My new manager and leader of my business unit got enormous value from having a coach in his career and shared that with my team. So, as I stepped into a new team leadership role, I was eager to have a coach who could help me improvement my management ability and think through new scenarios I needed to face.

I chose to work with Oona in part for her deep experience working with leaders across borders and her experience working with managers in the property industry. Perhaps more importantly, I sensed Oona was a superb listener, who could help me build my own emotional intelligence. And I thought she would be an ideal coach because she would be able to constructively challenge me, with a different perspective on some situations from mine – which suggested to be that I could learn more from working with her. It has been a pleasure to work with Oona, with an ideal mix of structure in our conversations and flexibility to make sure I could get her feedback on the topics at the top of my mind.

The specific benefits from having Oona as a coach have been

• Upping my game in chairing meetings effectively
• Asking the right questions to enhance the value of my 1:1 meetings
• Holding me to the commitments we discussed in our meetings
• Giving me perspective and advice on challenging situations I was dealing with in a new role

Oona is an outstanding coach who can help hold a mirror to yourself as a professional and whole person. Her coaching made a substantial contribution to my success in tackling a new role, new team, in a new country.