I've spent over 25 years teaching French, and for a good chunk of that time I've also been working as a coach. What I've noticed, more and more, is that the two things aren't really separate. A lot of what makes a language lesson work, understanding what's actually holding someone back, building their confidence, adapting to how they think rather than handing them a fixed method, is coaching. So a few years ago I did my ILM Diploma in Effective Coaching properly, and started applying it more deliberately, including in ongoing work coaching managers and leadership teams at Essex County Council.
That work has grown into something that deserves its own name, which is why I'm launching Coaching for Business as a sister company to Languages for Business.
What changed
Languages for Business has always worked with organisations as well as individuals, and over the years that's included corporate clients like Linklaters, Freshfields and the European Banking Authority. Some of that work was never really about French. It was about how a team communicates, how a manager handles a difficult conversation, or how a leadership group makes decisions under pressure. I kept finding myself coaching those things alongside the language teaching, because that's what the person or the team actually needed.
Coaching for Business is me formalising that side of the work. It's leadership and management coaching for organisations, built around real coaching methodology rather than a fixed training course.
Who it's for
The short answer is managers and the people who lead them. New managers working out how to delegate without micromanaging. Experienced leaders who want a sounding board that isn't inside their own organisation. Teams that function fine but could work better together. Businesses and public sector teams wanting a pilot session before committing to something longer.
It's not a curriculum I deliver the same way twice. Every session is built around what the person or team in front of me is actually working through, whether that's confidence, communication, or how they run their team day to day.
Why now
Honestly, I probably should have given this its own name sooner. But the coaching work with Essex County Council reached a point where it made sense to treat it as a proper second line of business rather than something that sat quietly alongside the language teaching. Languages for Business isn't going anywhere, it's still very much what I do, but Coaching for Business gives the leadership and management side of my work room to grow on its own.