Testimonials & Case Studies

"Madeleine embodies both professionalism and integrity. Talking with her made me realise that it is important to take time to reflect and ask myself what I can do to improve myself as an executive and what changes I can make to have work better meet my needs! I believe she provides serious professional development with tangible, long-lasting outcomes." - Dr Tahnya Donaghy, Executive Director, Department of Premier & Cabinet, Govt. of South Australia

"The coaching conversations I have had with Maddie have been fantastic. She has challenged me, in a one to one and totally confidential environment, to identify my career and broader life goals and to develop strategies to get there. I now have a clearer picture of what it is that I want to achieve. She has also helped me reflect and classify the tasks that we do in everyday life so that I'm better able to focus on those that are truly urgent, over those that are not, which will ultimately lead to a more satisfied me! I would recommend Maddie highly." - SB, Corporate Counsel, Vodafone

"Madeleine's impact during our coaching sessions was great. She helped me strip away the complexity and take things back to basics, which enabled me to work through one step at a time and not be overwhelmed by everything at the same time. Madeleine helped me to see the things I could not see myself. I was able to easily connect with her method/approach and always felt very comfortable with her. Madeleine was able to provide a great balance between allowing me to challenge and stretch myself, while remaining supportive and compassionate. I felt an immediate bond with Madeleine which enabled some extremely productive sessions." - MA, Supply Chain Executive, Vodafone

"Madeleine is a clear thinker - her coaching brings perspective and focus. She cuts through the noise and helps me grapple with the real issues that are holding me back. Spending time with her is strengthening and grounding. It's preparing me for real challenge - so I can meet obstacles with resilience, composure and optimism." - L Gough, Senior Corporate Counsel, Vodafone

"Rather than just identifying issues, the benefit of coaching with Madeleine was to make me aware not only of the obstacles to achieving the best performance in my professional life, but also the immediate and long-term steps I could take to create change. As a practising lawyer involved in a variety of activities outside the profession, time management and goal-setting is imperative. I view my time with Madeleine as an investment." - Michelle Rowland, Chairperson, NSW Film & Television Office

A senior lawyer with outstanding technical skills, this person was struggling to transition into a leadership role. Over a period of 6 months we helped him develop an understanding of the components of leadership and to identify some blind spots impeding his progress. The client worked on his ability to manage ambiguity, on the impact of his behaviour on others and on challenging and reframing beliefs that were limiting progress. Armed with a broader understanding of leadership and a deepened self-awareness, this client has received excellent feedback from senior members of his organisation and is well positioned to progress into more senior roles in the near future.

This client's organisation was undergoing a major reorganisation at the time our sessions began. Through our sessions, the client was able to confidently negotiate a period of great upheaval. The clarity and vision she created through the coaching process enabled her to make informed, appropriate decisions about her role. Through the focused "time out" of coaching, she was able to step back, assess the landscape and make plans, enabling her to deliver consistently high results for herself and her team at a time during which many others in the organisation were struggling.

This senior executive was suffering "commitment overload". Wanting to maintain profile for himself and the organisation, he accepted almost all public speaking and extra-curricular invitations that came his way. Significant amounts of his time were also spent checking and performing work that could be completed by members of his team. The confidential sounding board of the coaching session meant he sat back from his difficulties and built a clear, achievable plan for tackling them. As a result of this newfound clarity, he made some simple changes to his management of events and workload and achieved a transformational shift in his time management, without sacrificing the elements that were important to him. This then had the flow-on effect of giving him more time and space for handling strategic and longer term goals.

This mid-level manager had been identified by her organisation as having talent and potential to progress, but a lack of confidence was holding her back. We worked with her over a six month period to enable her to identify self-limiting beliefs (such as "If I speak up in this meeting, everyone will think I'm no good at my job") and replace them with realistic, but optimistic beliefs (such as "If I speak up in this meeting, it will be a good opportunity to demonstrate my skills"). We designed small changes in her behaviour which she could implement as a "trial" without feeling overwhelmed, and built on the incremental success of each change until her attitude towards her own abilities had become completely reinvigorated. After 6 months, she had moved to a new area more suited to her skills, where she was flourishing and receiving excellent feedback from her managers.

*We hold our clients' confidentiality in the highest regard. Consequently, we have changed some details in the case studies above that may otherwise have identified those involved.