for?
LONGING
WHAT are you
Professional coaching tailored
to your needs
COACHING SERVICES
Thomas Edison
"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves."
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COACHING
"How do I deliver
results, through constant disruption, whilst cultivating
followership?"
According to Forbes, 50-70% of CEOs fail within their first 18 months. Indeed one FORTUNE 500 CEO I work with described the level of change and disruption as "augmented chaos". It's true that the speed of disruption, level of complexity and tensions between delivering business outcomes and a host of other factors (e.g. being inclusive, purposeful, sustainable, people focused) has reached a kind of climax. This climate requires a different kind of leadership.
So it's ok if you secretly feel a bit out of your depth. Interestingly, research shows the essence of leading in this context is usually much less about skills and smarts (which are usually plentiful) and much more about courage, compassion, selflessness, authenticity, comfort making imperfect tradeoffs and not losing perspective (which is much harder).
Executive & Leadership coaching is therefore usually focused more on expanding your depth and range a bit more more than your toolkit. It usually involves waking up, growing up and showing up more fully.
Executive & Leadership Coaching can help you to:
✓ Approach complex leadership problems more adaptively
✓ Be clearer on your 'why' so you can keep going
✓ Create a calmer, clearer mind as a foundation for better judgement
✓ Consider how to reassure and inspire whilst doing hard things
✓ Make peace with volatility and change
✓ Find perspective and a sense of agency
✓ Identify and mitigate personal 'leadership detailers'
✓ Create an authentic leadership brand grounded in signature talents
✓ Prioritise courageously so you can focus on what really matters
✓ Improve your level of executive presence
✓ Make tough decisions that may conflict with your values
✓ Find sufficient time and space for you
✓ Restore or maintain balance between work and home
✓ Maintain your performance or output through a difficult period
Life Coaching
"I'm successful but I'm unfulfilled. Is there more?"
How satisfied with your life are you?
If your answer to this question is anything less than "very" then it might be time to re-evaluate. It might surprise you to learn that nearly 50% of people would repeat the Coronavirus pandemic and it wasn't the absence of a commute that they miss. What people learned was what truly mattered to them - be it family time, taking health more seriously or leaning even more strongly into work that was purposeful, in spite of the constraints. Adversity has a way of showing us who we really are and forcing us to honour it. Coaching can do the same thing.
Life Coaching is all about you doing you to the absolute best of your ability. It might mean holding the course. Or it might mean conscious upheaval. Either way, there is no prize more worth fighting for: a life truly worth living.
LIFE Coaching can help you to:
✓ Develop a powerful vision for a more fulfilled life
✓ Identify your core values and choose how best to honour them
✓ Identify your life purpose and consider how to live and breathe it
✓ Explore your psyche, harnessing superpowers and befriending saboteurs
✓ Meet your 'leader within' - the wisest, kindest, most potent version of you
✓ Stop being in states or doing things that limit your brilliance and wholeness (e.g. worry, procrastination, compulsiveness, competitiveness, perfectionism)
✓ Develop more calm and mental clarity so you can be in choice vs reactivity
✓ Identify limiting views and consciously choose more empowering ones
✓ Identify limiting stories you tell yourself - and re-author them
✓ Become more awake to your embodied emotions and feel more authentic
✓ Recover from setbacks, transmuting them into learnings and opportunities
✓ Create more accountability around taking steps towards what you want
✓ Feel truly seen, heard and supported on the topics that matter most
✓ Flush out the bullshit (and bullshitters) in your life with confidence
✓ Ensure the soil and climate of your life is one in which you can truly flourish
RATES & PACKAGES
I have no one way of working with clients and no single rate. I charge more to organisations than I do to individuals who're self-funding and more to Executives than to others. Some clients like highly structured journeys and others prefer things lighter and looser.
The best option is to get in touch with me for a free chemistry conversation. I can understand more about your situation and recommend something tailored to you. I do however understand it might be helpful to get a sense for what some typical packages are. You can see some below:
A Tactical Support package comprises 3x 60 minute coaching sessions and is suitable for you if you need support with something critical, urgent and discrete e.g. a pitch, interview, meeting or difficult conversation.
01
TACTICAL SUPPORT
✓ 3x 60 minute virtual coaching sessions
✓ Clarification of goals
✓ Identification of limiting attitudes and habits
✓ Exercises to broaden perspectives, options and actions
✓ Accountability holding
✓ Recommendations for reflection, action or learning
WHAT YOU GET:
A Strategic Support package comprises 6x 60 minute coaching sessions with simple digital enablement and is suitable for you if you need support with a stubborn bad habit, unhelpful pattern, or with acquiring a new skill, relationship or job.
02
STRATEGIC SUPPORT
✓ 6x 60 minute virtual or in person coaching sessions
✓ A life satisfaction audit
✓ Identification and assessment of Values and Saboteurs
✓ Identification of your 'Leader Within'
✓ Exercises to broaden perspectives, options and actions
✓ Accountability holding
✓ Limited ad hoc coaching by WhatsApp
✓ Recommendations for reflection, action or learning
✓ Digital portal with prompts, nudges and reminders
WHAT YOU GET:
A Transformation package comprises 10x 90 minute coaching sessions supported by a digital platform and is suitable for you if you need deep and sustained support with a major shift e.g. changing career, unlearning a damaging behaviour, repairing an important relationship or accelerating deep personal or professional development.
03
TRANSFORMATION
✓ The same as a Strategic Support Package but 10x 90 minute live or virtual sessions, plus:
✓ A custom digitally enabled journey with your own milestones, progress tracking tools, accountability structures, nudges, resources and tools
✓ Unlimited ad hoc coaching through the portal or WhatsApp
✓ Optional Self & 360 degree assessment to measure baselines & progress (I am certified to use Hogan Instruments & Complete's Values for Leaders Assessment)
WHAT YOU GET:
BESPOKE PACKAGES
Are you looking for something bespoke? Maybe what you need is not listed above. If so, please get in touch. I work with clients flexibly and I'd be delighted to create a bespoke package for you.
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?
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WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What's a session typically like?Every session starts with designing how we'll partner together and clarifying what topic you want to focus on. From there we'll likely do a mixture of envisioning, feeling what success might look or feel like, exploring options, making choices and feeling the full wisdom of your mind, emotions and body along the way. Sometimes we'll be sitting comfortably, other times we'll be moving around a lot. Either way, we'll close by agreeing actions and how you'd like to be held accountable.
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What's the typical format?I work either F2F or virtually, usually on Zoom. My preference is to work in person and for that we'll need a space. I tend to visit clients at their places of work or homes, or we can arrange for a suitable meeting space in a central location, for a fee. The environment, whether F2F or virtual, needs to be calm, free from distraction and above all - private.
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How many sessions do I need?This depends on what you want to achieve. Some clients use me on an ongoing basis as a permanent thinking partner. Others for specific situations or objectives. Generally speaking, the more ambitious the goal or deeper the shift, the longer we'll need. More about my packages and what they're suitable for can be found above. If you're unsure, get in touch and we can discuss something appropriate for you.
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Do you offer free sessions?I'll be direct with you. No. My credentials, I believe, speak for themselves. In a chemistry session I can explain how I coach and you can get a strong feel for my style. My advice to you is if you're not yet sure about making the investment, you probably aren't sufficiently committed to benefit from coaching right now.
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Do you work with privately funding individuals?Absolutely. Many of my clients come to me on a private basis and we work on the most important aspects of their lives free from the prying eyes of a sponsor, HR person or boss. My rates are lower for those who're self-funding, too.
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I'm not a leader, can we still work together?Yes. Further more, you are a leader. A leader of yourself. And this is amongst the most challenging and rewarding kinds of leaderships. Are you ready to become the CEO of your life?
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What do I need to prepare, before coaching?The most important thing is that you're clear on what you want to talk about. Secondly, that you're able to show up fully present, attentive and openminded. A spirit of playfulness or adventure also never hurts. Otherwise, prepare to get in the habit of regular reflection on what's working, what's not and what you're learning. Leave the rest to me.
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What psychometrics, assessments or tools do you offer?At present I'm certified to use Hogan's three main personality assessment instruments i.e. the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) - focused on your bright side traits, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) - focused on your dark side or derailer traits, and the Hogan Motives, Values & Preferences Inventory (MVPI) - what you care about most and want to create. I am also certified to use Complete's Leadership Values assessment which is grounded in Spiral Dyanamics. This powerful tool measures your developmental maturity as a leader based on what you value when strategising, executing, managing and the difference in what you value in and outside work.
Commercial Coaching
"How do I smash my target when the market is tough and my nerves are shredded?"
Having a number on your head requires some confidence. Having a team's or company's number on your head takes some serious guts. I know because I've done both.
And the rules of selling are changing. According to Forrester research, buyers have never been more informed or powerful. When an RFP is issued, on average 75% of the decision has already been made. Another recent study from Gartner showed that only 17% of the deciding journey is spent in direct contact with potential suppliers and perhaps only 5-6% with an individual one. Competition has never been greater, attention has never been poorer and your window for influencing purchasing decisions has never been smaller.
Are you and your team set up for success in this commercial landscape? If you're like any of the thousands of commercial leaders I train and coach, there's likely room for improvement.
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COMMERCIAL Coaching can help you to:
✓ Figure out why you're (still) in sales, beyond the commission
✓ Recover your mojo if you've had a bad quarter, half or year
✓ Increase resilience and optimism when the market is tough
✓ Prioritise activities that have the highest commercial RoI
✓ Understand your team's commercial strengths and weaknesses
✓ Develop a team development strategy
✓ Improve your relationships with critical buyers or stakeholders
✓ Create leverage where deals or conversations are 'stuck'
✓ Identify and remove the 'junk' from your/your team's pipeline
✓ Prepare for critical pitches/orals
✓ Create commercial messaging that will win
✓ Develop a strategy to differentiate yourself from the competition
✓ Tailor your influencing strategy according to the context
✓ Get on better with your boss or team
✓ Transition from being an individual contributor to a sales leader
✓ Plan your transition out of sales to something new
RELATIONSHIP COACHING
"The relationships that matter to me aren't working."
How connected do you feel? How seen, heard and safe did you feel in your last conversation with your boss? What about with your partner or spouse?
According to the World Health Organisation, loneliness is as unhealthy as smoking 20 cigarettes a day. Social connection is so fundamental to wellbeing, it is now seen as a public health issue by governments in the UK, US and Japan.
Relationship coaching is all about bringing oxygen and vitality to your relationships. It's about supporting you in creating, maintaining and repairing relationships of all kinds, personal and professional. It might mean you speaking up more. Or it might mean listening. Whatever the case, just like a garden needs watering, relationships require constant care. Ensure you're giving yours what they need.
RELATIONSHIP Coaching can help you to:
✓ Conduct a key relationship health check
✓ Identify how needs are met or unmet in an important relationship
✓ Identify your relationship drivers and interpersonal style
✓ Explore your blindspots, where you make assumptions about others
✓ Stop being in states or doing things that limit connection
✓ Gain greater perspective on other people's words and behaviour
✓ Develop a strategy to deepen rapport, connection or trust
✓ Explore how to ensure others feel truly seen, heard and supported
✓ Identify limiting stories you're telling yourself about your relationships
✓ Recover from rejection or overlook
✓ Boost your networking skills
✓ Explore how to build swift trust with an important new stakeholder
✓ Develop a relationship repair strategy
TESTIMONIALS
“I came to Nikolai looking to level up at work as I started a new role, but I got way more than I expected! He’s great at quickly reading my behaviours and noticing blind spots I didn’t even see. He’s helped me get unstuck in areas of life I wasn’t even planning to work on. Nikolai’s approach is very down-to-earth, and he’s really pushed me in all the right ways these past few months. I love that he’s direct, speaks his mind, but also manages to balance being professional and friendly. I can honestly say this experience has brought a whole new perspective, it’s totally elevated my thinking in and out of work.”
Rachel Conroy - Client Director
“Nikolai is a naturally talented coach with wisdom way beyond his years. His unique approach blends a variety of techniques drawing from the sciences, logic, emotion, and spirituality. Our coaching sessions focus on the ‘whole self’ and I find our session deeply valuable and insightful. In an increasingly complex and demanding world Nikolai has helped me focus on what is important and work out how to generate immediate impact against my ambitions.”
Yasha Vojdani - Co-Founder
“Nikolai holds a safe place to help you explore options or to get comfortable in the fog. His encouragement and challenge have crystalised new perspectives, opened more ideas whilst cheerleading me towards successful outcomes. He has helped me get ‘unstuck’, held me to account and celebrated with me during a very important chapter in my career. He’s a trusted voice in a rapidly moving world and I couldn’t recommend his support more.”
Jacqueline Corbett - Head of Commercial Training
“I have done coaching before and always benefited from it. But Nikolai’s approach is different: the way he is able to explain how body and mind are connected is an eye-opener. I fully trust him and the no-nonsense approach he brings to our sessions. I feel I am getting closer to self-actualization through exploring how to fully live my values – in work and my private life.”
Pieter Meulendijk-de Mol - Co-Founder
“Lucky is the person on whom Nikolai shines his brilliance, humour, and ability to reframe—unlocking fresh ways of thinking and being. If you're looking for someone to simply mirror your words, go elsewhere. But if you want a partner who dives deep, unearthing and refining the gold with you, Nikolai is a true gem.”
Eileen Laillier - COO
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“Nikolai has helped me train my focus, identify my saboteurs, find my leader within and hone my personal brand storybook. Crucially, his coaching approach has held me to account and helped me to avoid distraction from other business pressures. The outcome of the coaching has been outstanding.”
Rob Bloor - Senior Principal, Professional Service Firm, Switzerland
"Working with Nikolai is a game changer. His approach to coaching is considered, personal and exceptionally professional. He cares not only about understanding your goals and priorities, but also your values. In doing so, he has supported me on a journey of aligning my values to my growth approach. I wouldn't be in this next phase of my career without his guidance and support!"
Zehra Odunayo - Growth, People Strategy & Change Lead
"Nikolai has helped me enormously on a wide range of topics starting with helping me to determine my values, selecting my next career move and land a job, right through to helping me overcome significant personal issues. Nikolai draws on his vast experience, wisdom and use of appropriate, powerful tools and techniques – including many which are quite unconventional and new to me, but very effective."
Paul Ruggier - FTSE 100 Co-Founder
"I feel very blessed to have had Nikolai as my thinking partner and coach over the past 6 months. He has a very unique skill of being able to hold space for you to think and reflect and has an almost magical way of evoking awareness. He challenges you to stretch and grow, often forcing you to question assumptions and self limiting beliefs. Nikolai continues to help me work through sticky challenges, figure things out and become more aware of who I really am to live a more energised, balanced and fulfilled life."
Nicola Amiss - Senior Vice President of Sales
"Nikolai is a naturally gifted coach, very empathetic and inquisitive and yet also results driven. During our sessions, his patient yet no-nonsense approach expedited a critical decision in my life and I felt clearer and more empowered as a result. I highly recommend his services."
Laura Bridge - Celebrity and Private Chef
TRANSITION COACHING
"I need to navigate
a drastic change in my life, but
I'm stuck."
Other than death and taxes, the only other certainty is change.
Maybe you're in the midst of a major change at the moment. Perhaps you suspect a major career or life transition is imminent. Or perhaps you're actively planning some upheaval and you're feeling anxious or uncertain. Maybe you can't wait.
Whatever the case, change is known to fire up the same threat circuitry in the brain as a marauding elephant or poisonous snake. We've evolved to mostly dislike change and so managing it, both inside and out, is an increasingly important life skill. Whether you're an agile change-ready ninja or someone who wishes everything would just stand still, coaching can help.
TRANSITION Coaching can help you to:
✓ Consciously envision what you'd like to happen in the next chapter
✓ Explore what's stopping you embracing change
✓ Explore what's emerging in you naturally, embracing growth
✓ Manage the emotions and thoughts associated with upheaval
✓ Find a sense of autonomy when change is being 'done to you'
✓ Find your feet in your purpose and values, providing stability
✓ Integrate a recent upheaval
✓ Put change in wider perspective, especially difficult change
✓ Develop the courage and conviction needed to see a change through
✓ Practice execution of pivotal conversations or actions
✓ Explore the pros and cons of different courses of action
✓ Cultivate a growth mindset
✓ Connect with the wisdom of your future self, who's already there
✓ Find and land a new role, or change career