Coaching …

Whether I’m coaching you as an individual or as part of a team, my aim is to help you make sense of your experience, unravel the knots, and clear a path to more effective working. I am to help you know what to do when you don’t know what to do.

You will bring troubles and triumphs, worries and wins, puzzles and prizes, and I will bring an ear (or two), along with a promise to reflect back to you what might be useful for your learning.

As an individual, you might be facing a challenge, conflict or transition that you find particularly hard. You might be looking to rediscover your sense of purpose and ‘mojo’. You might feel under-resourced or over-stretched for the work you have to do, and struggle to step into your authority. Or you might just need a regular facilitated space away from the coalface in which to reflect on things and talk them though.

As an organisational leader, you might want team coaching for one of your teams to improve performance, help rebuild trust or repair relationships after a conflict or change. You might want a team to explore their strengths and raise their profile across the organisation, or to learn how to work more collaboratively. Or, again, you might think they just need a regular facilitated space in which to think together about their work without distraction.

I am accredited and trained to use a range of really useful models and tools and psychometrics to help your thinking, but I will be entirely guided by the needs that arise in each session. I promise to only ever suggest those that best suit the context we find ourselves in.

And I do not tell my clients what to do! I am a professional coach, not a school leader. My work is to help you as my client to find your own way to an answer, solution or transition and to create a space for your own growth.

This is coaching for real school improvement …

I am a certified professional executive coach with the Association for Professional Executive Coaching & Supervision (APECS) and an accredited Analytic-Network coach with more than 500 hrs 1:1 and team coaching experience.

My practice is grounded in my training with the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust, a two-year postgraduate programme focused on helping individuals and groups understand the emotional experience of work.

I work to two ethical codes - APECS’ and the CIPD’s - and engage with a broad network of peers and a range of development opportunities. I undertake regular formal supervision and also engage with several informal reflective practice groups.

I have an active portfolio of private clients and am also commissioned by organisations to provide coaching to their clients. These include associate roles with Integrity Coaching and Making Stuff Better, and with the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership where I facilitate Early Headship Coaching Offer (EHCO) groups and NPQEL Professional Learning Groups.

Please see my LinkedIn profile for details of my professional training and accreditations.

Also see my Synergi and Core Strengths services for team coaching, and my Coaching Days service for a full day of online 1:1 ‘laser’ sessions.

For a confidential chat about your challenges and how my coaching might help, please drop me a line …

  • "Ben held the space for me! A vital support during a key time of executive and organisational change, holding that mirror still and helping me dial the noise down low. As COO, this development investment resulted in me reconnecting with my purpose and revitalising my resources. Perfect for a growing Trust - thanks to my CEO & Board for supporting."

    Jo Marsh, Chief Operating Officer, Palladian Trust

  • "I really valued my coaching programme with Ben and am now engaged in a follow-on programme. I thought I'd had coaching before but it turns out that it was actually more like mentoring. This is real coaching and came at a time when I needed it most! Ben is a skilful listener and adeptly makes use of questioning and a range of coaching tools to enable me to reflect on my leadership experiences and to think forward."

    Principal, secondary school, Cambridgeshire

  • "I found my coaching sessions with Ben Gibbs tremendously useful. His easy style quickly put me at ease and his listening skills and interest enabled me to explore some difficult professional issues. This has increased my capacity to lead effectively in the future."

    Deputy CEO, small MAT, South Coast

  • "My sessions with Ben really helped me to examine my relationship with work and, through our explorations, encouraged me to make space for more regular reflection. Our time together also taught me to reflect on the dynamic of working relationships, how these interpolate with one another and how to achieve the best outcomes through positive self-scrutiny."

    Richard Mayer, Director of ICT, Anglian Learning Trust

  • “As a leadership team, we all benefitted from your work with us during what was a very difficult year. In particular, we saw the relationship between two of our three assistant heads become a lot stronger. Although they have a very different educational ethos and way of working, you helped us all to see this as a strength, and they continue to build on that dynamic now. The whole team is definitely more united, happier to challenge and ready to find compromise. Thank you again for your work. We would happily recommend you for leadership team coaching.”

    Joseph Doyle, Acting Head, Heybrook Primary & Nursery School