My Coaching FAQ.
Here Are My Most Common Coaching Questions
Please click on the question you would like answering:
What makes your coaching approach different from other marketing leadership coaches?
How do you customise coaching for each CMO's unique situation?
How do you help CMOs prepare for critical career transitions?
What unique experiences do you bring to CMO coaching?
I have been a CMO twice, and CGO, I have led Product teams and led business units, I have consulted and advised companies, I have a unique view of the CMO role from the battle scars from being a CMO and working alongside many CMOs in many of the most challenging industries.
Over the last decade, I have coached CMOs whose experiences were similar and importantly in contrast very different to mine experiences and this has enabled me to have a broader view and a laser focus to help improve senior Marketing leader's journeys.
I have held full-time and interim leadership roles, coached CEOs, founders and Ops and Product leaders and sat on advisory boards which helps me guide and develop your personal coaching programme.
I have been brought in to audit CMOs and their department’s work and asked to coach CMOs by the bosses and HR - this builds unusual skills and allows me to lean in where others will struggle to integrate this into coaching programmes.
How long have you been coaching marketing executives?
For over a decade I have been a Marketing executive coach, this covers many different regions including North America, to the UK & Europe, to CMOs in MENA.
Some CMOs go through the dedicated programmes, and others have long-term coaching from me, some lasting two to three years, helping to shape their annual plans, review their org design and hiring plans.
Read my coaching testimonials here
What makes your coaching approach different from other marketing leadership coaches?
My approach blends IQ (knowledge and skills), EQ (emotional intelligence) and PQ (political intelligence) - it’s a tailored area on how to play the game and playing to win, often CMOs struggle with playing the game and do not have a level playing field vs other executives. I blend the three together and we lean into the areas you feel you want development in and areas I observe you will need development in.
I also shape coaching with three lenses, 1/ exec coaching, 2/ sports coaching (some have said it's like a work PT) and 3/ therapy. I blend the three disciplines to create a dedicated programme we work on and collaborate together, the programme is usually between 12-15 weeks and has hourly slots, enabling us to build a safe space that builds your confidence, building your reps and muscle memory and sets an environment that is bespoke to you to learn and develop and then thrive rather than the usual coach or exec coach who all tend to use the same copy-paste approach.
There is task-based homework to ensure you roll out the learnings creating confidence and ways to adapt into your style and environment.
The programme can be adaptive based on requirements:
Typical - Designed 1 hour weekly (for 12-15 weeks)
Deeper dive - designed 2 hours session (blended into 12-15 programmes)
Workshops - 2-4 hour workshop on core subjects
Training - more training ½ day to 1 to 2 days
Each coachee has programmes built for their actual requirements and to ensure these sessions are built for you and your needs.
How do you help CMOs navigate complex leadership dynamics?
Every company leadership team operates in a variation of dysfunctional ways, from a founder-led business, to a business that only listens to the CFO decisions, to an open leadership team that struggles to make hard decisions. We dissect your leadership team relationships and operational approach and we lay out company culture and the subculture of your business ensuring you are set up for success and creating a plan of action for you and your team to be successful.
We build tasks and projects to improve cross-functional relationships, we create ways to positively influence company culture and place Marketing (and/or Growth) in the right strategic area of the business, often helping go from the delivery unit to the strategy unit of businesses and having influence over the CEO and fellow C-Suite execs.
Each step will be laid out and we check in each week whether in session or over email or chat to see if anything needs to be tweaked.
I offer proven templates, frameworks and models to personalise and work through with your department and team members and roll out into the leadership teams and ELTs/SLT meetings.
I also offer a 999/911/112 call as part of the service if something major comes up or you feel you may need support you can drop me a message and we pick up our any concerns or problems and discuss this through and more often than not this acts as a sanity check.
What specific challenges do you help CMOs overcome?
Performance pressures and team performance challenges
Goal setting problems
Setting up, rolling out and ensuring OKR and KR solve company problems not cause them
Marketing Leader not having a CMO title but delivering on 80% of what CMOs would in other companies, moving you from being seen as a title into a business leader
Going from Head of, Director or VP to CMO (CCO or CGO) and being seen as the C-Suite leader
Transitioning from startup CMO to mature company CMO
Transitioning from large company to a startup CMO
Evolving from senior title and being known as a company executive (not just the manager of x team or y department)
Learning how to play the game (up your PQ - political intelligence)
Imposture syndrome
Improving internal communication and realigning internal marketing struggles (every thinks they can do marketing vs understand the what, the why, the how and the when)
Improving executive presence
Managing team and departmental leader issues and performance concerns
Over-reliance on Performance Marketing
Misunderstanding of brand and influence of brand
Creating loops, building cross-functional squads and introducing SWAT teams
Addressing how the CMO role is perceived
Evolving from a “traditional CMO” to a “modern CMO”
Cross-functional collaboration
Org design - creating a long-term Department, not just going from hiring and firing
Removing short-term thinking and only focusing on short-termism
Hiring and firing
Interview issues - hiring struggles
Fractured relationships between CMOs and their bosses (founders, CEOs, COOs etc)
Reshaping departments of specialists into blended and rounded teams with generalists and specialist
Turning no and yes buts from C-Suites colleagues to yes and sign-off requests
Helping Marketing and Growth leaders from tactical to strategic
Shorter tenures concerns
Transitioning CMOs into CGO’s
Many of these will resonate, and each of these requires drills and collaboration on what is the priority and how you can move forward to tackle this and roll out in your existing role, into your next role or build out as a fractional leader, consultant or advisor.
Each requires a goal, the how to get there, the why it is important to you and critically the business, the when (deadline) and the where and we work through these and build drills to create, work on or optimise and we ensure this is incorporated into your personal plan.
What does a typical coaching engagement look like?
Matching call - to see if we would work and collaborate well together
10-15 personalised online coaching sessions - 1 hour with short homework task to ensure you get to roll out what you’ve learnt
We check in and score each session
First session is a deep dive into you and an evaluation of skills, outputs and chance to put all of your cards on the table
The sessions and work are stored on Google Slides - you will have access post sessions and can then roll out to your teams or department leaders
We create actions and follow-ups for homework and score the session to see how you are feeling, where the session could be optimised
Often I recommend a walk-and-talk session where we meet in person and go for a walk to discuss areas of development, problems and opportunities that might have come up
We work through templates, frameworks and tools and then customise to your work environment
Most frequently and for best results we book the 1 hour slot each week so you block out and own your time
Where needed you can check in on email/WhatsApp or iMessage, bounce ideas/problems, brainstorm and stress test plans and strategies. We keep a copy so we can perform BAR (before action reviews) and AAR (after action reviews)
When the sessions are completed I will check in and make myself available for anything that might come and often act as a sponsor or a mentor and where needed we can book in adhoc coaching sessions
How do you customise coaching for each CMO's unique situation?
Every session every coachee is customised to your environment and your experiences.
The first exercise we go through is understanding you, your environment and your workplace and then building bespoke sessions to build skills and confidence against areas of perceived weakness and build out on strengths. I also understand what you want vs what you need and challenge in building “drills” aka sessions for each session.
Each coachee has a bespoke workbook in their own workspace that we work on together and allows you to roll out with your own team or use it to revisit when need a refresher or need to rebuild confidence.
Each homework task is customised to you to ensure you roll out what we worked through and each homework task is woven together to build out your leadership. With the templates and frameworks we discuss and collaborate on is then tweaked and customised to ensure it works for you and your business. We will also create run throughs and tweak to ensure you can roll out as your version not struggling by attempting to roll out another template or framework and adding more friction onto you and your team.
How do you know what I need from coaching?
Frequently department leads need someone who knows when you need someone to manage you, when to mentor you and when to coach you. With traditional coaches they will run the same playbook over and over and not understand you well enough to evolve and adapt their approach.
Often coachees get to where they are through hard work and talent but without formalised training or coaching. There is often a lack of broader leadership experience and this is an area that almost every coachee requires. A way to evolve from a great employee to transition into a leader not another manager mimicking their previous managers or mimicking leaders within their business as they are “successful”.
Coachees need someone to bring this all together, create a bespoke coaching programme, package it how you learn and build and improve their leadership skills.
What outcomes can a CMO expect from working with you?
Achieved goals we defined and refined throughout our sessions to set you up for long-term success
A completely personalised plan of action with tried and tested programmes to help you address the next two to three years. This will be a blend of personal and professional plans
High confidence and conviction in delivering on goals, kicking back where required and a way to see yourself as the Leader and executive you are
A workbook to help guide you through challenges, links to worksheets, templates and frameworks we would have personalised and worked through
A set of frameworks that can be applied throughout your career
Practical and tactical leadership improvements that will help you
A new outlook to personal and professional growth and an ability to roll out what we developed together for your team members
A professional sponsor for your career and an industry friend who will be on the other end of emails and messages when required
Do you offer support beyond scheduled coaching sessions?
Each and every coachee can use the 999/911/112 aka Emergency consultation when required - from something small to a major development - management is hard and leadership can be impossible, coaching is far more than just sitting in a session discussing how you do it
Ongoing WhatsApp and iMessage support
Power Half-Hour Sessions - 30 minute quick-fire sessions to sanity check and stress test ideas or requests
Bespoke tools, templates and frameworks we collaborate on and evolve over time
Deck and board presentation reviews and feedback
Career Progression
Interview prep (hiring and applying for roles)
Mock interviews
CV reviews and attend interviews
Coach+ - Attending workshops and working sessions with your department or team leads for support
Accountability coaching - where I hold you accountable to goals and important tasks for the week or month ahead
Access to my network to help with recruitment, hiring, sponsorship, mentors and legal advisors
Job seeding into my network
How do you help CMOs prepare for critical career transitions?
The majority of CMOs do not prepare for their career, the title is often what they aspire to have, versus planning out a career and their next steps, whether thats two steps up or across.
We work through your risks, your opportunities and we co-build your plan, building out developmental skills, build a series of drills around the skills you may not have worked on or lack and then create a risk plan where we work through how you can have more impact in your current role and future roles moving forward.
Various CMOs have aspirations to move from a CMO within a timeframe and struggle to be seen as anything other than the Marketing lead or the delivery department. We work together in addressing your executive presence, how you brand you and your next steps and how to pitch and live this in your role and into future roles.
What are your coaching fees and payment structures?
I offer a two tiered system,
1/ for when you self-fund (currently most popular) and
2/ a work-funded coaching programme.
Pricing is discussed in matching calls.
Coaching can be expensive and my pricing is set around what covers the 90 mins a week I will invest into you and your sessions and developed to ensure you want to complete the programme and then roll out to your colleagues.
Do you offer a guarantee or initial consultation?
Each coachee has a matching call, we have 15 - 45 minutes where we see if we would match and understand your problems, goals and have Q&A on how we would work together and what would best for you.
Before or on the third session you will have a light build moment - I have never had anyone not had that moment in 10+ years, we review each coaching with scoring and we will revisit around drill/session 6 to see how you are progressing and if we should continue. There are no guarantees however satisfaction scores score over 4.5 out 5 and often coachees come back for more sessions and feedback up to a year later of rolling something out or tweaking based on our sessions and actively share progress which is a great sign we collaborated well and took a while to roll out large changes.
Coachees who are looking for a silver bullet in a couple of sessions are informed in session 1 and 2 this isn’t possible however we work through how to adapt and remove some of the pain and friction. Coaches should never offer guarantees without knowing you, your motivations, demotivations, what powers you and what saps your energy, you can only improve by working together and having a high trust environment. If we are not hitting our agreed goals or you are not fully showing up we will have a honest and frank conversation.
Coaching is a personal experience and I ensure we make this your journey and your long-term success plan so it’s common to feel like you have a lot of tools but will take a handful of months to roll out changes.
FYI: I have let go coachees for continually and deliberately not completing homework, for a lack of respect for our time and for repeat no-shows
How do you stay current with marketing leadership trends?
I am a consultant and advisor alongside coach, I often work directly with my coachees on problems and I am “learn it all” (not know it all) - I want to increase my knowledge by having a dedicated hour a day of learning sessions. I have not missed this in 3 years.
There are specific channels and areas in which specialists will always have an edge over me however 23 years experience, multiple C-Suite roles and consultancies have enabled me to learn, adapt and advise clients from almost every industry so I can connect and translate quickly into joined-up Marketing and Growth plans while connecting into Product departments and answer challenges from founders, CEOs and CFOs.
I work across different sectors and countries and am an active member in the Marketing & Growth leadership communities.
Can you coach CMOs across different industries?
I am highly versatile, I have worked in-house, agency side and had my own consultancies, I have coached across multiple industries which means I am uniquely placed to dissect businesses, understand challenges and apply experience and adaptability to your situation.
I have led departments and sat on Leadership teams across multiple marketplaces, led the largest crowdfunding platform in EMEA and worked with the largest brands in food delivery, ecommerce, supermarket/online groceries, travel, luxury fashion and many more. I have worked with brands across Europe, North America, Brazil, South East Asia and Indian markets.
Having led Product, Growth and Marketing departments I have a unique insight into how cross-functional teams work and can apply this cross-industry.
There will be clarifying moments where I will ask clarifying questions, on the odd occasion deliberately stupid questions and times I will personally go away and learn more specifics to help reshape our sessions.
How do you help CMOs develop long-term career strategies?
We work on your personal development plan from session 1, we build your plan with drills from minute 1 and this deliberate approach is a running theme throughout the coaching sessions.
We work through your personal plan focusing on where you need to develop, where you want to go and build out your strategic roadmap.
Many CMOs need help with personal branding and personal branding plan, whether that’s content creation or curation, making their CV and LinkedIn stand out and how to pitch themselves internally and to new opportunities. We work through this and develop who you and what you are and importantly what you are not.
I act as a sponsor where I help to seed your profile and make personal connections where possible and will always help with interviews, CV and resume reviews and build mock interviews
How do you address confidentiality and trust?
Confidentiality is of paramount importance to me. I like to compare it to therapy.
If your business is funding your coaching they will not be given any information or updates apart from on your request. They will not be provided any access to your workspace - this is a core tenant of my coaching service - what we discuss and work on is our private and safe space.
Everything I work on, collaborate on and coach has strict professional ethics standards that I pride myself on.
Every coachee has a secured workspace (workbook hosted on Google Slides)
Every coachee has a dedicated secured cloud-based folder that is permission-driven and connected to your personal or professional email address
Anything that you want to share will be via email (encrypted chat app) or in our workbook - this means no other person will have any access or visibility.
What if I am sceptical about coaching?
Coaching is and should be a personal development choice, everyone should also benefit from gaining some help and coaching.
Coaching can seem daunting or a bigger investment in time, however, coaching is what you make of it and how much time, effort and energy you invest.
Coaching isn’t just a copy-paste or paint by numbers it should be a highly personalised course, in my experience it works best 1-2-1
I have been asked to coach founders, across the C-Suite and senior leaders by HR and their bosses so coaching can be something you actively seek out yourself, you take guidance on or can be something that is an important part in your executive journey.
I have a number of testimonials from CEOs, CMOs and Marketing Leaders you can read through here.
If you have specific questions I recommend a matching call or dropping me an email directly with your list of questions or concerns.
What are the key differentiators for your coaching?
Uncommon breadth and depth of knowledge and cross-functional experience
Worked across agency side, consultancy, in-house and held advisory roles
Have been department leader across Growth, Marketing & Product and leading a £100m p/y business
Coached for over a decade, coaching CEOs, Founders, CMOs and Product leaders.
Ability to connect Marketing to broader business growth and speak the language of CEOs and CFOs
Pragmatic, results-oriented coaching approach - coaching is about hard agreed goals not soft goals without deadlines
When a workshop or alignment session is needed or would like to run a workshop with team members I will happily help facilitate or step in to ensure successes
Deep understanding of how product insights inform marketing strategies
Like what you heard? Get in touch below and we can set up our matching call.
If you have any questions of your own or any specific requirements please get in contact below