Carolyne Creed

During todays Benefolk Summit session, Governing for Wellbeing: Calling All Boards and Committees! shifted how I noted that Wellbeing Governance is a powerful risk mitigation and performance strategy. Adele Stowe-Lindner and Jon Staley guided us through how boards and committees can lead wellbeing from the top, embedding it into the very fabric of decision-making, accountability, and organisational culture. We explored: Why wellbeing governance helps reduce staff turnover and prevent mental injury costs Simple ways boards can embed care into culture without overcomplicating their governance role Practical recommendations included providing leadership and building board unity by 1. Keeping board member voting private, 2. Having board members speak with one voice, 3. Having set ways to publicise board decision processes and to communicate board decisions For practical tools check out the - Benefolk Community well. Social Sector Wellbeing and Resilience Hub - Benefolk | Social Impact Specialist Community - Institute of Community Directors Australia | Tools and Resources and - Funder Tools — Resource Library — paywhatittakes.com.au As someone passionate about integrity-based leadership, this session reminded me that Governance is about protecting people, and that wellbeing isn’t just the responsibility of Human Resources or line managers, it starts at the very top.

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Coaching is no longer a luxury reserved for the C-suite. It’s a strategic lever for enabling leadership, accelerating learning, and fostering cultural alignment at scale. Yet, many organisations struggle to move beyond ad hoc or elite-access coaching into something more integrated, inclusive, and impactful. So what does it take to scale coaching across an organisation? Read our guide for HR on scaling coaching operations and get in touch for a conversation: https://ow.ly/Qq0L50WEXFz

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A “Coaching Effectiveness Scale (CES) to provide a validated measure of coaching outcomes” has been developed. It uses “classical test theory and evidence-based principles.” Except, crucially, it’s still only measuring coachee-perceived outcomes. In other words, the subjective experience of your client. Which matters, of course, because clients’ experience is relevant. But this highlights the problem that coaching effectiveness research still leans heavily on self report, which peer reviewed articles repeatedly flag as methodologically weak. Perceived benefit cannot show behavioural change, causal impact, or sustained outcomes, and is highly vulnerable to expectancy, social desirability, and single source bias. So the measure may be reliable. But doesn’t necessarily make it a robust indicator of effectiveness. Your thoughts? #coaching #leadership #evaluation Link to chapter abstract in comments.

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The Liberator Accreditation is running this March It’s designed for leaders, HR and L&D professionals, and trainers who want a clear, practical approach to leadership development. The work is grounded in over 30 years of leadership research and practice, shaped by the repeated patterns we observe(d) across organisations, sectors, and senior roles - particularly where leadership is working intensively, yet progress isn't sustained. Across three days in London, we’ll work with: • a structured route for leadership development • practical tools that can be applied immediately • a framework designed to reduce dependency and sustain leadership capability This accreditation is about moving leadership forward when it feels stuck and not adding more theory. It will give you a method you can rely on in practice beyind the accreditation. If you’re responsible for developing leaders, or you work directly with leadership capability, you’ll find full details via the link in the comments. Places are intentionally limited to keep the work focused and rigorous. #LeadershipDevelopment #LeaderDevelopment #HRLeadership #LearningAndDevelopment #LiberatorAccreditation

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Episode 24 of Coaching Stories is now available! In this episode, my guest is Jonathan Passmore, professor of coaching and behavioural change at Henley Business School and Senior VP at Ezra Coaching.   Jonathan’s experience of learning and deploying coaching skills highlights how important it is for leaders to remain curious about how they can grow and develop.   In his falling story, Jonathan shares a story about how his naivety of organisational politics led to him being restructured out of job. He realised that working hard and acquiring skills and competencies was not enough to climb the greasy pole. His neglect of organisational politics resulted in his team being swallowed up by another Director and him being made redundant – brutal! In his flowing story, Jonathan highlights how his willingness to be unpopular and make tough decisions helped the Mental Health charity he worked for go from being nearly bankrupt to winning prizes. To listen to this latest episode of Coaching Stories, go to your usual podcast platform or visit www.grit.co.uk If you want to know more about Grit’s approach to coaching, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. #coachingstories #gritcoaching

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It’s amazing how one conversation can grow into many. Earlier this year, my article “Neuroinclusive Coaching: Expanding Leadership Potential” — published by the Association for Coaching — opened up conversations about how coaching can recognise and nurture the full spectrum of human potential. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/eexG_JKC At its heart was a simple question I’m still exploring: ➡️ What if inclusive coaching isn’t just about supporting difference — but about redefining how we see leadership itself? Next week, I’ll be continuing that conversation live with Philippa Thomas for the Association for Coaching. We’ll explore how coaching can evolve to make room for every kind of mind — and why that matters more than ever. 📅 Join us on Tuesday 18 November at 17:00 GMT / 18:00 CET for “Neuroinclusive Coaching: Expanding Leadership Potential.” 👉 https://lnkd.in/ezmdc9v6 #NeuroinclusiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #InclusiveLeadership #CoachingCommunity #FutureOfWork #AssociationForCoaching #LinkedInLive #ProfessionalCoaching #HumanCentredLeadership #NeuroinclusiveLeadership #Catalibrium #NonLinearThinkers

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How do we know our interventions are working? Budgets are tight. Pressures are increasing. More than ever, HR leaders and L&D managers need to show impact — with evidence, not just intuition. That’s where data-driven insights come in. The MTQPlus assessment doesn’t just help people, teams, and leaders better understand themselves and each other — it also supports smarter decision-making. In HR, evidence-based decision-making means using data and analytics to guide strategy and improve performance. In L&D, it means evidencing the value of time and resources invested in development. The right assessment provides clarity before action, shows impact, and tracks the distance travelled. The MTQplus provides: 🔹 Individual Reports – Benchmark results against a large norm group, giving evidence-based insights into strengths and development areas across the 4Cs: Control, Commitment, Challenge, and Confidence. 🔹 Group Reports – Use histograms and statistics to reveal team trends, highlight strengths, areas of growth and track shifts. 🔹Validation – Research shows mental toughness explains ~25% of performance variation it’s also linked to wellbeing, aspirations, and employability. Our mental toughness matters. 🔹 Practical Tracking – Reassess after 3–6 months to measure growth. Use targeted exercises to support real, measurable improvements. The MTQplus doesn't just give scores. It helps create actionable insights — turning data into development plans that stick. By embedding the MTQPlus assessment into our Community Leadership Programme we were able to evidence £146,952 of social value — equivalent to £29,390 per person. And this impact carries through to our coaching assignments, where we can clearly evidence the difference our interventions make — from measurable growth to helping teams build a deeper understanding of each other. That’s the power of combining data with development.

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Today I was part of the first ICF UK Neuroscience Special Interest Group meeting, hosted by Phil Lunt MSc. Neuroscience has huge relevance in coaching, and I've found it to be a useful framework for discussing nervous system regulation, the ability we all have to change, grow and develop, and how to build and sustain new habits. Not everyone wants to know the science behind behaviour and decisions, but it's useful to be able to explain it to those who do! It's particularly relevant to the work I do on leadership behaviours for psychological safety, and understanding what the impact of ⚠️ unclear expectations, ⚠️ ambiguity, ⚠️ disconnection and ⚠️ restriction (to name just a few potential perceived 'threats') can have on colleagues and teams. DM me if you'd like to find out more about the work I do in this area. Thanks Phil for a great session, and for modelling how important it is to co-develop clear working agreements. #psychologicalsafety #neuroscience #burnout #humanfactors #leadership

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This article at SynergyStrategies brilliantly summarises the 5 key trends in leadership in 2025 that are shaping executive development. ▷▷ https://loom.ly/AYBMGbw In summary: 📍 Personalised and Data-Driven 📍 Emotional Intelligence is Essential 📍 Human-Centred Co-Design 📍 Sustainable and Adaptive Systems 📍 Peer Coaching Builds Capacity Coaching isn't just for individuals, it's a strategic lever for entire organisations. Get all your team involved in developing your future business success! #LeadershipCoaching #ExecutiveDevelopment #LeadershipTrends #FlamingLeadership

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Executive Coaching Evija Vascenko and I delivered another robust and engaging session with our executive coaches. We dove deeply through multiple lenses into what’s different in the context of executive coaching assignment and the actual conversations themselves. What is sticking as I think about my own executive coaching practice, is the depth and breadth required to work with executives at all levels and how they (and us) have wide-angled responsibilities to the organisation and beyond.

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In this article, we’ll map the evolving landscape of AI in coaching, outline the governance and regulatory backdrop, and share the six critical questions that boards will ask and that coaches and leadership teams must be ready to answer. Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/Akyyd #AICoaching #AIBusiness #AILeadership #AIInLeadershipCoaching #ExecutiveCoaching #CoachingLeaders

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Schema is such a vital part of the Agilexe ecosystem.   We talk a lot about the "Golden Thread", the line that connects training needs to the compliant content that's delivered. Schema is the tool that secures that connection. By automating the curriculum design and learning plans, but ensuring it still conforms to the expected standards.   It means every module exists for a clear reason. And it frees up your SMEs to make impacts elsewhere in your organisation. See the link in the comments

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Coaches spend significant sums on additional qualifications whilst often refusing to spend even a fraction of that on learning how to find clients, and then wonder why their business isn't working. You may have an ICF credential, a positive psychology certification, an NLP qualification, a supervision diploma. Taking those courses (and others) feels productive because they have a finish line, a certificate, a new set of letters, something concrete to point to. Learning how to build a client base doesn't have a finish line, which is partly why it doesn't get done. The qualifications aren't the problem in themselves. The problem is believing that they're solving the client acquisition issue, which isn't that you're not credible enough, but that you haven't yet learned how to demonstrate your credibility in a way that’s meaningful to the specific people you want to work with. That's a different skill set entirely, and one that no coaching diploma currently includes in its curriculum.

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🌱 Creating a Coaching Culture: One Day Workshop - 27th January 2026 If you’re exploring how to build a genuine, sustainable coaching culture within your organisation, this one-day virtual workshop may be exactly what you need. Coaching cultures are increasingly recognised as one of the most cost-effective ways to strengthen organisational performance, especially vital in today’s cost-conscious environment. Yet many organisations still try to “install” coaching simply by training individuals. A true coaching culture is deeper: it becomes part of how people think, relate and work together at every level. On 27th January 2026, I’ll be facilitating a one-day virtual workshop designed for leaders, HR professionals, coaches, mentors, consultants and trainers who want to build coaching cultures that last. During the workshop, we’ll explore: • What genuinely distinguishes a coaching culture • How to assess your organisation’s current maturity • The forces that support or hinder culture change • Practical systemic steps to influence the wider organisation Participants also receive: • Four Levels of Coaching Culture assessment • 12 months use of the PERILL Team Diagnostic tool (worth £750) • 12 months access to the CCMI Resource Library (worth £40) 🔗 Details & registration: https://lnkd.in/eF2gRyTZ 🗓️ Date: 27th January 2026 (virtual) If building a real coaching culture is a priority for 2026, I’d love you to be part of this workshop. #davidclutterbuck #ccmi #coachingculture #leadership #HR #teams

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🌟 What if leadership development wasn’t about changing who you are—but deepening your connection to it? Liz Walker's post resonated deeply with me. It highlights a leadership development approach rooted in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)—a psychological framework that goes beyond horizontal surface-level skills to build psychological flexibility. In a world where leadership often feels like a performance, this approach is a breath of fresh air. It’s not about fitting into a mould. It’s about leading with clarity, confidence, and authenticity from the firm ground of who you are. 💡 ACT helps leaders: Navigate challenges without losing sight of their values Have the psychological flexibility to lead during change and uncertainty Lead unapologetically as themselves It seems this the kind of leadership we need more of. 🎥 If you’re curious about how ACT transforms leadership development, check out the video in the original post. It’s worth a watch. #LeadershipDevelopment #ACT #AuthenticLeadership #PsychologicalFlexibility #WomenInLeadership #ValuesDrivenLeadership

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Is the coaching industry doomed by AI? It’s one many people are asking.    Here’s our take on how AI is influencing coaching, what it means for the coaching profession, and the key considerations for organisations thinking of using it.    https://lnkd.in/eB_TbPi7   #AI #CoachingSkills #LeadershipDevelopment #DigitalTransformation

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🎙️ New Podcast Episode Alert! 🎙️ In this episode of The Work of Wellbeing podcast, Amy Green explores the subtle but powerful difference between saying thank you—and showing it in a way that actually lands. Too often, workplace appreciation is reduced to generic gestures that miss the mark. Amy shares practical strategies for recognising staff in meaningful, personalised ways that build connection, improve culture, and support wellbeing. From simple surveys to tick-and-flick lists, this episode will help you stop guessing and start asking what matters. Tune in to learn how to make your appreciation truly count and create a workplace where people feel seen, valued and respected. 🎧🌿 https://vist.ly/4cbdw #StaffAppreciation #WorkplaceCulture #MeaningfulRecognition #WellbeingAtWork #TheWorkOfWellbeing #TheWellnessStrategy

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When pressure rises at work, how we respond matters most. Tension is natural - deadlines, miscommunication, stress - but escalation isn’t inevitable. Emotional intelligence starts with the pause: slow your tone, listen actively, and shift from blame to solution. At Intentional Steps, our DAWWN programme equips teams with the self-awareness and regulation skills to handle high-stress moments calmly and constructively. Because conflict will happen. What matters is how you move through it. Let’s turn tension into teamwork. #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #TeamCoaching #DAWWNProgramme #PsychologicalSafety #IntentionalLeadership #ConflictResolution #CultureChange #CalmUnderPressure

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This was the first of the whitepapers I wrote! Thanks to all the contributors who shared their experiences so openly and honestly. I hope this final paper is useful for anyone who runs an internal coaching function, is considering implementing an one or supervises or coaches in one. I found it fascinating conducting the interviews and exploring what makes supervision work within the internal coaching space - https://lnkd.in/duvWpP4U

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