This website is mostly for prospective clients, talent managers of large and medium-sized enterprises, often in technology, science, or engineering, directors implementing sweeping changes but who want to keep the morale of their teams, and know that optimum results come from people that value what they are doing and who feel valued. It is for people dealing with tough teams, tough colleagues, tough bosses, and people that have heard about me, worked with me, or met me and want to check out what I do. This page also talks about the kinds of clients I've worked with, the kinds of challenges they have faced, my profile, my credentials, my experience, my values...
This website is for anybody that made it this far. Welcome!
2. Examples of Recent Work
Name: Nina*
Age: 57
Job Title: GM
Profile: Studied Finance and Economics, quickly managing team, director at 32. Pushes tough transformations and cost-cutting while increasing revenues.
Wants to work on: She knows soft skills exist and that they bring results, but she can’t be soft with people. People expect fast results from her and she rarely has time for being fluffy and lovely with everybody. Results are flat right now, her team are not communicating and she suspects she may soon be pushed out.
Name: Sanjay*
Age: 43
Job Title: CTIO
Profile: A talented IT engineer, he invented a new type of digital switching system. He has designed strategy and implemented digitisation, migrations, and transformations and established an R&D centre of excellence. He looks after his teams, loves video games, he has two young kids and a strong moral code.
Wants to work on: Frequently head hunted, he knows his value, but he hates company politics, doesn’t want more responsibility, but he isn’t satisfied and wants more challenge.
Name: Alexandra*
Age: 49
Job Title: Director of Communication
Profile: Worked her way up between marketing, communication, PR, and a short stint in sales then back to Communication and PR. Projects an image of strong, friendly, and happy.
Wants to work on: Since the unexpected death of her husband ten years ago she hasn’t stopped working. She says she has processed her grief but she can’t find interest in her life and her team is exhausted. She recently suffered aggressive questions during a press conference.
*personae created from an amalgam of real clients
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I work with a lot of people at around the midpoint in their careers. They have reached the top of the management structure as experts in their fields and are faced with what might be termed as a glass ceiling, that is, they frequently are looking for how they can grow further in an organization and keep their integrity or the operational contact they have with their teams.
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I've worked with a few leaders of great integrity who want to implement radical transformations, looking to overcome the apparent contradiction between the brute force and cool emotions needed for disruptive change and the care and connection that is necessary to bring people along.
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I work with several directors and senior managers looking to challenge themselves and the received ideas that have served them well in their careers so far but now feel out of date.
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It is common that I work with people facing sustained conflict or ill feelings, often rising from internal politics, resentment from teams or colleagues following a promotion or new appointment. Finding how to create healthy work environments where people can express discontent and unseen stakes and how to give them opportunities to shine and be recognized has been crucial to helping directors build high-performing departments/divisions/countries.
UNICEF - Individual coaching with UNICEF leaders organised through ICF Foundation
IMT Nord Europe Individual coaching for the Board of Directors for a French engineering school plus writing and leading interactive soft skills seminars for the directors.
Eurogroup Consulting - I'm an external partner: consultant, assessor, and coach for an international business consultancy.
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Orange - Talent and Leadership program carrying out development assessments
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AXA Group - Director-level recruitment and development assessments
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AXA Partners - Director-level recruitment and development assessments
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COVEA - Director-level recruitment and development assessments
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SAFRAN - Director-level recruitment and development assessments
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ONTEX - debriefing with clients of 360° feedback reports
Lactalis - Subcontracted to write and lead training seminars and group coaching for new managers and new directors, creating and carrying out Development Assessments for new managers.
Viapost - Subcontracted to train Management Basics plus Emotions for Efficacity, plus individual coaching for directors.
Allianz Partners - Individual coaching for directors and managers
Novartis - Individual coaching for directors
There are a few key ideas of "how to think" that can in themselves have massive impact on coaching outcomes. Clients that are willing to try out these ways of thinking tend to get more positive and more rapid outcomes from their coaching processes.
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Being curious - presuming not to know answers and therefore looking for the things that you don't know or haven't thought of is key to generating changes of outcomes.
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Remembering that every other person on the planet has stakes that we cannot see or know about and their actions are their best attempts to manage these stakes.
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Learning to avoid using absolute, binary, or imperative language. The language we use influences how we see the world, so saying things are good or bad, just or unjust, or saying that we have no choice can be simplifications and cut us off from finding new solutions.
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Looking for multiple answers and solutions. Start with anything that works, but it's unlikely that the first working solution will be the best. Continuing to look for and combining good ideas is often key to lasting and workable solutions.
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Get things wrong. Accepting that being wrong brings good results means we become more courageous as we try things out. Letting go of perfection in order to be able to experiment is our most natural learning tool. Experimentation, testing, and learning require getting things wrong.
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Being positive and tenacious. Being positive is often confused with ignoring the negative, however positive people tend to be more willing to try out looking for solutions and more likely to try again if things go wrong. So statistically positive thinkers try more times and for longer and therefore generate more positive outcomes.
I have many colleagues whom I hold in high esteem that work connecting their clients to the higher spiritual meaning of their lives and work. This is not something that I wish to do.
I have greatly enjoyed working with clients who identify as spiritual and working in connection to their diverse religious and spiritual beliefs (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism...). And while I invite my clients to check that their solutions are aligned with their values and belief systems, I encourage people to be active in looking for solutions and actions that are within their own power to influence the outcomes they are aiming for. Trusting in or inviting a benevolent Universe, God, gods, or spirits to resolve challenges is not within my realm of competence or the values of my work.
I am a British-born executive coach and trainer of coaching skills for managers. I have lived in France since 2005, working in many medium and large companies and startups. I work in both French and English.
I like how coaches and clients construct creative spaces and the feeling of generating strong positive change. I love how people manage to reframe even the most heavily anchored beliefs to find ways around obstacles that seemed previously insurmountable, or even how to make added value from those obstacles.
Benjamin Constable - Quick Facts
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Coach and trainer
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Member of the International Coach Federation
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Born in Bristol, UK, 1968
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Published Author
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Lives between Normandy and Paris
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Works in both French and English
SINCE 2017: Leadership, management, and team coaching/trainer and creator of training programs
• Accompanying senior management through periods of transformation, their challenges, stakes, and managing their personal and professional development.
•Coaching teams to develop a common vision, identity, and objectives. Accompanying the development and implementation of strategies to help productivity and well-being, finding motivation, and working together.
•Creating and leading training programs such as "Management Communication", "Coach Skills for Managers", "The Added Value of Diversity", and "The Added Value of Emotions in Business"
SINCE 2019: Consultant EUROGROUP
•Assessment des talents et du leadership, évaluations de développement et débriefing des 360°
FROM 2005 TO 2021: Formateur & coach d’anglais pour de multiples instituts de formation
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Supervision - Part of my personal commitment to my clients is that I have regular sessions with a supervisor. My supervisor is Silvie De Clerck
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The Art and Science of Coaching - Erickson Coaching International: Erickson Professional Coach + International Coach Federation: Associate Certified Coach
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High-Performance Team Coaching - Erickson Coaching International
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Practitioner in Team Psychological Safety - Team as One
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6 months in-house training for Assessments - Eurogroup Consulting (Assessing for Orange, the French National Defense Ministry, AXA...)
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SOSIE 2 : Authorised for SOSIE personality test analysis and debriefs
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FICS : Authorised for FICS cognitive process test and debriefs
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Intercultural Communication – Hofstede Insights
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Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Practioner 1) – IFHE Paris
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Cambridge CELTA - Certificate for adult language training
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Creative Writing BA - Journalism, narrative structure, storytelling, scripts, and fiction creation
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I love writing: text messages, personal letters, lists, short stories and novels (I'm a published author of fiction and have been translated into a few languages. For information about my writing career click here).
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I'm a maker of things: I recently converted a building for animals into the house where I live. I make videos, websites, I record music, I make dinner... but I pretty much never follow instructions. And while I want things to look good, I love them to feel home-made.
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I love science - From physics to psychology, I like thinking about how things work and what research shows us about creating the outcomes we want.
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I love art - drawing, painting, filmmaking, poetry, theatre, photography.... other people's creativity amazes me and I often get involved in other people's art projects as a helper!
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I love getting lost - I do it when driving, when walking and the further I get from what I already know the more I like it!
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I care a lot about equality - I was brought up to believe that people are not the same but are equal. And as I move through life I realise that treating people equally and being treated equally is of incomparable value.