill…Much more than that, she has many, varied practical exercises that unlock my thinking, so change becomes long-lasting and sustainable; I am a more adaptive, centred leader as a result.
Claudine is also thoughtful, affirming and kind which makes it easy to be open and to try things out. In the most supportive way she never lets me off the hook. When I was holding something so tightly I was tearful, getting in my own way, she helped me creatively and intuitively to release it and let it go."
Helena is an experienced leader of leaders. She is approaching the very top of her profession and came to coaching looking for a space to reflect on and flex how she drives change and improvement across her organisation. The challenge of collective leadership quickly came into focus as Helena explored how she relates to and influences the board-level team she is part of. Through our conversations, Helena got clearer about what she was aiming for in her career and how she was trying to get there. She is now testing out new ways of leading those around, alongside and above her, adapting her style and growing in the process.
I always look forward to my sessions with Helena because I know she’s going to bring tough leadership challenges to the table and it’s going to be a real work out. There are no easy answers to the complex questions Helena is grappling with and I’m constantly in awe of her resilience, commitment and ability to reflect. We also laugh a lot.
"It sounds dramatic, but coaching with Claudine has helped me come back to life professionally. When we started, my confidence was low and I felt lost and fearful. I wanted to run away from my career. But I've made so much progress: I've built my resilience and I have less anxiety and more perspective - even when things go 'wrong'. Work and life are more blended and in balance and I have more compassion for myself and others now."
Clara is a successful HR leader who was questioning the toll that her work was taking on her well-being and her young family....She put herself under a lot of pressure to do a great job, to serve others and to be seen as ‘on it’ .... As we explored the situation Clara reached new insights into what was preventing her from making the changes that would help her work in a more sustainable way. She found herself more able to challenge her urge to please and began to create her own definitions of success. She also got clearer about the job she wanted and re-shaped her role in the business.
I learned so much from the coaching journey with Clara. She is deeply reflective, open and brave, willing to face up to the dilemmas that so many leaders face in the daily task of combining our work and home lives.
Client Success Story
Building resilience and achieving balance
Public Sector Leaders
"Claudine has an outstanding ability to simplify rather than complicate issues and to cut through froth. She provides excellent scaffolding for discussion: enough to retain focus while allowing space and freedom.
Our sessions are consistently practical and outcome focused, re-framing challenges and providing curated access to the the latest thinking and resources on leadership."
"Through the coaching I’m becoming more intentional in how I manage my time, energy and attention so that I focus on the things that will have lasting impact.
Coaching has been a safe haven where I can fully share what’s on my mind, be supported to find my own solutions and grow as a leader."
"Claudine is fantastic and able to bring a lot of objectivity (with relevant context) to her coaching offer."
"Claudine created a safe environment to experiment and think through new challenges. She provided practical tips to improve, is very engaging, thoughtful and draws insight. Really great."
“This has been a chance to step back and reflect on challenges honestly and openly. Claudine has an inquiring and open, friendly manner.
She brings insights, enthusiasm, energy and empathy, deployed ably and adeptly."
“Claudine is a highly effective coach of system leaders. Her ability to listen to clients and help them to develop new strategies to tackle complex system problems is second to none."
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Private Sector Leaders. Founders and Entrepreneurs
"I would recommend Claudine's coaching to anyone—and especially to women navigating a male-dominated field, with or without a family, who want to feel successful on their own terms, with their values intact."
"It’s hard it is to block 90 min mid day for an activity like this - but I looked forward to these sessions. Claudine knows the work we do; she gets the challenges we face and approached the sessions from a place of empathy and support… she really helped the group learn from each other and provided unique insights from her experience."
"Claudine has helped me to step back from the day-to-day to frame what is important to me in this new role.
Our sessions have given me space to explore priorities in terms of both the work, but also the values that I want to bring to the role. Claudine has helped me to be honest about what may hold me back and how I can address this."
"Claudine has an extraordinary ability to bring clarity to ambiguity, uncovering non-obvious pathways and challenging me to stay curious as I experiment with new approaches. Her insights are sharp, her methods transformative, and the value she delivers is both tangible and incalculable—a true partner in unlocking potential."
"Claudine created a space where I could be vulnerable without judgement, but also where I knew I would leave our problem-solving sessions energised and with a sense of purpose. Now, I think anyone from middle management up to the c-suite should try executive coaching."
"Claudine has an impressive skill to guide you to the root of the situation at hand and assess it in a new light. I enjoyed her empathetic and flexible approach. Her long years of professional experience shine through in every session."
"I worked closely with Claudine at a pivotal moment in my career, when I knew I wasn't thriving in my current situation... Claudine brought warmth, a wealth of professional experience, perspective, and skill to her coaching. She helped me unpack what I needed to do vs what I felt other people expected me to do vs what I really, actually wanted to do. I was able to re-articulate my definition of success and find a new path forward—one where I feel more like myself at work. "
Charity Leaders
I have found Claudine’s approach to relational coaching really helpful as it isn’t pushy, it has given me space to think and to steer the direction most useful to me. She has however not let me off with the hook when it comes to planning and following through. I felt a connection with Claudine which has enabled me to be reflective and challenge myself and my motivations without feeling defensive.
It can be very lonely as a Chief Exec, no days off for bad behaviour, and to have someone to talk through things without consequences or judgement is hugely valuable
Claudine is helping me to explore and consider my role, my boundaries, my triggers, my strengths, and my actions in a gentle but assertive way. She has helped me to extend those boundaries, taking steps I would not have done without her coaching which has helped me to make progress in the professional areas which are challenging me but also in my personal life. I have not come across a coach with the combination of skills, style and compassion which Claudine has.
I’m not used to talking about myself and Claudine was brilliant at getting me to reflect on the things that were on my mind.
Coaching gave me time and space to think about my development, including skills gaps, areas where I feel less confident and career ambitions. I now have tools that I can use over time to help identify my aims and progress towards them.
Incredibly helpful coaching sessions to help me with my recent change of sector, future career planning, confidence in decisions I’ve made in my career to date, prompts to work on in terms of leadership style and a clear idea of career and development plans for the next few years.
Very helpful to spend the time focused on these issues amidst a busy role, and has given me a renewed sense of confidence and purpose.
Coaching with Claudine has made all the difference! I began stressed, on the verge of burnout and convinced the only successful outcome of the coaching would be having been coached into a new job! Instead, I explored “possible selves” in a truly eye-opening process of professional and personal growth, ably encouraged by Claudine — who also gently challenged many of my assumptions. I’m still in the same leadership position but my outlook has profoundly changed.
I most enjoyed being regularly held accountable by Claudine’s open approach and active listening. The questions I was asked and non-judgmental observations often helped me reach a conclusion I’d never have considered in my own.
Action Learning Client Story
An NGO operating across multiple countries in Africa wanted to improve the facilitation skills of teams working with different governments They envisaged masterclasses and toolkits to support people with designing and running effective workshops Building on this, we co-designed an action learning programme that brought people together to establish a community of practice that went far beyond developing facilitation skills
Feedback from participants:
“I found the sessions strengthened my relationship with others in my region and created a sense of shared camaraderie… having the opportunity to bring difficult issues to a nonjudgmental group, I found it actually built my confidence in my own approach and problem solving. I left feeling that I was not alone in grappling with these issues; that they were in fact common and I was handling them effectively.”
“The action learning set has improved our efficiency and made us better able to confront new challenges. It breaks down barriers between people operating in different parts of the organisation, reduces the likelihood that we repeat mistakes and stops us thinking in silos.”
“This approach can be applied to anything that requires learning, not just this topic. We want to explore how we sustain it and ingrain it as a way of working - how do we institutionalise this? We want to maintain this support system and platform to share possibilities and issues without them being polished ideas.”
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