Sue Mitchell — Coach in Nr. Edinburgh

About Sue

I am an experienced, enthusiastic and qualified coach, specialising in executive and leadership coaching, life and career coaching, emotional intelligence, confidence, NLP, resilience and mental toughness. I work a lot around shifting mindsets and supporting clients and organisations to develop a growth mindset. Coaching is mostly about making effective change, which requires you to change twice: not only changing the things you do or things in the outside world, but also changing your perspective and the way you think about it.
 
I have over 20 years' experience as a trainer and coach and my practical approach is supported by academic ability and diverse knowledge. I have also led expeditions to the South Pacific, trained scuba diving instructors and delved deep into research in evolutionary ecology. 

I am the founder and Director of Aeona (<a href="http://www.aeona.co.uk" target = "blank" title="Aeona coaching and leadership">www.aeona.co.uk</a>), a coaching and leadership development consultancy and recognised ILM Provider for Development Programmes on authentic leadership and coaching skills. I deliver coaching, facilitation (including board facilitation and visioning), training (including four certified ILM Development Programmes), seminars and psychometric profiling. Clients for 1:1 coaching include organisations requesting coaching for board level executives to first time managers, for numerous reasons that often turn out to be about leadership in various guises. I also coach private individuals, mainly around confidence and career. My approach to coaching and development is strongly based around purpose, values, awareness, meaning, motivation, strengths and passions which gives clients considerable success in achieving their aspirations with greater confidence. I have a holistic approach where we work towards raising fulfilment and harmony in four important parts of your life: work, personal life, community/social and self (mind, body and soul) to become more effective and productive in all areas of life and maintain the balance you want. We explore how to align your actions and behaviours with your core values and what is important to you, which lowers stress and raises wellbeing. This is equally important for executive coaching as for personal coaching, for example, to avoid risks of burn-out as executives step up to take on more responsibility. 

I founded Leaders in Scotland (<a href="http://www.leadersinscotland.co.uk" target = "blank" title="Leaders in Scotland">www.leadersinscotland.co.uk</a>) to encourage leaders to think and talk about leadership outside of formal training programmes and make it part of everyday activity. I facilitate thought leadership conversations in Edinburgh, focusing in 2014 on women and leadership. These are roundtable conversations to gain fresh perspectives, inspiration and share experiences on your leadership journeys. 

I volunteer as a Mentor for the sportscotland Leadership Programme, as a Business Mentor for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and Scottish Enterprise programme; as a National Instructor with the British Sub Aqua Club; as Treasurer on the Moorfoot Community Council. 

My unique background enables me to blend rigour and objectivity with intuition and creativity, so my clients gain a fresh perspective, new insights, focus, clarity and inspiration. My working experiences are diverse including being a coach, trainer, consultant, evolutionary ecologist, marine biologist, scuba diving instructor, explorer and leader. I have been coaching informally since 1988 and professionally since 2006. As a coach I have worked with organisations and businesses of all types and sizes. My earlier international scientific research career included post-doc fellowships at a Max-Planck Institute in Germany and the University of Edinburgh. Before that, I led overseas expeditions of 15 to 20 people, including six months in the South Pacific. 

My key interests in work are around authentic leadership and coaching. In life, I enjoy spending time with my partner, family and friends, dancing, scuba diving, horse riding, walking and reading, amongst other things!

Experience

Who I Coach: individuals from all walks of life, small business owners and managers, executives and leaders at various levels from first time in management to director, MD and CEO.
 
Type of business / sector they are in: Public Sector: Education (University/ College staff), Government, Scottish Enterprise, various councils, Forestry Commission, Prison Service. Private Sector: Corporate, SME, and micro-business in sectors including Telecoms, Retail, Finance, Aviation, Engineering, Technology, Life Sciences, Publishing, Property. Third sector: NGOs and charities.
 
Coaching programs are tailored to fit the needs of each person. We often start around raising self-awareness, particularly on values, motivation, beliefs and purpose. Raising your unconscious knowledge about "who I am and what is important to me" to conscious thought, creates clarity, authenticity and focus. This makes it easier to choose, decide and deal with the issues brought you to coaching in the first place. This approach is particularly useful for coaching around broader purposes such as leadership, career, a crossroads in life, better life:work balance and confidence, and a range of issues in work. With clients bringing a specific (often work) performance-related purpose, we focus on the changes and approaches needed to address that purpose specifically, with the option to bring in a broader values-based approach when it helps to implement changes sustainably over the long term.
 

 Example Case Studies 
 
1. Confidence and self belief 
My private client came to me for personal coaching around building confidence as she was not enjoying her life, felt miserable and had little social life. She felt she'd lost contact with her friends and work was taking over her life. She felt she was putting on a good front at work and was now managing one direct report and she wanted to apply for a promotion in an upcoming job transfer. Everyone thought she was very competent and confident at work, but inside she didn't feel that way, and she felt frustrated by her manager's behaviour which she found domineering. During our sessions we explored how to shift her mindset, with the result she transformed her self-confidence and self-belief, with grounded evidence to ensure she was not being delusional. She changed how she communicated with her boss, her direct report and peers, and her friends, with the result she was much happier, enjoyed a more active social life AND achieved her promotion.

 

2. Team Engagement and productivity. 
A new manager needed to convert hostility from the team following their previous manager's replacement to engagement with a project that was behind schedule and had a deadline to complete delivery within 2 weeks. Our coaching sessions helped her to change the way she managed meetings to include specifically scheduled time to listen and invite input, change the way she communicated with the team, and change her visibility and availability for informal access. Within a week she turned hostility into collective and positive action as a team.

 
3. First time in Management 
My client had no training in management so our sessions included direction on where to find relevant knowledge as she required it, as well as exploring how to lead and manage a team primarily consisting of her friends and previous peers. Coaching was around building her confidence and decision making as a manager. She successfully delivered her first project and created a strong team with good relationships.

 
4. Leadership development 
My client was an engineer in first level management in a telecoms company receiving coaching as part of an emerging leaders programme. During the 6 month period we worked together he achieved his 2 year personal development plan goals at work (and also aspirations outside of work too!) as he gained the self-belief and confidence to put himself forward, and absorb the positive feedback he was being given but previously ignored!
 
This is what he said to me as we closed our last session: 
"I didn't see how coaching was going to work, especially by telephone. But I was sitting on my sofa, talking with you in a way I don't normally do, about things I don't normally think about. As a person I've found this hugely eye-opening and it's helped me achieve a lot. I think differently about myself and where I am now and what I have achieved in the past. I feel where I am now is phenomenal. At the end of this month I will fulfill a personal dream I never before imagined I could.
 
"I didn't think it would make such a difference. I feel much more confident and now when I walk into a room I feel I can hold my head high and go up to someone and say hello, even if I don't know them. Before, I was the guy with their head down, no eye contact, wanting to make myself small and disappear into the background. My wife says the whole way I conduct myself now is different and more confident. Thank you." 

 
5. Recently promoted Director 
My client was another engineer in a specialised technology company, who had been relatively rapidly promoted within the company from engineer to project manager and now Director. He was extremely stressed by deadlines and the sheer volume of work he expected of himself, to support his team and deliver results. Our coaching sessions focused on 
1) How to manage time and better support his team by completing the leadership transition in mindset. He changed his thinking about how he felt value in his work and how he should be supporting the team, in ways that inspired them and freed him to focus on strategic development for his department. 
2) How he could raise his profile, within the local and international departments of the company and also in the wider field. He wanted, and succeeded, to change his own and other's perspective to see him as a peer Director so he felt more comfortable contributing to future strategy and direction for the company.
 

6. CEO: Working more strategically and considering legacy. 
Our sessions focused on raising fulfillment in all four key areas of her life: work, home life, community/social and self, with the aim of raising her effectiveness and productivity at work and also maintaining work/life balance despite the vastly increased level of responsibility and calls on her time at work! Some of the greatest value of coaching for a CEO is having the space and accountability to reflect, bounce ideas, and have someone to probe deeper and ask the questions that your direct team typically don't.

 
7. Testimonial from a business owner 
I coached her around improving her effectiveness in running her business and work : life balance. 
"I am the managing director of a small consultancy company. I have a tendency to take on too much, not delegate well and also have a young son so a business and family to juggle. Sue has helped me focus a lot on what I need to do to make my company more successful and my work life balance better.
 
Sue has provided a great deal of help and we spent several sessions talking about my management style, the structure of the business, the way I manage and motivate staff and my work life balance. I have implemented a lot of the things we discussed. Some have been implemented and slipped a little, so I need to get back on track. Overall, since I started with Sue I have taken on one extra member of the team and have successfully been awarded a grant of £60k for the creation of 6 new jobs over the next two years. We have also doubled our income. Sue's input into this has been to take me out of the frantic daily schedule and take stock of what I needed to do to achieve this.
 
Sue's been a great coach. She did not direct me but forced me to face up to all the issues head on and devise my own solutions which I knew but needed a bit of time out to face up to and commit to. I had sessions with Sue by phone and in person. Sue has been very diligent in following up with me and confirming everything I committed to do." 

 

8. Board Facilitation and Team Development 
Examples include 
1) working with the board of a third sector organisation to clarify the vision, mission, purpose, values, behaviours, forward direction and strategy and developing appropriate communication to bring the management and staff on board. 
2) Working with the partners of an international consultancy to develop their vision and strategy for growth through aligning personal and organisational values; getting to know each other better; clarifying their capabilities and team roles so they could maximise their strengths; and creating a solid sense of purpose and clarity.

Coaching style

My clients tell me that they come away from my sessions feeling motivated and inspired.
 
“Just to say thank you for the coaching session and you have worked some magic once again, thank you so much.”
 
“You were very impressive and I always came away really motivated – you were very natural to talk to and it really boosted my confidence and morale.”

 
I have particular expertise supporting experts (particularly people who are engineers, scientists, finance specialists or other technical specialists) in making the move from being technical experts and valuing their technical or skill-based input to their role, to become managers and leaders and valuing their contribution through working through others. Similarly, helping managers take the step to a higher level, working more on top level strategy than operationally.
 
Specialist coaching topics: 
Leadership 
Emotional Intelligence 
Confidence 
Resilience and mental toughness 
Career development 
Transitions 
 
Psychometric profiling – including personality and team profiling (Big 5 model, Team roles), leadership styles (ILM72), Mental toughness (MTQ48), Emotional Intelligence (EQ-i2), 360 degree feedback and others.
 
 

QUALIFICATIONS / LICENCES / MEMBERSHIPS
 
Master Practitioner NLP, Sue Knight Associates. 
The Non-Executive Director, Institute of Directors (IOD) Scotland. 
Just Leadership, at ILM Level 7, Ros Taylor Group, Edinburgh 
Diploma Excel endorsed by ILM: Corporate & Executive Coaching (Distinction). The Coaching Academy, 
Psychometric Profiling licensed training: EQ-i2 Emotional intelligence 
Psychometric Profiling licensed training: ILM72 Leadership styles, MTQ48 Mental Toughness 
Certificate of Personal Coaching, The Coaching Academy, London 
Facilitation skills, Glasgow 
NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Business Practitioner, Edinburgh 
National Instructor, British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) 
Instructor Trainer, BSAC 
Introduction to Management, University of Edinburgh 
Communication, University of Hull 
Innovation, University of Swansea 
Tutorial & supervisor training, University of Swansea 
 
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS 
PhD. in Biological Sciences: Evolutionary Ecology. University of Hull 
MSc. Marine Environmental Protection. University of N. Wales, Bangor 
BA. Hons. Natural Sciences Tripos: Zoology & M.A. Cambridge University 
 
CURRENT Professional Memberships 
Association for Coaching (Member) AC 
Institute for Leadership and Management (Associate Member) ILM 
Institute of Directors (Associate Member) IOD

Rates

We can create a bespoke package tailored specifically for you or you may prefer simply a block of six sessions of either 1 hour or 1.5 hours.
 
My rates vary depending on what you want to do. For example, whether you are looking for personal coaching, whether other stakeholders will be involved from your organisation and the level of their involvement (eg additional meetings, types of reporting and so on), the nature of the coaching package, inclusion of other products like emotional intelligence profiling, workbooks, 360degree feedback, and so on.
 
Please contact me directly for more information. 
email me on sue@aeona.co.uk or call 0845 6436 084 (or +44 1875 830708 from overseas) or email to arrange a Skype call.
 
1:1 coaching clients work with me 
- face to face in person in Edinburgh and central belt Scotland. I can travel further afield for larger projects where I am working with a number of executives or managers in an organisation.
 
- face to face online by video Skype or GoToMeeting, a dedicated video conferencing programme I work with, which allows screen sharing if we want.
 
- by telephone and basic Skype call.
 
or a combination of any of these.

Sue Mitchell Verified

About Sue

Experience

Coaching style

Rates

Contact Sue