Results reported by clients include a clearer vision of their future and the means to get there, internalization of (and greater facility with) leadership skills, greater clarity of short-term goals, reduced frustration at work, and increased understanding (and thereby removal of) of personal “blocks” to achievement.
To follow are testimonials specific to the areas in which I work. For Case Studies, go to this link.
1:1 Coaching
Our revenues were up 30% after the first year, we’re finally in the black after too many years of red, and we made a fundamental shift in our business model, repositioning us for the longer term. I attribute that directly to the work I’ve done with Deborah. Coaching made me stop and think about who I am in the bigger picture. I wasn’t sure at first but now I’m convinced – this coaching stuff works! – David Fox, Fox Photography, US
How does one capture in a few sentences just how MUCH Deborah’s coaching has created impact in my life?!? As an ex-talent leader for a multinational pharmaceutical company, I’ve met and assessed my fair share of coaches. Deborah has been my coach from the early days of my entrepreneurship journey. What has stood out for me during my ongoing coaching partnership with Deborah is her astounding breadth of skill. She has the capacity to meet me exactly where I need her to be in every conversation I have with her. That, in addition to Deborah’s deep intuition and authentic caring have ensured that I will continue to be a client of Deborah’s for a long time. – Afsheen Ismail, The Phoenix Coaching Company, UAE
I met Deborah when I was in the early stages of developing an initiative that I’m hoping will benefit the planet I’ll be leaving for my grandchildren. When I have a particular issue I want to discuss, she always helps me achieve clarity. But what I find surprising is that even when I have nothing specific on my mind, she has a way of giving me a different perspective on something I hadn’t even realized was concerning me. Talking to Deborah never fails to be energizing. – Jocelyn Stevenson, Children’s Media Executive, UK
The smartest thing I did was to seek advice and counsel during a tumultuous year in my career when looking to make my next move my career “capstone”. Deborah helped me cut through the politics that were overwhelming me, and got me back in touch with what I most love about my work, so I could identify the best position in which to continue to do it. – Beverly Wood, Master Planner, US Capital Complex
With Deborah’s help I was able to define my core values, which assisted in making important decisions in my career. I was able to satisfy my desire to do work that improves people’s life quality, and dealing some of my own difficult health issues, I improved my life quality.I hadn’t realized repatriation would be as challenging as it was; she helped me to see that I could be more than I dared think I could be. – Yuko Nakayama, Repatriating Career Changer, Japan
Deborah has a strong, focused agenda and a high level of consistency as well as empathy. I’ve worked with other coaches and trained as a coach myself. I’d almost given up on it until I worked with her. She helped me identify my life’s work, and believe in my ability to do it. She is an excellent coach and an inspirational person. – Richard House, Celebrand, UK
I was ready to grow professionally, but didn’t fully appreciate my unique strengths and couldn’t identify where I wanted to go. Our work helped me better understand myself and how I wanted to serve my clients. From there, making the shift in my business flowed naturally and our work together took less time than I anticipated. Now I know where I am headed, and I value having you as a resource when I want to clarify my thinking and test new ideas. – Caroline Totah, www.carolinetotah.com; USA
I’m grateful for having coached with you. You gave me different ways to look at myself and my business – especially myself – that have had deep meaning and significance for my life. I have tried working with other coaches before and found it unsatisfactory; however I have been very satisfied working with you. I’ve learned a lot from how you coach, and from the additional resources you have sent me over the year and a half we worked together. – Eiichi Kimura, www.change-growth.jp; Japan
A conversation with you always stretches me and makes me think. – Chris Bradley, Managing Consultant, 2020 Delivery, UK
Our sessions help me clarify the big picture. – Ewa Staremo, Designer, Sweden
I’ve appreciated very much your style: your deep listening and your total focus on the situation at hand. You’ve provided some wonderful probing questions and insight, which helped me see more clearly who I am and what I need to be doing with my time to fully become what I’m capable of being. – Deborah Henderson, Leadership Consultant, UK
As we’ve worked together to develop the business side of my art, you inspired me to work on things I didn’t want to look at, using steps I knew but hadn’t applied to this process of becoming a business person. You guided me to find my own answers, and helped me get unstuck from frustrating situations so I could deal with the necessary (but to me, trivial) business processes so I could focus on doing what I love and do best – paint. – Teresa Spinner, Portrait Artist, US
A promotion and back-dated pay rise – your coaching has shown me how rewarding it can be to put my ideas into action! – Patricia McLoughlin, Middle Manager, UK
Speaking with Deborah when I’ve doubted myself, she’s “normalized” my experience and left me knowing that my perceptions – tho not always in line with popular opinion – are no less legitimate. – Bennie Pienaar, Executive Coach, Facilitator, and HR Consultant, South Africa
The ISPI™ (Innovation Strengths Preference Indicator®)
Doing the ISPI with Deborah has been really helpful, in clarifying my core ways of being and helping me understand how I get to where I get to. She is insightful, and her gentle and positive approach makes her a joy to work with! – Lehla Eldridge, Writer/Illustrator, UK
Workshops & Team Development
I just wanted to thank you one more time for putting on a most interesting program for our organization last night. It has provided me with much food for thought, and I’m sure has piqued others’ thoughts as well. I came to work today with a new perspective and a heightened awareness of my colleagues, thanks to you! – Karen Borofsky, Women Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology Event Organizer, US
I asked you to help me take my business to the next level, and we’ve done it. With your help I’ve doubled my staff, moved out of my basement, taken on national clients, increased our visibility in the marketplace, moved into new market areas, developed and coalesced my team, built strategic alliances, and clarified my company’s “credo”. Not a bad track record! It’s exciting to partner with you in Atomic’s growth. – Doug Garnett, President, Atomic Direct, US
I watched Deborah facilitate a workshop in South Africa that challenged how I see the world. The resultant new perspectives permeate through the work I do, and have led to insights I use with some of my clients as well. – Bennie Pienaar, Executive Coach, Facilitator, and HR Consultant, South Africa
I got wonderful feedback after today’s management retreat and the team looks forward to working further with you. You have a great style and a lot of insight and perspective on our organization that just got the conversation flowing. – Dr. Sarah Kemble, Executive Director, Community Health Center of Franklin County, USA
Executive Retreats
This feedback is from the 1998 UK pilot of Catalysts for Change
Most illuminating. – Richard Dixon, Architect, UK
Very useful to see my leadership facets “embodied”. – Laura Fisher, Telecom Sales, USA
As time goes on, I realise that I got more from the course than I originally realised. I’m calmer, dealing with things I’ve put off for years. – Karen Seymour, Manager, UK
Offered great clarity of insight into what needs to be done. Powerful view of what has blocked me. – Rick Morgan, British Diplomat, UK
A feature of Catalysts for Change was a focus on inspiration. This more conceptual exploration of leadership enabled me to internalise rather than externalise the leadership process.
Four months on: It’s coming up to four months since Catalysts for Change enabled me to reassess my life in relation to work. I came away from Dartington Hall with a different perspective on how I dealt with my job and also a tangible action plan for the future.
I remain surprised about one fact. I used to work in a developmental group that actively sought new opportunities for personal growth. We adopted a term “disintegration on re-entry” as a way of explaining the effects to the individual of returning to their usual workplace after experiencing an intense developmental process. If anything, I experienced the opposite after Catalysts, and was able to clearly articulate what I perceived to be my net gains to many of my colleagues. Catalysts for Change was, for me, a significant life experience. – DS Gerard Hancock, Metropolitan Police, UK
Your Uniqueness Is Your Business Teleseminar
Things that have been so hard for so long are finally breaking up!
Your Uniqueness Is Your Business provides a longer-term, stable structure — a weekly connection over 5 months — that is what I needed to do what I know only I can do for myself, but it sure helps to have support from others in a similar process. The course content is very relevant to realigning my business, and the exercises very rich. I’m seeing a picture developing over time of a bud opening and blossoming…. YUIYB is teaching me the value of taking things slowly; that they won’t go away if you don’t jump on them; that what’s important will still be there over time. – Lori Sortino, LoriSortino.com, USA
The work and reading I did on this programme helped me to focus, to make decisions and with the help of colleagues and Deborah’s leadership, to put ideas into action and to develop strategies to maintain the decisions I had wanted to make. I can tend to make plans that I then let slide. Holding firm has been made that much easier through the group I worked with. Plus the structure of the programme was logical and easy to follow, and I found Deborah an excellent ally, a thoughtful and supportive professional, both challenging and enabling. I would recommend this program to any professional who needs to reflect on their work, practice, or personal development. I have made the changes which I previously found hard to make. – Sue Ward-Booth, Chartered Counselling Psychologist, UK
The course content and follow-up exercises, along with the fieldwork, were informative and to the point, so excellent. This course is helping me realize that I need to be more conscious of what I need instead of drifting. It’s helping me stand back a bit and think about “what is my next step?” I have noticed a shift, a consolidation of my ideas, and I’m starting to take concrete steps forward. – Richard Gill, Psychoanalytical Therapist, London